I Ditched the Gym for Pilates & Walking to Achieve the Dream Body I Love
Many people swear by gym workouts to achieve their best body ever. However, pumping iron isn't a slim-down magic potion for everyone. Sivan Tayer, a fitness influencer on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, claims that she couldn't achieve her dream body until she shifted her approach to fitness and found the perfect workout for her body. "If you're struggling to find your perfect routine and diet plan, my biggest advice is to first ask yourself what your biggest priority in yourself is," Tayer told us here at Body Network. "Is it weight loss? Muscle gain? Slim upper body and thicker lower body? Then comes the routine. The smaller you want an area, the easier you go on it. The bigger you want an area, the harder you go on it. In the end, we are working not only to get the body and health of our dreams, but to maintain that body as well."
She Was Doing It All Wrong
"POV: you realized that lifting heavy 4-5x a week was not it and all you needed to do was pilates, hit glutes, and walk to achieve your dream physique," she wrote in a post showing off her body. In a September 2023 TikTok, Tayer explained that it wasn't until she stopped following the advice of other fitness influencers that she got the body she wanted. She told us: "What I found traditional was lifting heavy constantly, and counting calories and macros. At first, I was losing fat, but I would constantly feel tired and I developed a bad relationship with food. Eventually, my looks started to not look the way I wanted. I looked puffy, and bigger than what I wanted because everyone always posted that 'lifting heavy' wouldn't make you get big, and it's the only right way to get to your goals. My gut began to not react well to processed/artificial 'protein' supplements, and honestly the list just goes on."
"My journey on getting slim and toned arms was not an easy one, but I'm going to show you what I did," she explained in the post. Tayer says she "held a lot of fat" in her arms, "so it was really tough for me to know what I had to do specifically through social media."
Related: 20 Foods That Strip Belly Flab
She Did the Opposite of What Gym Rats Were Saying
"A lot of people said, 'Oh, lift heavy upper body, eat more, whatever. You're not going to gain so much. It's super hard for women to gain mass up there.'" However, "that was not the case" with her. "Me personally, I had to do almost the opposite of what these gym rats were saying to get this look of the slim and toned arms. And when I talk about it on social media, a lot of people tend to get at me about it, but this is my results and it worked for me and it might work for a lot of people," she added.
"I truly believe one of the biggest factors and my arms getting smaller was doing low weight-high reps, and I really feel like just lifting heavy was just not doing it for me," she continued, "So I don't hit upper body at the gym, but I do Pilates and replacement of that."
She Discovered Pilates
Pilates is "the best thing I've ever done for myself, you get smaller anywhere," she claims. "You do have to have a good diet, but I just felt like lifting heavy made me hungry all the time. So lifting lighter really did make a difference for me, not just in my looks, but my appetite as well. That's why I say lifting lighter can definitely help your super big appetite that came from lifting heavy."
We asked her about the biggest challenges or misconceptions she faced when she started incorporating Pilates and walking into her fitness routine. She told us: "The biggest misconception about pilates is that it's not enough, and can leave you 'skinny fat,' which is not true at all. A lot of people fail to realize that there are many forms and levels to Pilates. If done right, you can achieve amazing results with just pilates and some walking. Of course, your goals also depend. But for relatively any person who doesn't want to look like a big strong person, pilates and walking is the way to go. Most fashion models that you follow on socials do way more pilates and walking."
Related: I Lost 30 Pounds With These 4 Easy Exercises
And It's Working for Her
"I just added Pilates into my daily routine. Since there are different levels and forms of pilates and it's extremely beneficial to walk every day, you don't really need to take rest days as often because you are never really overworking your body or muscles the way weightlifting will. It's also often less time-consuming and walking is something you can incorporate into your day-to-day life will healthy lifestyle habits," she told us.
A 2021 study found that Pilates helped reduce body weight and body fat percentage in overweight and obese participants. It also found that the longer a person performed Pilates, the more significant the weight loss. "Ultimately, I'm not trying to discourage people who have different goals or lift heavy. This is just my experience and I hope this helped some of you guys too, she concluded in the video.
Most People Benefit from Upper Body Lifting
Philadelphia-based trainer Kendra Gamble of HIT Fitness explains that while it is true that it's really hard for women to gain muscle mass in rare cases, some people tend to bulk up more than others, usually due to genetics. However, most people will benefit from upper body lifting and this "shouldn't scare women from doing" these types of workouts.
This is the Biggest Thing She Learned
"A lot of people forget the part where diet is about 80% of your results and when you think about it, if we are running marathons or doing some pretty intense activity, our bodies tend to want to eat much more," she told us. "Most times, we tend to eat more calories than what our body lost even during those intense workouts because of how 'hangry' we get (especially for people who struggle to lose weight). The BIGGEST thing I learned is that you need to more revolve your life around healthier eating habits, especially when it comes to portion control, and what way to make it much easier than not stressing your body out as much."
Related: This is the #1 Carb You Could Eat For Your Body
Here's Her Advice to Others Looking to Lose Weight
@sivan.tm feel free to ask questions💕 #gymjourney #workout #pilates ♬ original sound – sivi౨ৎ
💪🔥Body Booster: While most women won't bulk up from heavy weight lifting, some people are more genetically predisposed to gaining more muscle mass. If you are one of them you could benefit from doing a low impact workout like Pilates.
