Lifestyle

Woman's Side-By-Side Pics Show Just How Much Lifting Weights Changes Your Butt

by Alexandra Strickler
Instagram

When it comes to working out and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, it's very easy to assume a lower weight means a better-looking body.

But that's so often not the case at all, and Claire Maxwell is the perfect example why you shouldn't get too fixated with the numbers on the scale.

Instagram

Almost a year ago, Maxwell, a 28-year-old registered nurse from Durham, North Carolina, broke her jaw after she fainted and fell to the floor at work.

While she healed from the accident, Maxwell had to have her jaw wired shut for several weeks, which significantly limited her food intake.

Without even trying, she lost a total of 13 pounds.

Instagram

Maxwell wasn't initially alarmed at all by the weight loss.

She wrote in a caption of one of her Instagram photos,

I knew I needed to gain back the weight but I didn't see the hurry. I didn't think I looked unhealthy. I thought I looked fine... lean even. It wasn't until I saw this photo on the left [taken after my accident] that I remember thinking, 'Oh, shit... definitely do not have a butt anymore.'

Once she realized how drastically her body had changed in such a short amount of time, Maxwell decided to take action.

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After her jaw was no longer wired shut, the 28-year-old dove into a weight-gain plan, which included a high-carb, high-calorie diet (aka my dream) and began lifting weights again.

However, since Maxwell had also fractured her wrist in the accident, she wasn't able to put up the same heavy weights as before.

So, even though she'd returned to her previous weight of 130 pounds, she still wasn't comfortable with how her body looked.

Maxwell even admitted on Instagram it "messed with my head a little bit."

Instagram

Eventually, after both her jaw and wrist were fully recovered, she kicked her fitness routine back into high gear.

Since the excess calories from her previous diet had helped her gain weight, all she needed to do was work on her strength.

Soon, she began to feel comfortable again in her body.

But, inspired by the quick progress she saw, Maxwell decided she wanted an even more bootylicious bottom.

She upped her carb intake once again (YAS QUEEN) and started putting in a rigorous four-and-a-half hours of butt work at the gym per week, which included workouts like bridges, leg presses, split squats, weighted walking lunges, hamstring curls, deadlifts, kickbacks, hip thrusts, kettlebell swings and much, much more.

WORK, BETCH.

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Before she knew it, her booty had reached Kim K status.

And, believe it or not, her weight did not budge at all from her normal 130 pounds.

Instagram

Maxwell wrote in an Instagram caption,

I think there is this automatic association that weighing less is somehow better. Obviously this is not true but I think that has been engrained in us by society. Even for someone who doesn't use a scale (I just weigh myself for macro adjustments), I do understand how the number on the scale can have a big impact on someone. So I just really encourage you guys to adjust your goals based on what you see in the mirror and how you are feeling about your body (if that makes sense). Yes, the number on the scale CAN be an indicator of progress, but it is NOT the only indicator.

Booty and brains. Does it get any better?

Citations: This Woman's Butt Looks Completely Different After She Gained 13 Pounds (Cosmopolitan)