Scary decision, need some encouragement

suziepoo1984

Wow.. Look at all those muscles! Great job.. You look beautiful!
About the scale, I cannot be of much help here, since I weigh myself everyday and the fluctuations truly do not bother me:)
I would think it would be a good idea to take a break from the scale for a while
Good luck :drinker:

_liftnlove

First of all, you are a complete and total, certifiable badass!!!! You should definitely enter a powerlifting competition!!! You would inspire and astound tons of people!!! Since you asked for success stories/pics from lifting, I'll share a pic, but I don't want to hijack YOUR thread of AWESOMENESS, so if you want to see more pics, you can check my profile or my blog... http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/_liftnlove/view/2012-my-year-in-pictures-576626

This is a year and half of extremely hard work, condensed into one pic...I've made a lot of progress, but I would be summarily crushed to death under a 230 lb bench, so I bow to the queen ...and yep, feel free to ditch the scale girl. The scale can't even come close to measuring what you're doing at this point.

delicious_cocktail

Finding your own definition of beautiful and feminine and reaching your potential . . . awesome, utterly awesome; and that's genuine beauty.

Much better than trying to shoe-horn your body into something that you've been told you're supposed to want.

andreae13

First of all, you are a complete and total, certifiable badass!!!! You should definitely enter a powerlifting competition!!! You would inspire and astound tons of people!!! Since you asked for success stories/pics from lifting, I'll share a pic, but I don't want to hijack YOUR thread of AWESOMENESS, so if you want to see more pics, you can check my profile or my blog... http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/_liftnlove/view/2012-my-year-in-pictures-576626

This is a year and half of extremely hard work, condensed into one pic...I've made a lot of progress, but I would be summarily crushed to death under a 230 lb bench, so I bow to the queen ...and yep, feel free to ditch the scale girl. The scale can't even come close to measuring what you're doing at this point.

Thanks, this is exactly what I needed to see!

jofjltncb6

Wow (on the weight loss) and wow (on the strength). I am both in awe and jealous. Best of luck with whatever you decide you want to pursue. Keep us posted.

(I'm tagging this to read the next time I'm tempted to skip a workout with a mental caption of "somewhere out there, a woman is warming up with your max." :drinker: )

Iron_Feline

You look amazing - yeah ditch the scale, it's just a number - focus on how you look, feel and lift.

I look forward to your next post about smashing a competition - that bench is awesome! :flowerforyou:

auroranflash

Wow (on the weight loss) and wow (on the strength). I am both in awe and jealous. Best of luck with whatever you decide you want to pursue. Keep us posted.

(I'm tagging this to read the next time I'm tempted to skip a workout with a mental caption of "somewhere out there, a woman is warming up with your max." :drinker: )

This!

Keep going and keep us posted

crazie4lulu

PLEASE... please creep my profile and add me!!!!!

SuperSexyDork

Wow (on the weight loss) and wow (on the strength). I am both in awe and jealous. Best of luck with whatever you decide you want to pursue. Keep us posted.

(I'm tagging this to read the next time I'm tempted to skip a workout with a mental caption of "somewhere out there, a woman is warming up with your max." :drinker: )

This!

Keep going and keep us posted

x3

You're amazing.

ZoeLifts

Wow! You are amazing and strong! I am very impressed! I too want to be stronger but battle with the urge to keep looking at the scale and worrying about that, but every time I try to cut and see that I can't increase my lifts, I get frustrated because I really want to increase those weights instead! I would love to see you enter some competitions, though! Killer bench!!:flowerforyou:

danasings

I know how hard it is to stop focusing on the scale...but you look amazing, and your strength has left me speechless! If you can shift your focus toward how you look and feel rather than that elusive number, I'm willing to bet it won't matter so much a year from now. (I'm telling us both that)

Yanicka1

You.are.awesome!!!!

brower47

OP, I think all the choices you're making for yourself are healthy and perfect for you! Well done. You are quite the inspiration.

tameko2

I've been overweight my ENTIRE life. Those that have been here know that your life ultimately revolves around the scale. Your self esteem is in direct proportion with the direction the number goes. I have worked hard, mentally and physically to conquer the demons that made me reach 323lbs. I've lost 143lbs and could probably lose another 20. I have been battling with myself the last 6 months to get those 20 off but I can seem to do it. I feel like I'm fighting my body the whole time. After a new bench PR of 230lbs on Thursday I started thinking. I LOVE being strong! My body is made for strength and building muscle. So I have decided to take a leap of faith and throw the scale out the window (or give it to my trainer at least) and focus purely on building those two. I am terrified of gaining weight since I've spent my whole life focused on losing it. I've been reassured by my trainer that if we do this the right way I won't gain too much and I'll get leaner...plus the best part, I'll get stronger! So I'd love some stories of success in this area with pictures of course and just for comparison sake, I currently weight 180, am 5'6" and have 26% body fat.

I don't have anywhere near as much muscle as you but I'm mentally in the exact same space. I haven't weighed myself in months and I actually gave mine away a couple months ago. I also went through a period last year where I totally stopped weighing or logging or anything - just kept working out and ate what I wanted.

If I remember I'll wrassle you up a picture later.

(Um, for the sake of honesty - I *have* gained a little weight but I also went a little bit nuts with it - and I have some medical type issues that contribute to that - because it'd been so long. It wasn't a lot of weight - about 6 lbs over the course of the year. If you think about it - its not too tough to lose 6 lbs. And the mental exhaustion - and physical exhaustion - wasn't worth it anymore for me. I *might* go back to try and drop a little - and I'll buy a scale then - but I honestly don't regret it at all. I feel GOOD instead of tired from dieting.)


ETA: when I say "working out" i mean "lifting 4x a week and lying on the sofa watching back episodes of glee while shoving chocolate in my mouth the other 3x a week" -- so I mean if I'd actually kept to my normal schedule which includes some short runs - 30 minutesish - or similar cardio I'd probably not have gained so much. It'd just been so long that I went a little nuts. I imagine you will also get a bit of rebound weight - you've lost alot more and for a long longer than I had. Don't fret it - you can drop it again and my current state of mental health and body acceptance are MUCH better than they was before I gained the weight. So, worth it.

Justjoshin

In for Bench video.

Cranquistador

In for Bench video.

^thisthisthis

andreae13

Wow (on the weight loss) and wow (on the strength). I am both in awe and jealous. Best of luck with whatever you decide you want to pursue. Keep us posted.

(I'm tagging this to read the next time I'm tempted to skip a workout with a mental caption of "somewhere out there, a woman is warming up with your max." :drinker: )

Haha thanks! Glad I can inspire Yet another reason I love being strong, lifting more than most guys