lifting pros and cons

Jessicaruby

Since lifting i feel like my shoulders have broadened giving me better posture. Although the scale has gone up i feel like my stomach is looking flatter!! I have decided to put the scale away for awhile and just focus on how i look, feel and how my clothes fit. I am considering upping my calories to build more muscle but i wanted to stick with what i am doing for a while to see how it works. I feel now though, since lifting, that i am always hungry! so on sunday my rest day i do not have any extra calories to eat and feel pressured to stay under my calorie goal at times......

thecrossfitter

I, too have gained weight since lifting. Look at my profile photo, in the before picture I weigh 140lbs. In my current photo I weigh 150lb. My thoughts... who cares?
I'll take the photo on the right any day over the one on the left!

Three months ago, I could hardly pick up the olympic bar, and today I can
Dead lift 165 - more than my body weight
Shoulder press 75 - half my body weight
And am currently working on building up my back squat, from 105 to eventually hit my body weight. (I'm using the wendler program and got 20 reps at 85lbs this morning.)

Let's build strong bodies and let the scale be In terms of eating, I have NO clue what I eat a day anymore. I eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm full. I eat meats, veggies, fruits, and nuts. Only very minimal grain (I don't like how it makes me feel - slow and icky). I've really been working on learning to listen to my body, and you know, those things are pretty darn smart!

PS- I'm 5' 5" if you're curious

HeidiMightyRawr

As long as your body is starting to look the way you want it to that should be all that matters It shows you're making progress and doing really well!
While my stomach is bigger than before I started bulking (I gain weight/fat there first!) it's got surprisingly flatter the last few weeks and I'm quite happy with it.

If you're hungry, maybe that's a sign you need to up your calories. You're only on 2000 net, which while good, is not "that" high if you're working on building muscle on a surplus.

Troll

when i started lifting big i was always starving. I upped my calories and jacked up my protein and i noticed my workouts/shape improving a LOT faster i also went from 98lbs to 110 after i added lifting to my workout, but i like to say i'm built like a pitbull (not MY pitbull, mind you-she's nothing but goo and love).