I'm about to start preaching to the choir here, so ignore as you see fit.

I've been strength training seriously for about 9 months now. I started with NROLFW and have since moved on to StrongLifts and now my own StrongLifts/Starting Strength mash-up. I've been training hard, but not 100% consistently. I injured a disc in my back due to a sloppy deadlift not long after I started and had to take the time to heal.

However, while I've not been 100% consistent I have been a believer. And I have the photographic evidence that you should be too. And that the scale is an evil biznatch that I really should just chuck out of the window of my 24th floor apartment already.

A little preface. The before photos I'm going to show you are from October 2011. I was doing some half-assed strength training with no real program at the time, but mostly I was running. I ran around a 5k 5 days a week. I ate an average of 1600-1700 calories per day, flat. The photos show me around my all time low -- I'm somewhere between 157-162 lbs based on my records.



SO SQUISHY. Good lawd, LOOK AT THE SQUISH.

Now, let me show you my recent photos. By the measure of many, I'm probably not a success story. I gained weight. I'm back up between 166-168 lbs. I teeter in and out of being overweight on the BMI chart. Take a look:



My body fat is in the low 20s (although the calipers tell me 18%, I don't believe them). I wear a size 6 in most brands. I can squat nearly body weight at 5x5 (I should hit body weight in my squat this week, if all goes as planned), and I can 1rm deadlift over 200 lbs.

Plus, I got here by eating a crap ton of food (2100 per day average flat) because my TDEE is through the roof (averging 2500+ calories, really high days around 3300, really low days around 2050).

Strength training: it for serious works, my friends. Now go pick up something heavy.