A LADY WHO LIFTS - 1 year of progress! (pics)

Hey, this looks AWESOME, I really want to start lifting heavy on some sort of program...I've done Body Pump for a few months and worked with free weights alone a few times but no real program, and it's all been while eating at a deficit, and doing lots of cardio. Now I'm at about 135ish lbs (I'm 5'7) and I thinkkkk I'd like to be somewhere between 125 and 130...but I'm more worried about how I look than a number on the scale. My question is would you recommend starting a program while eating at a deficit (knowing that muscle gains will be tiny or nonexistent) until I'm at the weight I'd like? Or just eating at maintenance and starting a program before trying to cut down any more weight? Or (scary - I don't think this is the best idea but it's what other people have told me) eating at a slight surplus for a while to start lifting? Basically, what calorie levels will change my body composition faster?

Thanks so much! I went to a body pump class once, it was tough! Im not used to the high rep work like the class ha! Changing body composition is a VERY slow process. It's been a year for me and it's still changing. Personally I would recommend eating at maintenance while lifting for slow body recomp like I did, but you can eat at a slight deficit, no more than 200 calories less than your maintenance, if you feel you need to. But honestly the number on the scale really doesn't matter when you get to the last 10 lbs or so, you'll see a lot better results from changing your body comp with lifting. Make sure to eat high protein too!

One can eat at a surplus and do a "bulk" and then a "cut" but I have not yet done that and it's definitely a possibility but it's not a fast process. I think the basic suggestion is a 6 month bulk then 6 month cut. I personally haven't done it because I am also not sure I could mentally handle gaining weight on purpose.

I am a huge proponent of just starting lifting right away! Why wait! It won't hurt your progress, only help it! A lot of people find that lifting makes them very hungry so you may find you want to eat maintenance anyways!

Wow I think this may be one of the best posts I have read in my life!!! This has just made me determined into getting into weights!!! Currently I've been trying to lose weight doing cardio and tiny bit of strength training, nothing much while eating low cal diet but then I reached a platuau which infuriated me to the point of tears as I was so angry that I was eating little but there seemed to be no point. I eventually pulled myself together a bit, upped my cals and started doing 30day shred everyday as some small cardio here and there. I'm almost finished and I've seen a little change. No weight loss but I expected it. Tiny inch loss which is good but I hoped for more. So I'm starting to get frustrated again and weight lifting just seems to constantly come up as the answer for me. I want muscles so I would be really excited to get into it!!! I just feel totally lost as a beginner though as I have no clue what to do and the names of lifts or what I'm capable of and what I should be doing. Anyways this post jut inspired me so much! And yes I have jiggly bits too! Even after weightloss which shows I definitely need to get into strength more!!!!! Wow thank you so much I'm so getting that book now!!!!!!!!

Wow I'm so glad I've inspired you to get more into lifting! I wasn't going to post my success on the forums but I was hoping to inspire some people so I went for it I'm so glad you've upped your cals recently that's a huge step and a really important part. My best advice to you now is to just throw out the scale. if you're eating at or slightly under maintenance you aren't going to gain real weight or bad weight because you'er doing everything right. It's not going to move a ton if you don't have much left to lose, and how your body looks is much more important. NROLFW is a great book to start with read it cover to cover and it will definitely help you get more confident with the names of lifts and will help you feel less lost!! Good luck!!

Hey, just wanted to say congrats for your results! You've obviously been working hard!
I'm a lady who lifts as well and have been for a while, but I'm struggling to get the results I want!
As per most women, it's my abs and my butt that I want to focus on!
I'm unsure whether to put my weights up or not, or even how high to put them up!
Any tips for a fellow lifter?

Hey! I am always workin on my abs and butt I know what you mean hah! My butt is finally starting to get some shape, it was really flat before haha (as you can probably see). Abs are still a work in progress I think they are more a nutrition thing though.

Make sure you are eating high protein and yes I would continue to up your weights. Stronglifts encourages upping your weight by 5 lbs for squats / barbell rows, 2.5 lbs for ohp / bench press, and 10 lbs for deadlifts any time that you can successfully complete the sets you aimed at doing.

"How high" isn't really a question in my book... just keep going up and up and up until you plateau forever I guess! haha My next big goals are 200 lbs on squats (~1.5x my body weight) and 100 lbs for bench press

I'm quite impresseed! I am 48, want to lose 25, but in the meantime, will try this "lifting thing"!! All I have are some free weights, do you think this will help at all? Currently I run on the treadmill 3 times a week total of about 6 miles.

Anything helps! You can do a lot with your body weight if you don't have access to a gym. check out www.dailyhiit.com

I personally got my results from lifting heavy and I definitely prefer it to body weight exercises, but both are great for you!

You look amazing and have demonstrated progress in not only your outward appearance but in so many ways the camera can never show including the dedication to consistently work to improve your health for over a year, the self confidence to do things a lot of people would frown on and new strength of body and mind. Very inspirational, thanks for sharing.

Thank you so much!!! It is so so true, committing to my health has definitely kept me sane and my self-confidence and new strength has been the BEST part about my progress! I absolutely love that I love being healthy and exercising now, I'm so much happier! giving up was never an option

Incredible job! For your deadlifts, do you use wraps or gloves to help you? I've been stuck at 95lbs because my hands can't take it (although, I do try for 12 reps, but sometimes I can only make it to 8 because it hurts my hands/ lose grip). I know my muscles can do the weight. Right now I don't use wraps or gloves and am pretty cheap where I don't want to get them. I think the same is with my rows. Thanks!

I use gloves to lift, but when I went to a powerlifting gym they actually recommended NOT using gloves for deadlifts. I totally get what you mean, I was stuck at 135 for a while because my hands couldn't hold it! When I went to the powerlifting gym they let me try out using the wraps and they did feel really great! I may get some for myself soon

I also found that because the powerlifting gym has olympic bars with narrower bars so they're easier for my small hands to hold Also you could get a grip strengthener to play around with at home to strengthen your grip!