I see maintenance as calories only. Fitness goals can continue to increase. If you are actually increasing calories to get to maintenance for weight, then you will probably see some good strength gains when you do. Lift on to me means continue to exercise. I think a lot of people drop a lot of what they do when they hit goal because, well, they are at goal. That for me always was disaster and I would gain quick. I'm still making strength gains this time around while maintaining my weight. For me, fitness and weight are two separate categories. I'm still working to improve my fitness and pushing to do so. I am happy with my weight so I'm more in maintenance mode where that is concerned.

I see and agree with your point... I wouldnt stop lifting..I just dont think Id be agressive with adding on weight ( if I ever was aggressive with it)

Oh, no..I totes would NOT stop lifting...I LOVE it too much. I figure if I eat maintenance, I should do better at strength gains than eating at a deficit, so I figure what will happen will be to find that sweet spot again. The other thing I thought about doing would be to do a bulk phase in the fall (you know...AFTER bikini season is over) and then cut to see what kind of build I could get from that.

What's nice will be not worrying about being fat anymore. What started out simply being a way to drop the excess weight has become a way of life and an enjoyable "thing to do"....

I wasn't trying to say that it would be a point to stop completely...:blushing: I know we are probably all too addicted to give it up :happy: I can understand the point of not being interested in continuing a push to increase weight. At some point we all will just get to a point where it is "heavy enough" and stay at that level to maintain. I know I'm not there yet. I'm still trying to figure out where I want to go with my strength and what path I should take.

But it is nice not being overly concerned about having "dunlap syndrome" and "muffin tops" and "spare tires" and all those other ways to say too much fat. I know that I can stay where I am (and worked hard to get to) as long as I continue to do what I enjoy doing, which is lifting.

I wasn't trying to say that it would be a point to stop completely...:blushing: I know we are probably all too addicted to give it up :happy: I can understand the point of not being interested in continuing a push to increase weight. At some point we all will just get to a point where it is "heavy enough" and stay at that level to maintain. I know I'm not there yet. I'm still trying to figure out where I want to go with my strength and what path I should take.

But it is nice not being overly concerned about having "dunlap syndrome" and "muffin tops" and "spare tires" and all those other ways to say too much fat. I know that I can stay where I am (and worked hard to get to) as long as I continue to do what I enjoy doing, which is lifting.

I didn't take it that way...Cuz honestly, the thought of stopping never crossed my mind. I do want to increase the weights on the bar, tho, as I can, because...well, I have this goal that I want to be able to deadlift more than my body weight, and squat my body weight, so I have a ways to go.

I want to have "that" body...the one the younger women look at and think, "Oh, I want to look like THAT when I am 50."

For some crazy reason, just being thinner again isn't enough. In January I would be tickled to death with the loss I've obtained thus far, but now? I want the abs, the gorgeous, defined arms, and a butt. It doesn't have to be a terrific butt, but something more than the crack in my back would appease me.

And then there is that whole bone density thing. My mom has osteoporosis and I am not trying to have that.

I guess what I am trying to convey is that I will more than likely hit my pound and inch goal over the summer, and then, what? I mean, I imagine it'd be weird just to go along my merry way without something to shoot for. :flowerforyou:

@jam You may be craving something specific: for me it varies between carbs & protein depending on what workout I've done and what else I've eaten that day.

Deadlift day today. I think I've tweaked my back before I got there.. I considered stopping, but it didn't feel too bad once I got going. Now, though... :-(

Oh really? Hmm, for about a week and a half I've cut down my carbs from about 50% of my diet to 40%, nothing drastic. I can't imagine it's protein, as I'm eating a TON of it to try and hit my macros - maybe I just need to go over my carbs then. Almost scared to exercise at the moment, for fear of making the insane hunger urge even stronger!

What does your fat intake look like? The fat/protein combo tends to keep me satisfied longer, so that could be somthing to try too.


Workout A today

Squats: 135lbs 3x5
Bench: 85lbs 3x5--didn't know if I'd get this because the warmups felt heavy
Rows: 100lbs 3x5 (5-5-4). I got the last rep up but not to my chest so I'm not counting it. So glad to move up since I've been doing 95lbs forever.

@jam You may be craving something specific: for me it varies between carbs & protein depending on what workout I've done and what else I've eaten that day.

Deadlift day today. I think I've tweaked my back before I got there.. I considered stopping, but it didn't feel too bad once I got going. Now, though... :-(

Oh really? Hmm, for about a week and a half I've cut down my carbs from about 50% of my diet to 40%, nothing drastic. I can't imagine it's protein, as I'm eating a TON of it to try and hit my macros - maybe I just need to go over my carbs then. Almost scared to exercise at the moment, for fear of making the insane hunger urge even stronger!

cutting carbs makes me REALLY REALLY HUNGRY. HUUUUNNNGRY. I can have a 350 calorie donut for breakfast and feel great for hours, but if I have 400 calories worth of bacon and eggs for breakfast, I'll be hungry.

Don't worry about your carb percentage - hit your minimum protein and eat whatever you want for the rest. You should get enough fat naturally, UNLESS you're for some reason eating ultra low fat (like you get all your protein from whey and tuna -- if you get it from meat, dairy, and eggs you'll get enough fat)

@jam You may be craving something specific: for me it varies between carbs & protein depending on what workout I've done and what else I've eaten that day.

Deadlift day today. I think I've tweaked my back before I got there.. I considered stopping, but it didn't feel too bad once I got going. Now, though... :-(

Oh really? Hmm, for about a week and a half I've cut down my carbs from about 50% of my diet to 40%, nothing drastic. I can't imagine it's protein, as I'm eating a TON of it to try and hit my macros - maybe I just need to go over my carbs then. Almost scared to exercise at the moment, for fear of making the insane hunger urge even stronger!

cutting carbs makes me REALLY REALLY HUNGRY. HUUUUNNNGRY. I can have a 350 calorie donut for breakfast and feel great for hours, but if I have 400 calories worth of bacon and eggs for breakfast, I'll be hungry.

Don't worry about your carb percentage - hit your minimum protein and eat whatever you want for the rest. You should get enough fat naturally, UNLESS you're for some reason eating ultra low fat (like you get all your protein from whey and tuna -- if you get it from meat, dairy, and eggs you'll get enough fat)

Thanks all. Will do as you suggest and pay less attention to my carbs. Had a big bowl of muesli for breakfast, so hoping that will keep me going!

Last workout of my deload week. SL round 2, 3x5 version with supersets starts Monday!

Squats 135 3x5
OHP 55 3x5
Deadlifts 135 2x5

My body is very much ready for more, but I definitely needed this break. It's a good feeling to finish your OHP sets and think "That was WAY too easy. I should throw some more weight on the bar and do some more sets." LOL

Yes!!! I love that feeling. My deload has been very eye opening. And squatting 135 felt divine after 175. It did not feel so divine the first time around.

Hi all!
Workout A today

squat 60# 5x5 which felt easy for some reason.
bench 55# 5x5
row 55# 5x5

I was going to up my bench and row too, but I was still a little wobbly at 55. Next time! Everyone have a good weekend. My baby is turning 1!!! Yay! :flowerforyou:

Kira - Are you jumping back up to your pre-deload week weights or will you just work your way back up?

The plan was to go to 70% of my max and work my way up while I nitpicked my form. But I managed to injure myself while chasing the small person, so it may be a while before I can do anything that involves moving weight by standing. We'll see. If nothing else, I might be able to get really, really, really good at benching.

And if anybody has any other suggestions on things I can do while I wait for my stitches to come out and my wound to heal, that would be great. For future reference, if you are going to play catch-me, put shoes on first. That way you'll never have to know what your toe tendon looks like. Bleargh.

well ladies I joined months and monhs ago but only skulk around in awe of you. Yesterday I finally felt like I had something to contribute to the check -in. My lifts are not big: bench and row are stuck at 70 and OHP is a miserable 60, squats were recently deloaded to 105 to work on form. Deadlifts are moving along pretty okay though -- 170.

Work out B 3x5 for me...

Front squat with a 3 second pause at the bottom: 3x5 @ 75 - I'm working on my power on the up movement and the extended pause is forcing me to really push without using the bounce at the bottom.

OHP: 3x5 @ 75

Dead: 1x5 @ 135, 165, 185 - had a bad start to the 185 and my knees started to cave in, but I was able to correct it with a slightly wider stance.

Tried to finish with a barbell complex actually using the oly bar and was fried at the end of one time through so I put the bar back and finished with 2 sets of 10 each leg pistol squats and 15 12kg kettle bell single leg deadlift.

Oh, and I have learned a good lesson in using the cables for core work....If you feel like the cable is crossing over your arm while you are doing a twisting motion....it probably is and will probably bruise if it is heavy enough. Ooops :laugh:

Yeah...my arms this morning:

Oh yeah I meant to say the trainer said if I deadlift more than 70kg I should use a belt for safety. I said surely strong core is more important and he implied because I'm a woman it would be dangerous. Tell me that is baloney?!

I call baloney....I have never used a belt and lift over 70 kg all the time with no back issues.

I call it baloney too - and I'm slightly worried now that he's teaching people to do em wrong or something?? Because 70kg is only like, 150? That's a bizarre number to declare "too heavy" for all women. I mean sure you CAN hurt your back deadlifting... But typically you're either doing something wrong or you are pushing for a 1rm test - like at a competition. And that still just boils down to "doing something wrong" because form kind of falls apart when you're at your max - it's called a MAX for a reason.

Hi, all!! New to the group and Stronglifts.

Finished up Week 3 today...Workout A

Squat: 80lb
Bench Press: 65lb
Rows: 85lb

All of it felt good!