Lifting, it does a body good

I know, you've heard it before. Lifting weights is the way to go, blah, blah, blah. But honestly, it works or at least it did for me. I did cardio for months and never saw results like this. When I started lifting, I was 131 lbs and approximately 30% body fat. Needless to say, I was not at all happy with the results. After talking to a few people here at MFP and reading post after post about lifting. I decided to give it a try. I'm now 118 lbs and approximately 20% bf. I still want to cut down to about 18% then comes the scary part. I'm going to lean bulk to put on some muscle.

I have to say it's been an interesting journey. I love lifting. I started with the basics and used a beginner program I snagged from muscleandstrength.com that combined compound exercises with a few assistance exercises. In the beginning, I wasn't eating enough. I fell into the trap during my cardio days of eating in the 1200 calorie range. After learning a few things here about TDEE and fueling my body, I gradually walked my calories up. I'm set at 1800 now and I try to eat as healthy as I can, staying away from processed foods as much as possible. I try to eat close to 1800 on lifting days and cycle lower on rest days. I recently started Layne Norton's Power Hypertrophy routine and I love it so far. The only cardio I do is a 10 minute warm up before I lift.

Measurements:

Weight - 131 - 118 lbs
Waist - 29.5 - 26
Bust - 37 - 34
Hips - 37 - 34
Thighs - 21.5 - 19.5
Arms - 10.75 - 10
Body Fat - 30% - 20%

Strength gains:

Squat 65 - 130 lbs
Deadlift 90 - 150 lbs
Bench 45 - 70 lbs
Rows 45 lbs - 70 lbs
OHP 20 lbs - 55 lbs


February 2013, before lifting.



March 2013



April 2013



Beginning of June 2013




End of June 2013



Comparison



I think I've made some good progress over these last four months and I'm anxious to see what the next four bring. The best advice I could give to anyone who wants to see results is lift heavy, eat a slight deficit and be patient. It'll happen.