Well, genetics ultimately determines your shape - where you store fat, where fat comes off of first, how dangerous your curves will be, etc. so can't really make any promises on that front. If you're eating at a deficit, then you will not increase your current muscle mass (fat loss should be occurring which will make your muscles more visible, but they will not grow bigger - it's an optical illusion that often gets misconstrued as "bulky"). However, for me personally, I love what lifting has done and continues to do for my body. Everything feels firmer. I feel stronger. I am stronger. My butt looks fantastic. Lifting for me just brings out whatever shape I am naturally under all my fat, which is again, pre-determined by genetics. I'll always be busty no matter what my body fat percentage is and having muscle definition in general makes me feel good about myself.

^^All of this except I'm not busty lol!

I write this as I'm sitting in my office at work flexing my arms right now..... I like to feel the muscles in my arm hahaha I hope I'm not the only one that does this.

Speaking of husbands- mine is trying to talk me out of this program.
1. He is concerned that I might hurt myself. I am going at it alone, no spotters. But if I take it slow and educate myself on proper form, I should be OK, no? (Review SL again and again and post form check videos....)
2. We started trying to grow our family and he says that when I'm preggers I'll have to stop. I guess that's true (is it?!?), but we'll climb that bridge when we get to it, right?

1. Yeah I think it'll be okay without a spotter as long as you increase your weight slowly. You might have to bail and things might be embarrassing, but I imagine injury risk is as low as any other workout program.

2. I'd ask your doctor to be safe. Not that I think this specifically is bad, but there might be movements you'll have to modify really late into pregnancy or be unfortunate enough to need bed rest at some point. But really anything other than contact sports are usually okay for the first two trimesters.

In 6 weeks of starting Stronglifts 5x5, I have lost 10 lbs and 10 inches.
My face is leaner, my collar bones are visible, my breasts are perkier, my clothes fit better, my nails are healthier and my skin is clearer and brighter. Lifting has encouraged me to be my best self and it is a fantastic and exciting journey. Kudos to you and good luck on your journey :drinker:

I've only been doing SL for 10 weeks as of this coming Saturday and I've had a couple times when I haven't been at the gym every other day. When I started, I was 6 weeks post-partum from a c-section and months of no exercise due to placenta previa. Before I got pregnant, I was around 125 lb. I don't know my highest weight since I spent the last 2 weeks of my pregnancy in the hospital, but the last time I stepped on the scale at home, I was 174. I probably was around 190 at some point since I was pumped full of fluids. When I came home from the hospital, I was about 164. This time, the weight has not fallen off like it usually does when I'm breastfeeding but my shape has definitely changed in the last 10 weeks.

FWIW, I run 3 times a week and try to lift 3 times a week so I'm not just doing SL. I was logging all of my food and not losing so I quit logging and am just eating normally. I decided to accept whatever weight I'm at for right now (while breastfeeding) and concentrate on getting good exercise and eating well.

A couple of months ago, I needed new pants since I'm so much heavier than before. I couldn't fit into a size 14. A few weeks after starting SL, I fit into a size 10. I can now fit into an 8 in some clothing although I keep wearing the 10s because I like pants a bit loose. I've only taken my measurements a couple of times but I've lost inches everywhere except my bicep (because it's getting HUGE, lol, no not really).

I *feel* different. I feel stronger and less jiggly. I'm not the stick that I was before, but I'm not huge, either.

The worst thing for me when I started going to the gym was that I saw my mother's body in the mirror. I know that sounds really awful, but she's always been really heavy and her crazy dieting during my teen years really messed up my body image. Now, I no longer see my mom's body. I see mine again. I'm not super thin like I was before, but I'm at a size I can accept for now. I felt depressed before because I felt so incredibly out of shape but that hasn't been an issue for several weeks.

Anyway, for your husband's concerns --

I don't use a spotter. Initially, my 19 year old son came to the gym to help me, but I think it's fairly easy to figure out how much you can lift.

I wanted to start lifting last year and planned to sign up for the gym right at the time I got pregnant. We were trying but it was a little unexpected because I was 45 then (turned 46 in November) so I wasn't really anticipating that we'd be successful. Anyway, because the risk of miscarriage is so high when you're old like me, I decided it wasn't a good idea to start lifting in early pregnancy. If I were younger and had been lifting weights before I got pregnant, heck yes I'd continue until my doctor gave me a good reason not to.

I love my body *shrug* I can't stand the word bulky. People do not know what it really means.

I write this as I'm sitting in my office at work flexing my arms right now..... I like to feel the muscles in my arm hahaha I hope I'm not the only one that does this.

constantly, except i've progressed past squeezing the biceps to poking myself in the tummy all the time, and/or punching my own quads. narcissist, me.

i have this colleague with this little stick-figure wife who he adores, who also got very manic about lifting weights recently. and since he's so fond of her and knows that i like her too, he was telling me about her doing exactly this all the time, and constantly asking him to check her out too. we cooked up a plan between us that the next time i see her, i'll just kind of 'casually' say something like 'gee, [name] . . . you look different somehow. have your ARMS got bigger?'

i haven't had a chance to do it yet, but i am so going to when the time comes.

I'm reading on stronglifts.com and the language is very manly

hee! to be honest . . . i like stronglifts as a program, but sometimes i go re-read the site for the sheer entertainment of it. i read that guy mehdi the way i used to watch those super-late-night commercials for discount used cars and bulk carpet and stuff that would come on during the 2-am dr who reruns in the 1980's. spend half my time trying to guess what he's on, and the other half wondering if maybe he *should* be on something. like lithium, maybe. or ritalin.

it's like a little piece of cosmic perfection to me that you can shorten his name down to 'meh'. i mean, how much more good can it get?

as far as shape . . . well, meh. i'm early with this, and i don't think i ever had a 'feminine' shape to begin with. when i was at the weight that i'm aiming for now (around 120 lb), i myself mistook pictures of me for my 12-yo son; and after i picked up 25 extra pounds, i just looked . . . dumpy, i think. i've never really had boobs, just a ribcage with nipples on it. so, y'know. it's partly what you start with, i think.

with all that said though: i've pretty much realised i'm not going to get back the shape that i was the last time i weighed 120, even if i do get to 120 again. lifting heavy might be handing me curves i've never had in my life. i was kind of concerned about this as well, because i consistently bike quite a lot, and the last thing i felt like i need is more thighs. instead, what seems to be happening is a general balancing thing. i've still got the quads, but they're getting harder and tighter, not bulkier. i've got this single clean curve now from knee up to hip that i've never had in my life. the deadlifting is finally adding hamstring muscles that i never got from the bike, which i'm really really happy about. we won't discuss my bum yet, if you don't mind. but i don't think this programme is hurting it any. aesthetically, anyway. in other ways, ow.

i don't think you can get 'big' by pure accident. i guess my plan is to keep an eye on how i feel about The Look, carry on while i'm still liking The Look, and rethink if i ever get to where i dislike The Look more than i like lifting whatever weights i'll be lifting by then. and i know from my on-off experience as a bike commuter that if you don't like muscles . . . all you have to do is quit using them and they go away.

I've been doing a modified stronglifts (basically just compounds anymore) for almost a year. My weight hasn't changed, but my body sure has, and people definitely notice. I'm more compact, have visible abs, and very little cellulite any more. Still need a little work in the bum area (IMO), but I'm going to need a bulk for that. :-)

Well, genetics ultimately determines your shape - where you store fat, where fat comes off of first, how dangerous your curves will be, etc. so can't really make any promises on that front. If you're eating at a deficit, then you will not increase your current muscle mass (fat loss should be occurring which will make your muscles more visible, but they will not grow bigger - it's an optical illusion that often gets misconstrued as "bulky"). However, for me personally, I love what lifting has done and continues to do for my body. Everything feels firmer. I feel stronger. I am stronger. My butt looks fantastic. Lifting for me just brings out whatever shape I am naturally under all my fat, which is again, pre-determined by genetics. I'll always be busty no matter what my body fat percentage is and having muscle definition in general makes me feel good about myself.

^^All of this except I'm not busty lol!

I write this as I'm sitting in my office at work flexing my arms right now..... I like to feel the muscles in my arm hahaha I hope I'm not the only one that does this.

I LOVE the changes to my body!! I have been at it for about 4.5 months, and my butt is rising, stomach flattening, shoulders looking firmer--more straight across. But my arms--my gosh! I am like Christiano Ronaldo now with my mirror obsession--It really is embarassing how much I love my arms. Still a little jiggly on the underside, but not enough to make me buy a dress or a shirt with sleeves for the summer--LOL......

Give the program a go--you can always slow down or stop, if you dont like what's going on with your own self... But I bet you will!! Good luck.