mnsmov: I love that even though you stopped lifting you maintained the progress that you had made. Welcome back!
Sunshine: take some time to get yourself together if you need to! The lifting will be here when you're ready to get started again.

I'm doing 3 days of yoga this week and three days of lifting. I got a little sick of runs and my knee was starting to hurt so I'm going to take some time to let my body heal. Plus I've always wanted to improve my flexibility and get back to the looseness that I had when I was dancing regularly. I've dipped down into the 134's and hopefully yoga will help me keep this downward trend the way running did.

I would love to start up again! I started this program in January but stopped before completing stage one. I got a little discouraged because I kept getting hurt.the tendonitis in my forearms and pain in my shoulder were too much. I think I bumped up the weights too fast.
For the past 30 days I've been eating 1500-1700 ish calories and walking about 10,000-15,000 steps a day. I'm still feeling a little sore in the joints but I figured if I start off light and gradually go to heavy I can get my body conditioned to it.
I love reading all of your posts and I feel so inspired to jump back in! Yay!
Thank you all for sharing!

@ mnsmov15
Thanks so much for the welcome! ;-) my first day stage one workout A was Tuesday night. I basically used 5 and 10 lb weights to start off... All I have to say is OUCH!!!! Thankfully so joint or tendon pain but yesterday and today I have a serious case of DOMS. Nothing Motrin won't help, though. I'm glad I didn't jump into heavier weights right away! Workout B is waiting till Friday.

I love that you are running! I would love to build up to that someday but for now I'm happy walking! I love using my fitbit. It makes me happy to see my steps go up. ;-)

oh hi ladies and hi newcomers... im so glad that we are in this journey. im super excited to see all your numbers, weights and lifting...
from my side, better from the flu, i really couldnt keep myself so i still did what i could while i was sick hehe. im addicted to lifting.
so im 3 workouts away from finishing stage 4, after 2 rounds of stage 7. my body has changed soooooooo much with stage 7 and stage 4, i love love love it. my belly is not where it should be but it's looking good. i havent broken many PRs but im focusing in my form, keeping my knees healthy and losing weight steadly.

i've kept on losing weight as well, im officially 12lbs down and last tuesday i celebrated my 6 months mark! who would have thought?!

so on my non lifting days ive started Strong Curves, since the first 4 weeks are mostly body weight. ive also discovered i love doing cardio in my building stairs.. i live in a 5th floor so those 5 flights of stairs are my free private gym now lmao. good hiit=good burn

once im done with my stage 4 next week, i will give it a try at stage 5 but most probably i will be doing StrongLifts5x5 + StrongCurves in the same days and some cardio or hiit on my rest days.

when i have a time i will upload my progress pic. i think it's very motivational to the new lifters and hopefully will encourage the other ladies to upload their progress pics as well

@maya : That's fantastic!! Your results are so impressive!! Glad its working out for you I struggle more with consistent eating than consistent workout. How have you been deciding about your intake?

@sunshine : I concentrate on the big workouts. Do 5 minutes cardio in the beginning and don;t count it in my lifting. I workout before lunchtime @ work/office gym so I want to get in and out quick. Since I run on the non lifting days, I don't fo HIIT afterwards. Have been focusing on just the lifts and between supersets, I take 60s rest. With each exercise in the superset, I try and take less than a minute rest. may b like 45s or as long as I can get my breathing under control.
This usually works out to be 40 mins for me.

I feel that I find myself really tired and worn out if I workout harder or longer. That is my limitation, but I am working with it for now.

I am starting stage 1 today and am very nervous! As someone who has not used the weight room before it feels intimidating!

Hi All!
Quick question.... I'm on my 2nd week of stage one now and I feel like these workouts are so short. It takes me 20-25 min to finish them. Needless to say I'm wiped out at the end.
Is this a normal amount of time or am I going too fast/slow?
Thanks
Luanda

Hiiiii! It's been a while since I've been on here but I'm glad to see you ladies doing so well. I finished two rounds of stage 7 and I'm currently doing stage 4. I've added in yoga on my off days but....I hate yoga. It's so slow. I have tooooo much time to think. And it just keeps going and going. But it's supposed to be super great for you. Once I finish stage 4 I'm going to do another round of stage 7 and then stage 5 and then stage 7 again and then I think I'll be doing supercharged. I've lost 8 pounds so far and 5 inches off my waist. I'm so excited for all my progress!

Guess I missed reds post as well. That is amazing progress, you've got to feel great. Looking to move on stage 7 after current stage 5..... Heard it's hellacious, but maybe one reason for your losses? What do you think, is it a shredder?