Long Time Lurker looking to meet people with similar goals.

As embarrassing as this photo is... it was a huge wake up call for me. I am 44 and have been dieting my ENTIRE life. I've done them all. South Beach, WW, Paleo, Atkins, Nutrisystem, The 3 Hour diet, Phentermine, Plexus, Slim Fast, went to a personal trainer for 2 months... I even ate raw for 6 months. The ONLY time I was lean and tone was 2004-2007... I had gotten down to a smaller version of chunky me and reshaped my body when I started doing martial arts 4x a week and stopped dieting. I was a size 4 (loose) 128 lbs. and 18% bf. I felt great. Then a family tragedy turned into me stopping the exercise. Fast forward to this last week and you see a miserable, overweight woman that is SICK SICK SICK of the calorie restrictive diets! I was on 800-1200 calories a day through one very popular diet and wasn't losing one pound after 3 months of weighing and measuring. I didn't even have the energy to take a brisk walk.

I knew there had to be something else. So, I came back here and remembered someone that had made a transformation by eating more and progressive lifting. I started researching, bought NROLFW, read up on Strong Lifts, read IIFYM info, and basically I am thinking if I really want to change... to be strong and lower my body fat... that this is the route to take. I really do not care about the number on the scale... I care about how I look and feel.

Don't get me wrong, I know it is hard... but so is being fat. I have an internal coach telling me not to quit - that I want this and that anything worth having is going to take work and will NOT be overnight. I am looking for any progress and taking it as a reward... no matter how slight.

That being said - here is my plan that I started Monday (would love input):

Stronglifts MWF, Swimming 30 minutes TTh (in heated pool - I used to be a swimmer in school)

Cals: 1560 40/30/30 - I also am trying IIFYM... but trying to keep those macros as whole and healthy as possible. Last night, however I had too many calories left... and on a whim typed in big mac... well... it fit my macros. So...

Q. I do wonder if I eat back my exercise cals on cardio day.
Q. What if I don't have a spotter?
Q. Will this work or has all my research been crazy?


Thank you all for being an awesome community that might just help me be the best me I can be!