Lifting??

I love the strength workouts in these books:
The New Rules of Lifting for Women
Female Body Breakthrogh
Drop 2 sizes

All three come with food plans, too, which do not advocate calorie counting but I've only had success with doing my calorie counting, so I do the food plan on my own and just use the workouts from the books. I like these programs because they keep me going 3 days a week with easy to follow weight training, and there's a lot of variety. You. Need a gym, though, for all but the last (and for that one, you need some weights of your own if you don't have a gym).

A lot of people seem to suggest the Stronglift 5x5 for anyone starting into weight lifting. It's 3 exercises a day, 3 days a week. Alternate between 2 different sets of 3. Day one is Squats, Benchpress and Barbell Rows. Day 2 is Squats, Overhead press and Deadlifts. Very easy to learn, nice app made for tracking your progress and quick too. Me and the wife do it together, takes about 40 minutes for us to do completely. She was new to weightlifting starting this, so sometimes even doing the 45lb bar for certain exercises was too much for her. If you can't squat 45, use Kettle weights. If you can't OHP the 45 bar, you can start with dumbells or the shorter curl bars with ~30lbs of weight.

smicci1 wrote: »

Weight lifting as a female is an amazing confidence booster. I'm just starting the weight loss portion of my journey, but I have been lifting for a few months now, and feel stronger each and every day. Bodybuilding.com has a ton of information for beginners, and some really solid programs you can follow to get you started. I'm on a six day on, one day off routine right now. Start slow and light, and work your way up from there. My husband and I lift together, so I know I always have somebody who knows what they're doing with me, but if you don't have that, try seeking the advice of a trainer to get you started.

Bodybuilding.com is a great resource i always recommend it too, but one thing to note if you do one of their routines make sure its a beginner full body program! I repeat make sure its a beginner program. A lot of the workouts on it are for intermediate and advanced lifters and is usually a bro split (which isnt bad but not typically for beginners) and is high volume.

When my fiance wanted to get into lifting i suggested stronglifts 5x5 it tells you how much to lift, has an app, and uses full body compound exercises which is what you should be focusing on. Also youll see this program constantly suggested and its because its easy and prople have seen good results from it.

Like the above have said it will help shape your body. If youre in a calorie deficit you probably wont gain much muscle (if any) but it will help you retain muscle. So as you lose, the muscle you do have will show more.

there is a really great update to new rules of lifting for women, it's called strong. I really recommend it!

You'll still need to use myfitnesspal properly as well- measuring and logging everything you eat and staying within that calorie goal.. you're right, "eating right" is not enough and no exercise will make you lose weight unless you are also eating in a caloric deficit.

You gained 20 pounds over the summer so it seems you tend to over eat (eat in a caloric surplus) naturally, so it will be even more important for you to track food & watch your calories. I'm the same way, I tend to over eat or eat at maintenance, I have to really pay attention to be in a deficit. Even the lifters/bodybuilders will tell you it's 99% diet that gets you the results you want, and by diet they don't just mean eating healthy foods they mean eating the right amount of calories, getting enough protein, and having the correct macros.

Macros are your protein, carbs, and fats. Myfitnesspal has its own default macros ratios but you can adjust them in the "goals" menu, and if you want to check your macros as you log your food it's accessible at the bottom of your food diary page just click "nutrition".

IIFYM.com is a great resource for figuring out calories and macros if you want to set it up yourself rather than using the myfitnesspal defaults/formula.