Okay girls, I am gonna try again. My mom sold the weightlifting sutff (it wasn't mine but het hubby's) so I am gonna start using my gym-membership for this. I do cardio in other ways, so should do weights at the gym.

Still gonna try and do the NROLW.

I so hope I stick to it this time. You've seen me come and go with the weights, it's not been able to interest me. But I have really decided I want to do a half ironman in a year, so it's time I get some more muscle. Also - I am just not happy with how I look even though I am near goal.

Wish me luck. Again. LOL

Good luck, philana. I actually find weight lifting a lot more enjoyable than other exercise. Because I can do it while watching something on the TV!

OK, I have a very stupid/silly question but it has made me curious.

I started weight lifting in at the start of July. I was doing 20 minutes at first and moved onto 40 minutes most days. Since then, I have noticed the weight on my stomach isn't as jiggy - it's hard. This is a result of weights, right? My main concern would be for some reason I'm worried it will stall weight loss. I have no idea or reasoning behind this thinking but I can't stop thinking it. It won't right? Once I keep up the exercise and stay within my foods, it will be fine? Then I was thinking maybe it's a six pack building behind the weight. The things that go through my head while showering!

krampus: Chin-ups! Woo! And really nice lat pulls. You have gotten really strong really fast, gal.

JossFit, ValRock, sontaikle: Add me to the sleeveless shirt club.

philana: Good luck & welcome back to the thread! I'm excited for you and your half ironman!

Dreamer2012: Weight training certainly isn't going to stall fat loss. That'll be all about the calories. So take a deep breath! When I noticed my stomach "feeling harder," I think it was a result of losing enough fat off the top that I could really feel the muscles beneath. It's awesome! Go you!
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Speaking of arms & sleeveless tops & all, I'm starting to see some better definition in these last few pounds.

I ate like absolute poop the last two days (Meh, it happens) but I decided to try and make the most of it by getting a good heavy workout in today!

I'm ashamed to admit, but I've been slowly shying away from really pushing myself on lifting heavy and focusing more on conditioning and CrossFit METCONs as opposed to muscle building. Now I want to re-focus a bit and work on gaining a teeny bit more mass, so I did a modified 5x5 workout today.

I Picked a few heavy exercises and did 5 sets of 5 reps, and superset each one with a smaller muscle group and slightly higher reps, just to hit that stuff between sets. I ended up doing;

Hack squats @ 260lbs + calve raises @ 260 lbs
Stiff Leg Deadlifts @ 155lbs + pushups
Bench Press @ 105lbs + bench dips
Military press @ 65lbs (cleaned into position) + bench v-ups
Barbell bent over rows @ 115 lbs + EZ bar bicep curls
Dumbbell lateral raises @ 25lb DBs + Reverse Crunches

Ugh, pathetic! I used to lift so much heavier than that. Ultimately I lift to look a certain way, so if I have to sacrifice a bit of strength to maintain my tight figure I'm okay with that, but I think I can lift heavier and stay fairly cut if I just make it more of a priority. My plan is to do a heavy 5x5 workout once a week or so just to gauge progress and push past those comfortable weights.

Uh, YEAH! Its amazing what a difference just a couple of pounds can make once you've got so few left on you. Nicely done!

This is my first post in this forum. I'm here for motivation and information. I've never lifted weights before. Honestly, I am really intimidated by the free weight section of my gym. Everybody knows what they are doing and is ripped. I actually belong to a very weight-lifting, body-building focused gym so it's even more intimidating than normal. In the past I have his myself in the corner on the machines but never really saw any big change. I now realize that I won't unless I do something different because I want to be in the sleeveless shirt club too!

philana- you sound like me. Weights never really interest me but I'm not happy with the way I look even at goal weight.

sumire- you look awesome! Those arms are fab.

JossFit- I'm new to this whole thing but those weights sound incredible hardly pathetic.

OK...I'm off to the gym to experiment with the scary section. It's mid day on a Monday so I am hoping everybody is at work so I won't feel so awkward.

I hate being a girl sometimes... I did one squat and left the gym today because of TOM. I am so weak and my lower back feels like I'm being punched every 10s. No workout for me today. :-(

JossFit: Those numbers don't sound like a problem to me. But I know what you mean; when you feel like you're backsliding, it's a pain...

fresh15again: Welcome and good luck! I bet it won't take you too long to feel comfortable. Most days now I'm swaggering around that floor like I'm one of the boys... Weights didn't interest me much, either, until I got off the machines; hope it's the same for you!

LovelyAndLosing: Boo to TOM! Hope you get back into the swing soon.
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Had a crazy busy weekend, which meant that I only got 2 days of lifting in last week. I'm sure the tiny break did me some good.

Starting to get impatient with my weight loss-- I'd like to get it over with and get back to bigger/faster strength gains. But I really can't complain. In 6 weeks of dieting (8 total with a 2-week break in the middle), I've lost about 5 pounds. That is straight-up zippy; last summer it took me about 4 or 5 months to lose 7 pounds. I'm eating more than I was then, too, and taking more days off.

We don't post in here enough. Maybe thats because we're all awesome and are happy with our workouts and have no complaints?

Lol Joss!!

I think I am happy with my workouts. I've been planning how I'm going to fit everything I want to in during the school year though. To get to work from the new gym I joined is VERY convenient, so it'll be easy to lift some weights before work and then go. Now to make sure I actually do it! I've also been trying to plan my meals out. I won't have my own classroom this year so I'm hoping nobody I'm going to work with is a food thief.

I went early to the gym one day before some professional development I had last week and I really liked starting my day that way, but I argued with myself all the way there, haha.

In the mirror and with pictures I see muscles popping more. I'm still the same weight so I'm not sure if I've lost fat or not. I took some measurements (finally) and found that except for a half inch increase on my hips, everything is the same as it was five pounds ago....and I know where that half inch went: my booty. I've noticed it is rounder! Pretty sure the muscle went there!

Everything feels tighter though. Fiance even mentioned it; he tried to poke me and said: "you're hard now." Probably explains why I can wear a slightly smaller size, despite the increase on my hips. There's no squishiness to worry about.

I actually am quite satisfied with my workouts. Didn't have much to report this week, except I did my first proper pull-up. (Had gotten to close grip overhands recently, but not a wider-grip pull-up.)

Went clothes shopping yesterday (my jeans were too big!). I ended up buying some ridiculous sparkly shirts in the little girls' section. I also noticed that in the dressing room lighting, I can now see the horizontal striations below my first row of abs when I lift my arms over my head. The people outside the dressing room must've thought I was nuts. ("Why does she keep holding her arms over her head so long when she's taking off her shirts??")

sumire I always take so long in the dressing room because I am admiring my muscles. I walk in with two things and take forever because I am admiring my back or something

I have recently danced in a dressing room. True story.

I think I'm looking good lately. Been adding lots of body weight exercises inbetween the lifting:



Most of all I don't look freaking gaunt anymore!!! I think I'm looking better than a few months ago:


Thought I was 115 at the time, but I was probably closer to 107. I'm fluctuating between 111 and 112 now. Also where are those shorts I'm wearing? I need to find them again!

Sontaikle,

You look awesome! You look very healthy and happy!

You are an inspiration to me, I look forward to reaching my goal weight of 110-115. I am at 127 right now and the scale is going down sloooowly.... I took your advice and I increased the gym time I allocate to weightlifting. The scale is hardly moving, but I can see some improvements in my appearance. Anyway, I hope I look half as good as you look in your pictures. Also, your hair is so beautiful.

D.