I am 20 years old, and I reached onederland last January...since then I have found it impossible to stay below 190 despite my best efforts. (I had gotten as low as 182, and bounced up to above 190 for seemingly no reason). Now I am totally recommitted to the weight loss effort, and more determined than before. I have been doing 30 day shred about 5x a week, and treadmill about 3x a week. This week my father (who is a heavy lifter and fitness expert, but knows nothing about women's bodies) bought me a 10 pound kettle bell, and taught me a rigorous routine to do with it. I have done it a couple of times this week.
Here are the questions:

1) How many times should I do it per week?
2) If I am feeling sore, does that mean my muscles are retaining water? (bc I am up 3ish pounds eating low sodium)
3) How many calories should I am for daily? (I am currently eating 1500-1700, but I don't always make it there.
4) what sort of things should I be eating? (I try to stay away from carbs, but it doesn't seem to be conducive to this)

Thank you in advance for your thoughts ~Sara.

Hi Sara,

Welcome to the wonderful world of women's weight training! For a great, free site on starting a training program, diet & target calories, exercises, and other "women stuff," see Krista Scott Dixon's site.

The short answer is that women's and men's bodies are not so radically different that a training program designed for men won't work just as well for women. The amount of weight that you lift will be different, of course, but women benefit from the same type of routine -- one that emphasizes the big compound lifts, full-body engagement, progressively increasing weights, etc -- as the guys. So, listen to your papa!

On #2, it is very common for people who are new to lifting to retain water in their muscles. (And for them to be sore!) A 3# increase in the scale is in the ballpark of normal, and nothing to worry about.

In the longer-term, though, some people find it hard NOT to eat a bunch more when they are getting regular exercise. Depending on how hard and often you are working out, you may be able to eat a bit more and still lose fat, but if you eat as many calories as you are burning in exercise, your progress will be slowed if not stalled altogether. (It's a bit more complicated than just calories in vs. calories out, but that's a start.)

be strong //

Thanks for the info Kaw; It's a pleasure to make your online acquaintance! I wil definitely check out the link

Kaw,

I want to thank you for posting this response as well! I just weighed myself and had a 2 pound gain and could not figure out why. I logged on hoping to find something to make me feel a little better about it and maybe figure out what is going on. I've been doing everything I was, plus working out with my new 10lb kettlebell the past few days. I'm totally new to this and a water weight gain never occurred to me.