Sorry, we were being a little silly. I didn't mean to make you feel bad. The thread Meg pulled up is actually a really good one. As for where to start, there is a good book called New Rules of Weightlifting for Women and the author talks about weightlifting principles & nutrition and there is a pretty good plan to start. I would recommend a few sessions with a personal trainer if you can swing it. Stumptuous.com is a good site to get some ideas. Also feel free to join in on our monthly chat thread. I read about new exercises on there all the time.

i did read the thread and it helped answer my questions.... and i just may have to snag the book you are talking about too!

Start now. You can't get ripped like a man unless you take steroids and spend a few bazillion hours in the gym. If you belong to a gym, they probably have an orientation of some sort to get you started in the weight room, so that's a good place to start, or you can hire a personal trainer who can show you what to do and get you started. There are also books like Body for Life or New Rules of Lifting for Women, that you can borrow from your local library, that give a great beginner intro to lifting.

I agree with jamsk8r, you would have an amazingly hard time getting "ripped like a man" even if you wanted to. Going to a gym where they have trainers to help you develop a workout might be a good idea, or hiring someone just to get you started.

Figuring out which exercises to do and how to do them is the hardest part, but once you have that you can just do the same thing every week. I like exrx.net, they have some instructions for developing a weight training workout (exrx.net/WeightTraining/Instructions.html) but it might be a bit on the technical side and a book or trainer would be easier. exrx is a good reference in any case.

Of course, you should do cardio at the same time for greater weight loss.

I used the Body for Life book (the first one, not the one for women) and weight lifting (and eating) plan when I lost weight after my first pregnancy... It was so awesome to have that resource because it really helped me see past the myths of weightlifting for women. I lifted hard with the goal of building serious muscles, and I can honestly say that I never was near the risk of being to bulky. I looked really, really fit and sleek.

Muscle does not weigh more than fat (because as you will see said here over and over, a pound is a pound is a pound), but a pound of muscles is much smaller visually and takes up less space than a pound of fat. So when people say that muscles weighs more than fat, they mean a chunch of muscle tissue weighs more than the same area of a chunch fat tissue. That is why someone can be 5'5", 150 pounds, and wearing a size 5 and someone else can be the same height, 130 pounds, and barely squeezing into a size 5... The first person has more muscle tissue, which (pound for pound) takes up less space on their body than fat.

Anyways... Sorry to ramble! I am new here as well, but not new to weight-lifting. I am planning to buy the New Rules book because I have heard great things about it.

So prior to having three little munchkins who always seem to NEED something , I was this same size for a number of years...and I maintained it with a mix of calorie counting, cardio and strength training at the gym -- a mix of machines, free weights and some "body weight" type exercises like crunches. I spent a good hour at the gym doing the strength training every other day, but I NEVER bulked up. I was just trim and fit looking.

This time during my weight loss, while I wanted to go to the gym, I couldn't figure out how to swing it with my schedule, but I knew that I wanted strength training to be part of my routine. What I did was go buy some resistance bands at a fitness store -- the kind with handles and a door attachment. At first I was skeptical that big rubber bands would do the trick, but I searched the web for some exercise routines using the bands and I read the suggested exercises that came with them...and I started using them as soon as I started my weight loss journey back last summer -- as well as some other "body weight" exercises like leg lifts, lunges, crunches, bicycle crunches and wall push-ups (Now regular push-ups as I am in better shape than I was...). I have to say that the resistance bands work INCREDIBLY well. I would put my body now, at 37 and eight years after my first child was born, up against my former body, in my late twenties, any day (Oh, except my poor boobs...nursing and weight gain has taken a toll there...but resistance training can't do much to fix that problem so I am VERY grateful to Victoria's Secret. ).

This afternoon my sweet husband was kind of leering at me as I got out of the shower following my cardio...and he asked me to flex my back muscles...so I did. He said, and I quote, "Wow, you are so hot." Eloquent, isn't he? But I am kind of proud of my muscle "tone"--which is really just a way of saying my "girl muscles" cause we don't grow the man version without some seriously insane working out, and I can assure you that I am ABSOLUTELY not "ripped like a man". My arms have "definition" and so do my legs and my abdomen, but it is not bulky. On most women, muscle translates as "lean and sexy"...um, if I do say so myself.

Anyway, this rambling post was my round about way of saying...start now. It doesn't have to be a gym. My strength training isn't in a gym -- but I have also done that too and it works great as well.

Oh, a short illustration...my sister and I are the exact same height and I out-weigh her by around 8 pounds. However, we WEAR the same size and our measurements are identical to within 1/2 an inch, and I get to eat more than she does because my lean muscle mass burns more calories. The difference is that while she is a biker and a runner, she doesn't strength train.

If you do it, you will most likely lose weight more steadily as you ramp up your metabolism, and you will start to "look different" at a higher weight. Besides, it makes you feel great -- strong and full of energy.

That was a great post Schumeany... You reminded me of the importance of maintaining (or building) a healthy metabolism. The health and wellness center near my work has this fancy machine that calculated my exact metabolic rate after I breathed into a long tube attached to the machine. After 10 minutes, I knew exactly (not estimated) how much my body burns at rest. I was surprised to learn that my RMR (resting metabolic rate) was 2 deviations below the norm (though still within in the range of normal). I am excited to go back this summer and see if I have increased it by working out and weight training.

For anyone who is doubting weight training, my suggestion is to find a place that has a RMR machine so that you know where you stand in regards to metabolism. Seeing my rate below the norm reminded me that weight training is something I will have to do in order to see optimal results with weight loss and body shape. I do not just want to get smaller and stay the same shape... I want improve my metabolism and build beautiful muscles.

Muscle "weighs more" than fat because it has a higher density, for a given volume, say 1 cubic cm, the cubic cm of muscle weighs about 1.1g while the fat weighs 0.9g. For 20lbs, the difference in volume is slightly less than 2 quarts (rough estimate).

Start now with whatever you can. Years ago, I couldn't do a 5lb shoulder press without major soreness. Now I am doing 50lbs+ (yeeeears later, of course). It CAN be done!