Beast Mode

As a woman, being in my 30s now I don't think I qualify as a girl, I've always heard the mantra from the fitness world "cardio burns fat! cardio will lose weight!" and that has been my watch word and guide. However, I've discovered something...interesting.
The Weight Room.

Not the pretty Nautilus equipment with the color coordinating  pads. The free weights. Barbells, dumbbells and benches scattered across a space that looks more like a torture chamber than a place to exercise. I'd never spent much time in there, mostly because no one told me I should. I've always prided myself on being fairly strong, due to the naturally dense muscle I appear to have inherited and have always had, but since I joined Fitocracy (and if you haven't, go do it) I've been seeing these women, young and older, who are not cardio bunnies. These ladies move some metal. I can show you a 25-year-old woman who can deadlift 150 lbs. That's not strong for a girl, that's just strong. Period.
That's when I said, maybe I need to start looking into this. It appears to work. So I started to read up online and bought a few books, began to plan my workouts as circuits of exercises that went together. I do better in the gym if I have a plan. Otherwise, I wander round and do nothing useful.
My first time trying to deadlift, I took a little video and posted it on the site. I needed feedback, since I wasn't sure I was doing it right. I received so much helpful info from people I didn't know, and who didn't know me, it was amazing. I can now deadlift about 30lbs pretty handily and my squats now always drop below parallel.
Some folks I know wonder why I would invade this boys' club. Why do I want to lift weights? Aren't I afraid of bulking up? And to that I say...Piffle. No really, piffle. You can only seriously bulk up if your genes allow for it or you are somehow chemically altering yourself. I don't, so that's no problem. It's not a Boys' club, it's a Lifters' club, and the only time I get even a cross look is when I fuss at someone for not racking the plates.
And I want to lift weights because it WORKS. It's helping my body become healthy and strong and it will kick the arse of the last 10 lbs I have to lose.
Weight training isn't scary, isn't dangerous and will not make you look like a man. It will make you a better woman.

Go, get strong.

Cutting Off Your Nose

A recent trip to my doctor made me laugh. He was pleased that I had lost a pound that I had gained last time but was concerned about me possibly plateauing. Then I gave him my food diary for the past week. He read it. Read it again. Looked up at me and said,

"Actually, with the way you have veered off the path this week, it's kind of a miracle you didn't gain. You might be the only patient I have who loses weight in spite of what she does, instead of because of what she does."

He may have been right. A little. I haven't been eating very well in the last month. I've let stress and illness be excuses for me to grab cheap and easy foods that have nothing to do with my long-term goals. But I've found some great printable food journals on Pinterest (the Weight Watchers ones are too small) and I'm really trying to keep that up. It does really help when you see what you have eaten that day. Makes you re-think the brownie or the extra soda.

So hopefully next month I can go back and say "I've stopped cutting off my nose now."

You know, to spite my face?