LIFT like a BEAST!

With the crazy over the past year between new house, stressful job, teenage kids (aka LIFE), I had been abysmal on "taking care of me".  I had been seeing the scale tick up over the past 12 months and by January, I decided enough was enough. 

Of course, diet is the root of it all, so I went back to my tried-and-true keto diet (seriously, if you can get into ketosis and stay there, its like having a SUPERPOWER!)  Additionally, I stepped up my cardio game again.  I absolutely love cardio because it puts me in a zen-like state where I can work through problems that are plaguing me and really helps me with my mental health.

But the real solution for keeping weight off?  Its power weight training. WHAT the WHAT??  Yep, you read that right.  I thought I'd share some insights into this technique as women don't naturally consider this when looking for ways to maintain physical health.  So let me just wax poetic for a few minutes on the benefits of weight training....

It causes you to lose fat.
BAM!  Muscle is essentially the engine for your body.  By building muscle, you are increasing your metabolism/engine capacity and you can burn more fuel, aka calories.

It helps decrease risk of osteoporosis.
As you build up core strength, you are also increasing bone density.  This also helps with posture and lower back pain.  Hitting 40, I'm starting to "feel my age" so anything that can help make it a little less painful to get out of bed is a win in my book.

It enhances mood and reduces stress!
This is by far my favorite benefit.  After spending an hour in my FUNgeon, I feel incredibly powerful, like I can take on the world!!!

Here's where I started, the basic Starting Strength for beginners program.  I used this for the first few months back into weightlifting, starting with the following weights:

Bench = 50 lbs
Deadlifts = 105 lbs
Squats = 125 lbs

Once I had stabilized into the habit of lifting 2-3 times per week consistently for 3 months, I purchased a weight lifting app for my phone, the StrongLifts program, which has expanded my range of exercises and increased the amount of my work sets.  I opted to pay the $10 for the full version, and I think it was well worth it as it takes all the thinking out of determining warmup sets or doing weight plate math.  :o)

Here's where I'm at today:                                                  My End of Summer Goals:
Bench = 105 lbs ~ 1.6x stronger!                                        135 lbs
Deadlifts = 195 lbs ~1.7x stronger!                                     250 lbs
Squats = 205 lbs ~1.5x stronger!                                         250 lbs
"New" Overhead press = 50 lbs                                             75  lbs
"New" Bent over row = 75 lbs                                             125 lbs

BRING ON THE WEIGHTS!