Dedicated to Serious Weight Lifting

I have been doing free and machine weight training for the last three years. I had surgery in Sept of '02. My weight loss halted at 268 for over a year, then it started creeping up again. It seemed the more I exercised the more weight I gained. I am now hovering at 295 (my original presurgery weight was 435) I am very physically active, and I am now in training for power lifting. I work out 6 days a week, for no less than 2 hours a day. I eat 5-6 protein shakes a day, plus a meal, maybe two of chicken or beef strips in a low cal tortilla. I usually eat less than 70 carbs a day. I burn tons of calories. I am working with a Strength conditioning coach, I trust him completely. I am starting to up my weight ability drastically, and I do the elliptical and bike as well as going a couple of rounds of boxing daily for my cardio. I love what I do, it's become a passion. Who'd have thought a serious fat girl, could be such a gym rat..and proudly display her callouses! My main frustration is that i'm not dropping weight..I am losing inches, slowly. I have about 80 #'s to go, before i'll be comfortable having my plastics done. I was never looking to be thin, just healthy..and healthy I am. But..i'd like to be a nice 180 or so..fit..strong. Anyone else into heavy weights? Any suggestions? or..Any Comments at all?

If your losing inches then your fine. The fact that you stopped losing and actually gained weight isn't a surprise considering the amount of lifting you actually do. Remember, muscle will always always always weight more than fat and it may be unrealistic to try to get down to 180 while doing the amount of lifting you are doing. You are Fit, You are Strong. Celebrate that and don't worry about the lbs issue. Until you cut back on the heavy weight lifting its going to be a moot issue, but I can say I'm damn proud of you. Congrats on your goals From a fellow gym rat (pre-op, soon to be again now that I'm post-op) - Kelly

Hi Nancy, your exercise program sounds a lot like mine. I think you might find that if you cut your carbs down to under 30 (45 at the most) you might see an increase in weight loss. I'm not sure which protein you use, but I drink 4 per day at 100 calories a peice. I will tell you the schedule that has really boosted my loss lately (while maintaining and building muscle mass) first thing in the a.m. protein shake right after shake (even though I'm not too hungry I make myself eat) 1 southbeach diet southwestern style chicken wrap (they come 2 in a box and just one is a perfect portion for us) at lunchtime I have : 1 protein shake and then immiediately the other chicken wrap (I always wait one full hour after eating before I drink) for dinner one protein drink followed by MEAT, as much as I can handle and maybe 2 bites of a veggie. I exercise from 7p.m.-9p.m. every night. as soon as I get back from the gym I have a protein shake if I get hungry later in the evening I will have 4 or 5 more bites of whatever meat was for dinner. My calories are right at about 900-100 per day and my carbs are under 40 per day. I keep a pitcher of water in the fridge and refill an aquafina bottle all throughout the day. I usually get in right about a gallon of water this way. I'm happy to see another woman concerned with staying strong rather then just getting smaller. If you are up for it give this eating schedule a try. The weight has been melting off me for the past two weeks while doing this. Email me if you have any questions or want to talk weights. Keep up the good work!!! Sarah

Girl , if your losing inches and getting heavier after pumping iron than basically your burning fat and packing on muscle which outweighs fat per volume by a factor of 3 . People say muscle is heavier than fat a pound of fat is just as heavy as a pound of muscle , its just that the pound of fat will fill more tubs , if your really stressed about this I would suggest you get yourself waterweighed , this is the most accurate method for determining the amount of bodyfat you have , it works on the principal that fat floats and is therefore neutral when being weigh in water.