Lifting

As promised, my lifting post. When I was in undergrad, I was in the gym lifting all the time. I mean hours a day. I would run a little and then lift, lift, lift. But never more than a 10 pound dumbbell. At the same time the running went away, the lifting went away. End of fit cycle one. Fit cycle two was a completely different animal. There was no lifting - I joined Weight Watchers, ate within my allotted points, and ran, and ran, and ran. This worked out just fine. Until I stopped running insane amounts of miles (for me) and started eating more than 1,200 calories a day...I also pretty much doubled my stress level at the same time. Crash - end of fit cycle two. So this time around, I had to figure out a way to eat more than air with peanut butter on it and still stay fit and sane. Enter The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess. This little book has made all the difference. The idea is this - lift heavy weights, build lots of muscle that doesn't actually make you look like a man, bump up your metabolism, get to drink more wine and eat cheese. Hooray!

Okay, so there is a bit more to it than that. Like the hours I have to take away from running and give to lifting. But my shoulders are really looking good. And there is how much I have had to increase my protein. I drink the Jillian Michaels Protein Powder and I buy it from Walmart. Its cheap and sweetened with Stevia...It is one of the few non-natural things I eat now. More on that later. Overall I am aiming for 80 grams of protein on non-lifting days and 120 grams on lifting days. This is a serious challenge for me. But I will hold off - I think I said diet on post four, right?

Here is the other thing about lifting heavy. It makes you hungry. Like really, really hungry. I have upped my calories to 1,500-1,800 a day (not including weekends) and I am still hungry. Hungry, Hungry, Hungry. That's all there is to that.

But I am much stronger. And I have obliques!!!