I finished my 12th week of Stronglifts on Friday. I’m not posting these photos because they show some awesome transformation. In fact, there’s not a helluva lot of difference between my starting photos and my week 12 photos. And that’s the point. Lifting heavy made me buttloads stronger. But it didn’t make me into She-Hulk. I might eat like a man, lift like a man, sweat like a man, smell like a man and swear like a man… but I still look most definitely like a woman.

In fact, there’s so little change, it’s almost depressing. That I’ve worked my ass off to look pretty much the same. When I’m dressed, no one can see that my waist is a little smaller or that I have more definition in my legs or abs.

But it’s about MORE than just appearance. I’m 40. I’m at an age where women start losing muscle every year. I’m also on depo provera, which can affect bone density. Lifting is like making deposits into an insurance policy on my future health.

And there’s little things, like the other day I was rearranging furniture, and was able to move my dressers without taking all the drawers out first. I was able to lift my husband’s very heavy solid oak antique desk – with his computer still on it – enough to put those moving sliders under it. I would have had to wait for help before. Ditto for taking the air conditioners out of the windows.

All the boring stats…

Starting weight: 132.2
Week 2: 132.6
Week 4: 132.6
Week 6: 135
Week 8: 135
Week 10: 134.2
Week 12: 133.5

According to online calculators, My body fat gone from 20% at the start, to 18.6% now. I’m not sure if that’s accurate or not, but I don’t much care. I’m happy with how I look and feel, so the exact number doesn’t matter to me.

Squat:
Start: 45
Week 2: 70
Week 4: 97
Week 6: 110
Week 8: 127
Week 10: 142
Week 12: 160

Deadlift:
Start: 75
Week 2: 90
Week 4: 107
Week 6: 110
Week 8: 135
Week 10: 145
Week 12: 160

Bench:
Start: 65
Week 2: 75
Week 4: 77
Week 6: 80
Week 8: 85
Week 10: 90
Week 12: 100

Row:
Start: 65
Week 2: 75
Week 4: 87
Week 6: 90
Week 8: 95
Week 10: 100
Week 12: 105

Overhead Press:
Start: 45
Week 2: 55
Week 4: 62
Week 6: 62
Week 8: 65
Week 10: 65
Week 12: 70

And the photos. Since the biweekly photos are getting pretty tiny, I also put the starting photos with the final photos.

And this is why it gets so frustrating when we see women who think they’re going to get big and bulky lifting weights, and especially when they’re doing something like the 30 Day Shred with 3 pound dumbbells and eating 1200 calories. I’m eating at maintenance – about 2300 calories – and lifting pretty darn heavy. I didn’t get noticeably bigger… I’m still wearing the same clothes. I didn’t lose my curves… in fact, my waist got smaller. My bum got higher and perkier.

And best of all… I feel like a superhero. I used to be a weakling. I once threw out my back because I twisted weird cleaning up cat puke. That was humiliating…. walking around like a question mark, and having people ask what happened. “Freak hairball injury.”

Knowing I can bench press 75% of my body weight and squat more than my body weight makes me strut around like a peacock. I always through of myself as pretty awesome. I’m smart, funny, creative, artistic. Being smart, funny, creative, artistic AND strong is even cooler.