jumping on the fitness bandwagon

[annika]

Hello y'all. Saying hi to the community and looking forward to learning more about strength training.

tl;dr version: I have already lost 70 pounds through adopting a mostly paleo diet, without exercising. Now looking to ramp things up by strength training for the first time ever.

full version: I started gaining weight at about age 19, and was diagnosed with insulin resistance somewhere along the way. At 29 and after two babies I hit 220 pounds. I finally decided I needed something that worked as over the years I had tried calorie counting, cardio exercise (which I HATE), and various gimmick diets and nothing worked, or nothing worked long-term. So I started really researching insulin resistance and started taking various vitamins that are demonstrated to help improve insulin sensitivity (b complex, vitamin d, etc), and adopted a mostly paleo diet (paleo + full fat dairy, because I like my cheese and yogurt) and over the past year my weight has dropped down to 150. I feel healthier and look way better.

However, I recently realized that my rounded belly wasn't entirely fat- my abs were weakened by pregnancies and c-sections- and so I started researching fitness as well. As mentioned above, I hate cardio so I had been resisitant to an exercise regimen when first starting to improve my health a year ago. But somehow I stumbled here and read about the benefits of women "lifting heavy" and decided to give it a try (of course, I am so out of shape that right now "lifting heavy" means 15 lb bicep curls, lol) I am five sessions in, and already impressed by the progress I am seeing in my legs through squats.

For the first time ever I am really confident that I am on the road to healthy, sustainable fitness and weight management. Looking forward to learning more about strength training from all of you

[canadijen]

So happy to read about your successes with Paleo, thanks for the inspiration!