As I'm new to lifting I didn't really cheat that much compared to all of you - I just didn't have time for that yet So I've usually limited myself to ordering pizza or burgers.

It was more than enough for me, but I love to treat myself with some sweets as well.

I'm eating mostly clean and I really care about my shape thus I stick to my diet, but not as religiously as some people do.

I like to have some beer or wine once a week. I'll gladly have a slice of pizza after workout as well, but when I was losing weight I was trying to eat 100% clean.

I believe, that eating cheat meals during weight loss is a bad idea and I think most can agree with me.

The only exception would be low carb diet - CBL/CN where cheat meals/days are an extremely important part of diet.

Nice thread! I was always pretty much quad dominant as well. I think it's because people really do neglect their hamstrings overall.

Mostly I see that people do half-squats instead of full ATG squats, which is probably another reason, why their quads are stronger than their hamstrings on average.

I was doing half squats as well, until I have been corrected by some huge guy at my gym, who told me that full squats are better and safer.

I couldn't disagree, especially after I have confirmed it on this forum So, apart from ATG - Ass To Grass Squats I love doing Single Leg SLDL and Seated Leg Curls

Hey, great story! I kind of know what you mean, as I have my success story here as well and I felt like it's something much more amazing than it really is after I have objectively read what I wrote. I guess, that I'm just not a good writer either, but don't worry - I really enjoyed reading your story!

I remember when I was clueless about gym as well - I was doing everything wrong too, but I can see that you are a very motivated person and you figured it out because you were strong enough to keep looking for answers, even when you were constantly failing. I have to congratulate you for getting so far. By the way, what is your goal now?

You have gained 20 pounds and you have made your body more fit. What do you plan now? Do you aim more for looks or strength or maybe both? I personally aim for both, although I'm still focusing on strength more.

Hello everyone! I wanted to ask about some more advanced stuff. So how is it with cardio? I read on different forums that cardio is really pointless.

It doesn't give any effect and that HITT wins hands down over cardio. I personally was doing some cardio when I was losing weight and I feel like it has definitely helped me.

What is your opinion about it? I saw that most of you actually recommend cardio, but there is just so many different opinions, that I would like to clarify it as it is bothering me.

Hey! You should just sort out your diet, buy some vitamins and maybe a creatine also will be a good option. Apart from that, as Katyaa already said - eating a lot of carbs before working out should give you more energy, but don't eat too much though - I usually feel sleepy after eating too much carbs and it actually gives you an opposite to effect to the one you desire. You should also remember to get enough sleep! It is very important.

I've actually tried them once when I was just starting out. I've actually lost more weight when I wasn't using any fat burners than when I was.

So it has only lead me to one conclusion - they don't work or their impact is so insignificant, that they are not worth buying either way.

I'm leaning towards the latter - they may help, but this little of help is not worth paying for at all. You are free to do as you wish though.

Well, you have already figured out the most by yourself, right? What do you need? Do you just want to know if adding cardio for 30min three times a week will be enough? Well, if you read our topics, you should know that we don't recommend adding cardio right out of the bat, right?

You should start slowly. Just cutting your calories should be enough to lose 10 pounds and if you are that impatient, you can add some cardio to fasten the process after a few weeks.

Still just diet and training should be more than enough to lose 10 pounds in 3 months. You can easily do it in even two months without really sacrificing your life :)

Did you try protein shakes without additional components, like for example Extensor? I know a person, who cannot consume all those normal protein shakes as well, but she reported no issues with those that didn't have any additional stuff put into them. There are many different brands, just pick some and see for yourself.

I'm not sure if we are qualified enough though. You should talk with clinical nutritionist about what you can eat and let him suggest you some products.

Well, I care about strength a bit, but I would never commit to using steroids just for the sake of adding additional pounds on my barbell. I already have a goal - and it is enjoying working out and staying in shape - I don't need steroids for this. Of course I love new challenges, but I feel like it wouldn't be satisfying if I broke my old records just because of using illegal substances...

Don't do any steroids! Just like Katyaa said, leave it for the pros and if you just want to improve there is a lot of threads on how to constantly progress.

Take into account also that women will never be as big and ripped as men naturally. We even have more body fat to begin with - women with 20% BF is considered to be in a nice shape, while men with 20% BF are overweight - we are just built differently, leave steroids for men or bodybuilders. You will be much more feminine and attractive for men if you just keep working out and progress slowly, step by step.

Thank you all for really kind words! I'm not really a good writer, but I was doing my best, so I hope you really did enjoy reading it.

@hammlie: I don't consider myself a genetic freak or anything of this sort. I just spent quite a lot of time on improving my strength - though I'm still nowhere close to some of the people in this forum in both strength and experience. I think to achieve what I did you just need to take gym really serious and I'm sure many younger women may get on my level even faster if they are dedicated enough!

Hello!

I'm 5'5" and I weigh 110 pounds now. I'm training for a while already and I'm here on this forum for a while as well. I never had a time to post something more about myself and as I have finally achieved my goal of losing -30 pounds and also adding a lot of pounds on my barbell I just had to sit down, make a coffee and start writing about it to share this great news with the community that have significantly helped me achieve this goal.

So, to be accurate I have started to work out with a good diet on 14th September 2016, so a little bit over a year has passed. I did work out a little bit back at home before I have found this forum, but I didn't take it serious at all. I didn't have any diet that I did stick to, so my progress was very small, but once I found this forum, became an active member, gathered some knowledge I have set my path and didn't hesitate even once during this time - probably because of the great progress that I have made :)

So, I have lost -30 pounds in 5 months and I was already partially happy with how I look, but working out and progressing is so addictive that from the main goal I turned it into a stepping stone for a much bigger goal, which I am still aiming for and day by day getting closer to it! So what is my end-game? It's simple. I want to keep working out and feel good about myself. I don't want to be Miss Olympia or anything of this sort - I just want to feel good in my body and from what I have realized, the only way to achieve that is to never stop working out! That's my long-term goal.

Of course I will appreciate the progress that comes along, so improving my looks and strength is very important here as well, but it's not a priority anymore. Priority is to keep being fit and feeling good about myself :)

So, back to the story - after I have lost some weight I moved to 5x5 plan - designed for gaining strength. Actually people were really looking a bit weird at me, because most girls at the gym were occupying cardio machines and I was usually loading heavy plates on my barbell.

Another 6 months I spent doing 5x5 while eating healthy. I managed to gain extra 10 pounds, which were all muscles as I didn't notice any fat increasement and I was focusing mostly on strength for this period.

I really enjoy going to the limit sometimes with heavy barbell on my back. Shame is, that I didn't see any girl working the same way as I do, but there were plenty of men looking back at me with kind of an amazement :P. That felt nice.

As for now, I just started doing Push and Pull plan on higher reps, I think I've reached my strength goals for now and I would prefer to focus on doing exercises with higher rep, gain some stamina and change the scenery for a bit. I plan to work out like this for next couple of months, then I'm probably switching to 5x5 again because this is the plan which I have enjoyed the most so far.

My current strength records are:

Squat: 160 pounds
Deadlift: 220 pounds
Bench Press: 105 pounds

I think it's quite good as I haven't seen any women using same weights as I do, although I found some men that did :P

Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed my little story :) I don't plan on updating it as pretty much this is the goal that I wanted to reach and the only thing that I will keep doing now is adding more pounds on my barbell and improving in terms of both strength and looks :)