I recently joined the Y and used my free "quick start" work outs. I have a question on weight training. I am already a big girl, 5'10 - 11 currently about 250# size 14-16. I have a lot of muscle, and I don't want to get bulkier. I have had several trainers tell me that weight lifting is not going to make me bulkier. Anyone know if this is true? I don't want to start lifting all of these weights and gain weight! I can handle a lot of weight, they are usally amazed at what I can do and for some reason no matter how many trainers tell me this I just have a hard time believing it! Thanks!

I do weight training 4 times a wk (2 w/a trainer) with a mix of cardio (running / elliptical / bike). I love it! I really am loving the way my body is toning up. My upper body looks great & my legs are starting to catch up - I noticed my calf muscles for the first time today, thinking wow they are "defined", not a lump of fat.

I believe in it - but a balance of exercise is important too. I don't get paranoid any longer about the scale, since the clothing sizes are dropping wkly it seems.

I am also tall, 5'8. I've been lifting consistently for 4 years now and I lift heavy. You will NOT bulk up. you will get defined and tightened but you won't grow big because you do not have the testosterone in your body as a woman. You will be so happy tho, because you will go...wow...I have shoulders, I have collar bones, my legs are looking good and the booty is lifting! Yeah. Lift away, baby. It's the best!

awesome, thank you! I guess I better quit scale watching though lol!

I find at 5ft 10, what I can lift or hold appears amazingly heavy for smaller people! It probably wont bulk you up - the people who bulk up fast are usually ones that have large bodies in the first place due to a lot of muscle tissue - like you can be fat but have LOTS of muscle. For most women, it just wont happen, you'll get nice definition. But really, if you notice you're bulking up more than you'd like, its simple, stop doing it (so much).

I've found though that lots and lots of running has given me the type of body I wanted, tall, slender, with definition/shape but not big muscles. I dont really do any more than pushups and tricep dips for my upper body - good compound body weight exercises for strenght and tone, and running takes care of my lower half.

Always remember that muscle really does weigh more than fat!!! I'd rather be a muscular 200 than a fat 200...kwim? In any case, doing moderate weight lifting will NOT bulk you up. Also, weight bearing exercises are a MUST as we get older, especially for women since we're so prone to bone loss and that'll help it.

How long after being banded can you really work out with weights and so so forth and do situps etc

Weight training WILL NOT MAKE YOU BULKIER!!! But man, it will make you look better! I have been working out with a personal trainer for 4 years - 3 and 1/2 of that was before my lap band surgery.For that 3 1/2 years before surgery I lost like 3 pounds (very frustrating) but my body fat went way down. My trainer is a BEAST!!! He has me work out with way heavier weights than any other women at the gym (partly because I have been working out for so long and have worked myself up to it) When I had surgery I weighed 233 pounds and nobody believed it and I am sure it is because I did so much strength training so looked leaner than I was (relatively speaking, not lean by any stretch of the imagination!) Now that I am really losing weight, my body fat is going down really quickly. Trust me, I am not bulky. And the weight I am losing is almost completely fat. (in two months I have lost 16 pounds and 15 of it was fat). That is what strength training does - the added muscle helps you burn fat. Don't fear it! Embrace it! Love it! (actually, I hate it but I treat it like medicine... yukky but necessary) Let us know how it goes!

Christal - I agree with everybody else (though I'm not a trainer.....but I do work out). Weight work will not bulk you up, unless you are a competetive body builder (ie, all you do is lift, 8 hrs a day). The muscle will bump your BMR, but I'm sure you've heard that before, given that you have a trainer.