I got to lift heavy weights at the gym twice last week (and work up a sweat on the elliptical) and am headed to yoga this morning in an actual studio. Later, I'll go do an infrared sauna & float. I can't even tell you what a huge help to my wellbeing all of this is for me.

I started lifting heavy weights a year ago and was amazed at how effective it is at actually changing one's 'shape'. It also leaves you with a particular 'feel' afterwards that's hard to match, a satisfying feeling of fatigue brought on by exertion (followed by soreness, lol).

Just lifting dumbbells for the past 8 months has been good for maintaining but it just doesn't match the same feeling you get from working out with heavy weights (also for me heavy is squatting with like 55lbs, I'm hardly Schwarznegger over here)

Over time though I've found that these workouts help with my mindset (feeling energizing & optimistic & positive, channeling or calming anxiety/anger/sadness). Cardio and yoga also do this, and all of them help in slightly different ways. I am SO GRATEFUL gyms & studios are open!

I also encourage all women to try lifting heavy weights because it truly will change your body shape (most women will not get bulky) and once you begin to build muscle & reduce fat, it becomes easier to maintain your weight without restricting food.

I worked out with a trainer for about a year, which helped a lot as he taught me a great deal esp around technique. Before I began, I had a knee issue. Thanks to weight lifting though, my knee actually got better, in part because muscles in my quads got stronger.