Progress Analysis Charts

Having been an engineer, I like charts.  So I decided to chart my progress.  Using data collected using the Body Fat Calculator (here), I created charts of my lean mass gains, body fat percentage, and fat mass over the 17 weeks of training.  The training over that time varied:
 
June 29: began body weight training 2x per week for legs with 10lb dumbbells for arms, walking 2-3 miles 3x per week.
July: Sometime in July I decided to "bulk" (caloric surplus)
By August 8: I was using 20 lb dumbbells for arms and doing some leg exercises with 10 or 20 lb dumbbells.  Reduced my walking to 1.5 miles 2x per week and increased weight lifting to 4x per week.
August 11:  Earliest time I remember taking protein powder.
August 21: Began "cut" (slight caloric deficit)
October 12-26: Was sick from reaction to allergy medicine and had to reduce weight lifting to 2x per week and no walking or martial arts due to gout flaring.
October 26:  Still increasing weight on some leg exercises and arm exercises periodically.  Currently squatting 70lb for 3 sets of 10.  Can deadlift at least 140 lb, Bench at least 75 pounds, Curl 30 lb with my right arm (lol).  I'm still cutting.

So here are the charts.

Lean Mass
Lean mass gain rate seems to be consistently going up.  Maybe a slight reduction in rate since I started cutting.
 
Fat Mass
 

Fat mass started to drop significantly after I started cutting.  Slowing down in the last few weeks.  But that could be due to the fact that I was sick and not doing any cardio (except for 2 martial arts classes). 

Body Fat Percentage

According to the Body Fat Calculator, I was 40% body fat starting out.  Another calculator I used had me around 38%.  For the sake of simplicity, I'm only looking at the Body Fat Calculator in this assessment.  My body far percentage started to drop after I began cutting.  In the last few weeks, it is getting more difficult to reduce the percentage. Perhaps that is due to the fact that I was sick and not doing any cardio since October 12th (Week 15).  I was unable to walk yesterday morning too.  We'll see how I'm looking a few weeks from now after having recovered from medicine/gout and resume my full cardio routine.

Summary

My lean mass gains are still increasing at a good rate, my body fat percentage was reducing more slowly in the last few weeks, but that could be due to illness.  Lean mass gain rate was about 0.66 lb/wk, fat loss of 1.19 lb/wk, and body fat percentage reduction of 0.68% per week for 17 weeks.  
 
Benefits of Weight Lifting
 
I was probably around 29% body fat before having kids, and was 135 lb.  Currently, I'm 144 pounds with 28.4% body fat.  I did some figuring and it may have taken me 9 months of slight dieting and no weight lifting to get to where I was at 4 months with weight lifting.  Weight lifting and the diet changes (maybe the increased protein intake) make the dieting more do-able.  I remember trying the slight diet approach before I even considered my current path, and I could not do it.  My body was reacting with hypoglycemia and making me a miserable and cranky mom.  I quit dieting.  Something about what I'm doing enables me to be a little hungry but not have the same blood sugar problems as before.  I like that the body fat percentage goes down more quickly with weight lifting.  Maybe it's because the body uses some of fat stores to have the energy to make lean mass when in a caloric deficit?  I have fewer issues with hip bursitis.  My knees are no longer achy between leg workouts.

Goals
Ideally, I would like my body fat percentage to be around 23% and increase lean mass to 108 lb.  Hopefully this also cures me of the health problems I had like postpartum depression and postpartum insomnia without taking pharmaceuticals.
 
So I let it all out in the name of science.  40% body fat? Ouch!  PPD and insomnia?  Sheesh.  Unable to just diet due to hypogycemia?  Ouch!  Also, there is not a lot of data about lean mass gains for women.  I take whey protein, but nothing else.  So the 1 lb of lean mass per month for women I was hearing may not be the most accurate.  I looks like I'm closer to 2 lb per month as a total newbie.

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