[nubby]

Hello All
I have a question - I am currently 231/5 ft tall (just lost my first 20lbs in the past three weeks - which I am happy about but nervous - hoping my body really was releasing a LOT of water as I am nervous about losing muscle. I own a treadmill and have begun walking 10 minutes a day on it twice as day as that is all my knee can take from hauling around twice my body weight for the last 8 years. We own a Cross Bow and I would like to start using it so as to get some muscles under this flab - is that an okay idea - should I hold off using weights/strength training until I lose some more weight? I am not as concerned about seeing the numbers on the scale as I am inches and understand the working with weights may not make the numbers on the scale go down I just don't know if it is okay to do something like this at my weight...

[Meg]

Start your weight lifting now! It will help you to lose the fat AND look fabulous when you get to your goal.

Check out these recent discussions of weightlifting/strength training while losing weight:

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/show...threadid=31893

and

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/show...threadid=32365

Especially pay attention to the photo of 5# of muscle vs. 5# of fat!

I started at 257 pounds -- really close to you! -- and lifted weights, as heavy as I could, from the begining. And I managed to lose 122 pounds in a little less than a year. More important, I've maintained that loss for 17 months and counting, still doing the same things that I did to lose the weight.

Come and join us in our Ladies Who Lift forum if you have any other weightlifting questions!

Meg

[nubby]

Meg
You look amazing! I would love to see your Before and Afters!
Thank you so MUCH! I am heading upstairs to dust off the Cross Bow and watch the video so I know how to use it! That picture said it all for me!

one more question for you - since you were constantly toning/lifting while losing did you have any "skin problems" I am very concerned about when I get to goal that I will have to have the tummy tuck for my "apron" as I have heard it call

[Meg]

Hi Nubby! The Ladies Who Lift forum has a little photo gallery here http://groups.msn.com/3FCLadiesWhoLift/shoebox.msnw and if you scroll down, you'll see Meg's Album. I posted a bunch of before, during, and after pictures in it. And take some time and look at the other albums -- you'll see lots of amazing transformations taking place with the ladies who lift!

Yes, I did end up with some excess skin problems when I reached my goal weight. But they would have been far worse if I hadn't exercised while I was losing, I'm convinced. You really won't know how your skin will react until you reach your goal weight and maintain for a while. And it's a lot better to have excess skin than excess fat!

After you dust off the Crossbow, pop over to the LWL forum and say hi to everyone!

Meg

[wcolleen]

You may have skin issues, but I agree wholeheartedly with Meg that lifting from the get-go will help. I lost a good deal of weight before I started getting serious about lifting and eating adequate protein (about 50 pounds), and have somewhat of an "apron," but I can't tell at this point if it's here to stay or not, as I probably have another 20 or 30 pounds to lose, I'm guessing (I started out at 265, and am now 175-ish). With time (and lotsa lifting), I am gradually seeing it tighten up, but in hindsight, I really regret not lifting initially. Check out the photo link Meg sent ya -I'm in there, as well as some really inspirational success stories - Mrs. Jim, Meg and many others. And feel free to ioin us at the Ladies & Gents Who Lift thread!

[nubby]

Thank you so much for posting that link - you are all so AMAZING and what an inspiration! I watched the video last night and did my legs tonight - they felt kind of rubbery afterwards - can I assume that is normal?