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...

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

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

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

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!

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?