First let me start by saying that unlike a lot of you ladies who are building muscle from scratch to lose fat, i'm actively shedding over-developed muscles from my days in the army.

The little bit of pudge I had is long gone, but i've still got the body builder physique!!!! Augh!!!

I know the muscle is slimming out now from my nothing-but-cardio-stretching-and-ballet exercise regimen. My thighs have a noticeable and growing space between them, and I can almost button my fitted-sleeve shirts now, which is amazing because my upper arms were ridiculous. I had 16" arms. Pure muscle. That's bigger than most guys arms!!!!!!! Now they've slimmed out to an almost-normal 12.5" since I quit doing heavy lifting and strength training back in April, and my thighs have shrunk down to 22" from *blush* something close to 28".

I can't even begin to tell you how much better my joints feel losing all that excess weight and muscle. I still have a ways to go, but I can see *my* body starting to come back for the first time in 4 years and i'm so relieved to know i'm still in there somewhere.

How is everyone else doing?

Keep up the good work! I wish I could say I had that much muscle though, that feeling of strength must be amazing. I must say I'm a little inspired.

whoa...your goal weight is 112 at 5'8?? Admirable!

Great keep up the good work

I'm glad you for- finding the healthy way to get back to what you want! Enjoy looking pretty and feminine again!

That is underweight by about 9 pounds.

Nishkitten- congrats on the shrinkage and loss so far!

Way to go! I'm so glad you're feeling good, mentally and physically.

How did you manage to build up so much muscle in the Army? I have several female friends in the service, but none of them a have a body-builder physique.

Great job so far Nishkitten. But can't help but wonder if you've ever been 112 (at your current height)? I'm the same height as you and, while I'm not a 20-Something anymore, I remember getting down to 115 for a bit way back when I was. I actually thought I still looked kind of bulky but, as I recall, I had an awful lot of people asking me if I was OK because I looked sort of sickly. Obviously, everyone has different bone densities, etc. so 112 might be a good weight for you but you might want to keep an open mind to just a little higher weight. I'm actually leaning toward stopping at a higher weight than the 135 I originally set as my goal myself just because I don't want my face to get skeletal .

That's actually what I weighed the day I shipped out for basic training. After Basic and AIT were over I weighed 162!!!!!!!!!! I maintained that, then ballooned up even more after I shattered my right tibia and they put me on steroids for six months. 112 actually isn't underweight for me, and it puts me at about a size 4. My mom is 5'11" and has never weighed an ounce over 120lbs, but she also used to be a professional runner and she also remembers packing on muscle really quickly and easily. During training season she would beef up from a willowy 115 to nearly 160 within a few months and obviously I inherited that super-african-athlete gene. Despite my height, i'm actually small-framed. I've got the scrawniest wrists and ankles ever. My dad says i'm a reincarnated flamingo. Super long legs and neck included. =/

I don't think I look bad. I just weighed myself a minute ago and i'm 148. This isn't for appearance so much as it is for my joint heath. As you can imagine i've got some pretty bad arthritis, and small bones anyway. This weight is actually painful to my body and joints. I thought it was from physical exertion that I hurt so much, but it has to be this weight because the more I lose the better I feel. After I lost the first 20, my back stopped hurting. Now my hips have stopped hurting and my knees and ankles are starting to feel better and so are my shoulders. I'm just not designed for that kind of physique. And to the earlier poster who thinks that strength would be awesome, it probably would be if I got to enjoy it! I've spent 4 years popping Naproxen and getting stress fractures all the time. It was too much.

I think it's genetics. I pack on muscle like crazy, and it's some personal perception. My husband thinks i'm a nutcase, and while he agrees that i'm muscular, he doesn't think that it's a ridiculous amount. He says I just look "like a pro athlete," and tells me I should enjoy it, since he has to take protein supplements to build muscles the same way I do naturally.

Than again, maybe he's just a freak who likes having a wife that could beat him up. *Shrug.*

LMFAO! I just thought of this -- it's like that episode of the Simpsons where Marge gets mugged and stays in the basement working out because she's afraid to leave the house and she gets all buff and starts manhandling Homer. Haha!

It's easy to do. Instead of weight lifting start doing tension exercises where you use your own body weight and muscles against each other instead of machines. Planks, push-ups, pull-ups, jacknifes, walking lunges, etc. If you want to increase strength and get cut, that is the way to go!

I would have liked it more if my old creakin' bones could handle the weight. I'm a delicate flower, I guess. *bats lashes.*

[QUOTE=NishKitten;2281536] This weight is actually painful to my body and joints. I thought it was from physical exertion that I hurt so much, but it has to be this weight because the more I lose the better I feel. After I lost the first 20, my back stopped hurting. Now my hips have stopped hurting and my knees and ankles are starting to feel better and so are my shoulders. I'm just not designed for that kind of physique. QUOTE]

Sounds like you are really good at paying attention to your body and where it needs to be so I'll stop trying to be mother hen . I sure know what you mean about things stopping hurting as the weight goes down. I've had a compressed disc for something like 30 years (nothing as dreadful as stress fractures but not very comfortable). When I was at my heaviest if it "went out" it would take me at least half an hour just to try and get out of bed. Since I've lost a few pounds and developed some strength in my core it's much easier to deal with.