[Kim in NJ]

Hi everyone.
I've been reading through some of the threads and my mind is spinning. My head feels like it did in college my first month of Intermediate Accounting!!!!

I am currently a size 24 - was a size 26 in July. My BF went from 54% to 49% just from dropping some weight. I am doing Atkins and am very happy with the plan. After the first week of water weight loss I am consistently losing on average 2 lbs a week. I have tried both BFL and WW food plans in the past - but slowly gained from the carb intake. My Drs. told me since I have diabetes in my family they want me on low carb and I am happily following their direction.

I have not added any exercise or weight training to my plan yet and now I am feeling better after losing 37lbs that I want to do this. However, my manager at work (a personal trainer) told me NO! on weight training. She told me that I do not want to add muscle over the fat because it will be harder to lose then. Is this true???? I looked at Meg's photos and find it hard to believe that she did not weight train throughout her transformation.

I am in no position to speak even somewhat knowlegably about the whole WT subject. I bought the book "Slow Burn" and I still have my BFL book. But I have just started reading it. (I was reading it at work at lunch when my manager asked to see it and told me I was crazy). I have a beautiful home gym in my basement with universal weights, leg press, lat bar, bench press etc. It's all there and I dusted it off yesterday!

Any advice would be appreciated. I'm just thinking she's off her rocker with her advice and thought someone here could steer me in the right direction.
Thanks!

[Meg]

Hi Kim and welcome to Ladies Who Lift! Congratulations on your progress so far! I like how you're focusing on losing body fat, which is so much more important than just losing scale weight.

Since you asked about me: I lifted weights — as heavy as possible — from Day One of my transformation. That transformation never would have happened otherwise! The missing element to every other diet that I’ve ever done in my life (lots!) was the gym — both the weights and cardio.

There are three reasons why I wanted to build as much muscle as possible at the same time as I was losing fat:

First, muscle is metabolically active tissue and burns calories all day and night. Fat, in contrast, is inactive tissue and burns very few calories. I’ve read that a pound of muscle burns 30-50 calories per day and a pound of fat burns only three. So the more muscle we have, the higher our metabolisms will be — so we can eat more and still lose fat.

Second, muscle is smaller than fat. One pound of muscle takes up 1/3 the space of a pound of fat. So the more muscle we have, the smaller we are. I weigh 135 pounds and easily fit into size 4’s because my body fat % is fairly low, so a higher percentage of my body is made up of muscle instead of fat. People usually guess I weigh about 115 pounds. Check out the muscle and fat photo that I posted on this thread: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/show...threadid=31893

Third, muscles give us tone and definition. If we lose weight without strengthening our muscles, we end up being “skinny fat”. If we want to end up with awesome arms that look great in a tank top or a stomach that we can show off at the beach, we have to build muscle.

Many women are afraid to lift weights because they think weights will make them bulk up. Not true! It will only make us smaller and tighter. We don’t have the hormones that would allow us to get huge like male bodybuilders.

So I have to disagree with your manager about this issue! Oh, and about building muscle making the fat harder to lose? I lost my 122 pounds in less than a year. Ask her if that’s too slow for her???

I’m glad you dusted off all your equipment — now go use it and know that it will help you get to your goal and you will look wonderful when you get there!

Please join us on our main thread so that Ilene can give you the real LWL welcome! Yeah, we’re kind of a chatty bunch but you won’t find better support anywhere on the Internet!

Meg

[Kim in NJ]

Meg thank you SO MUCH!!!
That picture you posted and all your comments have really opened my eyes. You know I am embarassed to say that in 1991/92 I went from 200lbs down to 128 by starving myself with Slimfast. I was doing cardio 6 days a week and it wasn't until I reached 140 lbs. that I added some weights to my ankles and wrists. BUT at 138 I was still in a size 12 because of being so flabby! Over the summer in 1992 just using those weights I dropped down to a size 8 while only losing 10 lbs.

I am excited to begin - but I need to finish that book first to know what my game plan is.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!

[Meg]

You are welcome and again -- come on and join us on the weekly thread! There are lots of knowledgeable folks there who can help you get started and answer your questions.

Muscle IS awesome, isn't it?

Meg

[Ilene]

Meg !!! Have you started your draft yet? You know what I'm talking about!! INSPIRING post as usual.... And that picture, I had seen it before, and man oh man it hits home, thanks for the reminder...

[JEC]

**don't add muscle over the fat because it will be harder to lose** - ok that takes the cake for the WORST piece of advice I have ever heard!!

JC