so, i am feeling pretty confident about my diet so far, but i am beginning to get a little bit bored and i want to challenge myself these next 3 months. since i am at such a high weight, i know its expected that i lose quite a bit to start (30+ pounds in the first month and a half) i have decided to set a solid goal, rather then just letting the pounds come off as they may.

i want to get down to 250 by august 20th, when the fall term starts. no particular reason for that date, it just seems pretty reasonable to me. that is around 10 - 12 pounds a month, and so far, thats been doable. i wont starve myself, and i wont go overboard to reach that goal, its just a number to shoot for.

i also want to start working on my problem areas early, mainly my stomach, especially my lower abdomen. my family is fairly tall, with very long torsos, and average length legs. i hold a lot of extra weight there, as well as my lovehandles. i hate hate hate them.

what exercises should i do to lose weight around the middle? i have a big big butt, (luckily not really lumpy) big lovehandles, thick legs, and a big lower stomach. even my upper abdomen isnt as big as the bottom. and most of the weight i have lost so far seems to be from the top

i will always have wide hips and big legs and butt, but i would rather have them be firm and strong. i want my lower body to catch up with my upper body already!

i know that strength training is a good way to firm up, but i hear it doesnt burn as many calories as walking or doing aerobics. is there an exercise that i can do that firms me up AND burns plenty of calories?

any advice would be appreciated

You can't spot reduce. Your body will decide where it burns fat. I lost from the top down, too... but eventually things will even out.

As far as exercise goes, weight train! Starting early will give you a great result once your body fat percentage is in a healthy place. Lifting heavy burns MORE calories than light cardio. You have to factor in the calories burned by the activity, calories burned by afterburn, and calories burned by the added muscle mass. Plus, muscle is a lot more compact than fat. You will look more fit, and fit into smaller clothing, at a higher weight... if you have a lot of healthy muscle mass. I weight 168 lbs and I wear a size 6! That just blows my mind.

Lift those weights!!

ValRock is totally right, weight training is a great activity. Make sure it's HEAVY weight training and not those little pink weights they would like us to lift. I mean, you could totally start out using those for maybe 5 minutes when you warm up maybe...

Weight training does burn less than a cardio class, but the cardio class stops burning calories when it's done (other than the calories you burn being alive that is). When you're weight training you KEEP burning calories AFTER you're done. Which is one of the reasons I weight train and then take a spin or zumba class on Saturdays (and just because I can, so there's that).

If you start now you will retain a good amount of muscle mass and lose more of the fat (which is what you want, right?). You won't keep ALL of your muscle mass, but you don't need it when you're smaller anyway. I calculated my starting lean mass to be around what I weigh now, so I lost some of it on the way down, but considering that my body fat percentage is low (it must be, since were it not for the loose skin I have I would see a complete six pack rather than half of one ) I lost mostly fat. More muscle also means you burn more calories just being alive so you have to eat more! Yay!

As ValRock said, you can't spot reduce unfortunately. However things usually do even out, even if it's at the very end. My arms, for example, held onto the weight until I go to the 120s when suddenly my body decided to grab it from there. Great thing about that was that since I was weight training the muscle was left behind and I have nice arms now!

Lift heavy weights, it'll be great for you and you'll also FEEL amazing!!

Samcakes, I'm glad you asked about this. Until now I've mostly done cardio. I know I need to start integrating weight training, not only to keep my body challenged, but to prevent boredom.

I broke down and bought an exercise ball. I inflated it, but I don't know if I trust it yet

I'm looking for a good Pilates DVD session I can integrate, and I'm going to start using the weights in the gym on a regular basis. I too, am looking to strengthen my core. My understanding is that means sit-ups, crunches, pilates, or an ab-roller.

It sounds like we are of similar builds.

I'm trying to put together some kind of routine I can do before work on a daily basis. Lets brainstorm

i just got a bunch of zumba tapes! im going to try those, and when i have a little spare money i am going to get some weights.

i also decided to take a 7lb weight on my walks with me, maybe that will help define my arms a little