Hey all, been a member here at 3FC for a while, but just getting in to lifting now. A quick bit about me: I started the South Beach Diet in Sept. with great success. I tipped off into cheater land during the Holidays, and have yet to fully recover, though my eating is loads better still than it was last year at this time. I lost about 35lbs, and have since then hovered between 153-157, though my goal weight is 130.

The past four weeks I returned to the gym. Starting with once a week for two weeks, and now up to 3x a week. My routine is pretty much the following:

5 minute cardio warm up followed by loose stretching.
30 minutes of lifting, doing a full body sort of circuit. Two exercises per muscle grouping, 2 sets of 12-15 reps with weights that make the last few challenging.
25 minutes of cardio
5 minute cool down
10 minutes more thorough stretching

I know that muscle weighs more than fat, and that I can be slim and nice and still weigh more. But when I was 130, I was pretty fit, very active and doing a lot of sports, so I thought, or would have thought, that I had some muscle at that point.

Looking for a good program to follow. Also, need some instructions on where to measure, and how to ensure you are measuring the same spots when you do. I've lost about 5" in my waist and 4" in my hips since the diet started, but I did a measurement last week, and I had numbers higher than the measurement I took 4 weeks earlier. Scary!

Now that I am lifting and doing cardio, should I increase my caloric intake so I don't go into starvation mode?
I was thinking of joining up WeightWatchers now that I've got some good habits established from SB. Does the point system figure in what your point allottment should be if you do exercise as well?

So many questions, so much weight to lose, so much to lift! Help!

Hi lilwolfe!

I can't answer all your questions but what I can say may help...

As far as your routine goes, it sounds like a pretty good structure in warming up then cardio after weights. What I would recommend is to break up your routine so you don't do a full body each time, instead concentrate on a group of muscles. That way your muscles have at least 4 days between lifting.

As for eating, no matter what plan you are on, you just have to make sure you have "enough" protein. That amount can vary but I would recommend at least 100 grams of protein a day at least. I wouldn't recommend increasing your calories unless you find yourself starving all the time, which at that point I would recommend investigating your protein intake.

Hi lilwolfe!

I can answer one other of your questions. Weight Watchers does have an Activity Point calculator that you can use to calculate the points you earn from exercise and then add them on to your daily points 'allowance.'

As far as measuring goes, I don't know what else to say but be consistent. It is possible that in certain places you are bigger because of the muscle gain. This might be temporary too since you are increasing your metabolism and 'exchanging' muscle for fat.

Congratulations on your great exercise plan. As Nelie mentioned, you might want to consider splitting up your lifting routine now that you've gotten used to working out, and do for example a 3-day split since you're working out 3 days a week (see http://exrx.net/Lists/WorkoutMenu.html for some ideas).