[Mami]

Hi there, I'm new to the site and wanted to say hi. I'm 38 years old and a new mother of a 4 month old girl (she's so sweet ). I've been lifting since 1993, though during many of those years I would take a stretch of sometimes 4 to 6 months off. I have to say, heavy weight lifting always seemed to be the only thing that would keep my weight steady and my body looking firm. I had again taken off from the gym, to my detriment as I had gained 9 pounds, when I got pregnant. Oh boy! From there, the scale went up a few pounds almost on a daily basis! I gained 65 pounds in all, but 30 pounds melted off within the first 2 weeks. It has taken me 3 1/2 months to lose another 7 pounds, a pace I find excruciatingly slow! I would love to hear about your weightloss routines, especially post pregnancy. Are you doing several reps with moderate weight or a few reps of heavy? I used to do really well on 2 sets with weights as heavy as possible and was burning a lot of calories that way. My metabolism seems much slower though. Now I've been trying 1/2 hour of cardio on the stairmaster and then 1/2 hour of weight lifting. Do you all think I should just do the whole hour weight lifting or keep some cardio? I would love to hear your thoughts and about your individual work outs. Warm regards to you all. Claudia

[Mel]

Hi Claudia! Welcome to 3FC and LWL!

This is going to be a short answer because I have to scoot to work- but I'd keep the cardio and the weights for a primarily weightloss and bodysculpting routine.

I do cardio 4-5 days a week and lift 4-5 (different body parts). My rep counts are usually in the 8-12 range with fatgue/failure on my last rep, and 3-4 pyramiding sets. I also do a lot of functional and balance training with lighter weights, but muscle fatigue faster if you are using your entire body to do the exercise.

I'm sure you'll get a bunch of different answers. BTW, it took me 10 years to lose the pregnancy weight--- so good for you!

Mel

[silverbirch]

Claudia!