I am a 25 yr old female, 135 lbs, 5'7", and pear shaped. I wear a size 6 on the bottom, and am quite a bit smaller up top. I want to even myself out, drop to a size 4 down below while maintaining (or even increasing) my upper body.

So... I'm thinking of regular HIIT work outs on the treadmill, and a new lifting progam.

Any suggestions? I am pretty fit, so I should be able to handle a medium-advanced HIIT routine. I run 3,4,5 days a week and currently average around 7.5 miles/hr. I run between 3-5 miles at this pace. However, I can handle sprints of up to 9.5 miles/hr for 90 seconds at a time. (I tested myself out yesterday!)

So, do I replace my ordinary runs with HIIT, or do I use it as a supplemental cardio work out? How long should I run for at HIIT to receive benefits more effective than I see from my normal 3-5 mile runs?

As for weights, I've been following a beginners all over body routine from Kathy Smith's book "Lift Weights to Lose Weight". I complete 2 sets of 10 or 12 reps per muscle group. I complete both sets for each muscle group one after another, with maybe 30 seconds rest between them. Although I exercise the same muscle group, I do change up the method. This routine takes me about 30-35 minutes, which I do 3 times/week.

I've remained loyal to with my "beginners routine", even though I have developed a lot more strength and should probably move into the intermediate category... I certainly don't work to fatigue anymore (naughty, i know)

I am especially motivated to build my chest muscles to avoid the "skeleton" look up top. (Being a pear, I tend to get ribby on my upper chest when I slim down)

Also, another member called causticmuse mentioned that she does a lot of heavy squats to shape her legs/butt. Would this be the most efficient exercise to get rid of those dreaded saddle bags? If I could downsize my butt and get rid of the saddle bags I would be VERY HAPPY!!!

Alright, go ahead and hit me with your input and suggestions!!!

Also, another member called causticmuse mentioned that she does a lot of heavy squats to shape her legs/butt. Would this be the most efficient exercise to get rid of those dreaded saddle bags?

It's probably the best thing to do, whatever it is you want. You can't burn fat locally, but your leg muscles will get firmer faster than with any other exercise :).

Maggie knows her stuff for sure, so her suggestions are always pretty valid. I don't think that she necessarily meant that you should squat in order to lose fat in your butt though, probably more for muscle reasons and shape reasons.

A good weight training, diet, cardio routine, and sleep schedule will all contribute to your overall fat loss. Fat gets pulled from all over, not from locally doing a particular exercise (so even if I do 1000 situps a day my stomach fat won't get smaller -- I might build the muscles underneath the flab though).

Generally (at least from my research) women tend to lose fat from their butt lastly, or harder, than from other places. Men tend to have the same issue with their gut. So say you and your boyfriend/husband look very similar and you both go on the same training/diet/sleep/etc. routine. Well more than likely you'll both notice good results, but his legs might get more "firm" before yours, while your stomach might get more "firm" before his. That's a generalization, not always the case but it's what I've witnessed. For example, my girlfriend has a great physique but when she gains fat it tends to happen around her butt and hips. And when I gain fat it tends to happen around my love handles and belly.

Anyway, personally I wouldn't recommend 5 days of HIIT a week. It just sounds like too much to me. That's my personal opinion though, there are many.

Your routine (while I would like to hear more) sounded okay to me. Careful on the wording though, you should not be trying to "fatigue" the muscles but instead trying to "overload" them. I know I know, symantics perhaps. What I mean is I would not recommend just going in there with a light weight (lose the pink dumbbells!) and doing countless reps. Instead pick a weight that's relatively heavy and work to overload the muscles with just a few reps (again, this is all very opinionated, some like a range of 4-6, some like up to 12-15, you have to find what works for you). My point is don't go in there looking to run a marathon with weights. Work out hard, not long. Just hearing that your whole routine is 30-35 minutes is a good sign though. Maybe it's time to move on to her intermediate routine, I don't know. Work to overload the muscles, lift heavy and try to "fail" on each set (IMO, again). When you reach a certain number of reps you should try to increase weight on your next workout. For example, say you're doing bench press. You do 2 sets of 100 pounds. Set one you do 13 reps and set two you do 12 reps. Next workout jump up to 105 or 110 pounds.

Hope some of this made sense. :)

Good luck.