I started my diet & workouts back on February 10th, and I have kept it up consistantly for the past 2 months now, and I am very proud of myself. I am 5' 9" and I started off weighing 178 lbs...and have now gotten it down to 153 lbs. I love that I have dropped 25 pounds in just two months. Here is how I did it...

-Ate an average of 1,250 calories a day (20% fat...45% carbs...35% protein) I tried to make it 20/40/40, but once I averaged out my last 2 months of eating, it came to 20/45/35, which I think is still pretty good.

-I lift weights for about 10 minutes a day (just some 15 pound free weights) and work on my ab's about 10 minutes a day (with leglifts & sit-up's).

-I do a lot of cardio. I went out and bought a treadmill and when I first started I could only go about 0.75 mile and I would be dead tired. However, after doing cardio 6 days a week, I have now worked it up to 3 miles without stopping at 6 mph. I love the sweat I get after running 3 miles. I have tried increasing it to 7 mph, but can only go about 1.5 miles at that speed.

So now I am 5' 9" and weigh about 153 (in the morning it says 150 and at night it says 155, so I am averaging it out), and I am 30 years old. My original goal when I started this was to try getting down to 150 for my wedding on May 7th (and I am pretty much there now) :claplow:

I noticed I have been losing weight a lot slower than when I first started, usually only losing a pound a week now. But at first I was losing between 3 and 4 pounds a week. Obviously I don't want to lose muscle.

So my question is, where do I go from here? I want to lose even more fat and I want to build up more muscle. I also want to get my ab's a little more ripped (right now you can just start to see faint signs of them when I flex them). I wouldn't mind if I gained weight, and even jumped back up to the weight I was at before (178 lbs.), as long as it's muscle and I look good. I would like to know what you all suggest I do next.

Should I increase my weight workout, ab's workout & cardio workout (all of them)?

Is there any more exercises or workouts that you suggest I add?

Should I eat more calories, more protein or more carbs that I am now? or should I eat less?

How many grams of fat is ok to eat a day for me while I am now trying to bulk up my muscle?

What is a good amount of calories, fat, carbs & protein for me to eat on a daily basis?

I have never taken any powders or supplements, do you suggest I start taking that stuff, or can I do it with just food & working out alone?

Maybe I am wrong in my thinking, but it seems that if I lose even a little more weight or drop some more fat (and get down to about 145 lbs.) my ab's will show more, and it will be easier to bulk myself back up. Would it be best to lost as much fat as possible, and THEN try to bulk up the muscle, or can I just start now and turn the fat that I still have left into muscle?

Thanks for anyones help. I really value the opinions of all the posters on this board. Sorry if some of my questions are obvious. This website rocks! :tu:

First of all Congrats on the great progress!

Wow, you must feel pretty elevated having dropped that extra bagage, huh? Take it all in and allow yourself to celebrate your acomplishment!

Now I'm no expert, and you'll find a lot of better educated people out there and on these forums, but after having lost 25 pounds in just two months I guess it's fair to say your body deserves to slow down the scaling down for a while, simply to establish a new balance, both when it comes to weight, fat vs musle vs water percentage, and do not be alarmed if this takes a few weeks - or even up to a month! As long as you just keep doing your sweat-dripping cardio and powerfull resistance workouts, keep eating clean and calori-controlled the extra pounds WILL eventually come off, since they have no where else to go when you're body is "working harder for less"!

I'm not one to give advice on supplements and the possible benefits of such, since all I take is my daily vit-c, blueberry antioxidants, zink and omega 3 and 6, but you could certainly ask around on these forums and find out if this is something you wish to experiment with!

I wish you the best of luck, I know you can do it!

Hugs
Tanni