Hello! I've been lurking around here for a while, but haven't posted. (I spend a lot of time on BB.com forums and fear trying to keep up with 2.) My name is Christina. I'm 5'3" and at the start of my transformation (late January 2004), I weighed 192.5. I'm now down to 179. It's going slowly and steadily as it should.

John's page was shown to me by my hubby who saw it as a result of his regular reading of slashdot. As soon as I saw the transformation that John did, I started doing research and just grabbing all the information I could find on losing fat and maintaining/growing muscle. I took his excel sheet and modified it for my use.

I am weight training on a 3-day split and do 45-60 minutes of cardio on my off days. I tried doing cardio everyday but my one rest day, but I needed about 10 hours of sleep when I did that, so I had to slow it down a bit. My program seems to be working well so far. I have already dropped one pant size, so I am very pleased.

I'm eating a very clean diet with the exception of 1 cheat meal a week. Sometimes I do skip the cheat meal, but I usually have one and find that it isn't hindering my progress so far. If I start having trouble, I will cut it out. I'm doing a calorie rotation. For 2 weeks, I eat 1700 calories a day. The following 2 weeks, I eat 2000 calories a day. So far, I haven't hit any plateaus and my weekly loss is right on target.

I will try to post when I can. I maintain a journal in the female bodybuilding section of the forums on BB.com. I hope to be able to offer support and assistance where needed. Good luck to all!

Hi Christina. Welcome to the boards. It's nice to see another woman around. It sometimes feels a little too manly around here for me. :db:

Hey - welcome to another Christina (my name is Christy, there is another Christina here too I think)

That's great what you have done! Keep it up! I might follow some of your advice - the calorie rotation sounds like a great idea.

Again - welcome :) I haven't posted tons on here, but also have been lurking! Great site with tons of info. :tu:

Hey Christina, welcome! Sounds like you're off to a GREAT start, keep it up! And when you feel like it, post some before and after photos. You'll be amazed how much of a motivator it is to see your own progress, to share it with others who are likeminded, and to see how others are doing! JSF may be a little masculine, but there are plenty of us ladies around. We just need to be move vocal ;)

Hi Christina! I look forward to hearing what you have to say on our posts. We are glad to have you on board!

Thanks for the warm welcome, ladies!

Hi Christina, and welcome!! It's great having more women to discuss our female questions with, though we do appreciate the help from the guys that I find supportive.

I look forward to reading your threads containing the knowledge you are in possesion of. So long! :d_smile:

Hi, Nice to meet you. I've only been posting a little bit, for the last couple of weeks or so, but I've found this to be a great site and very supportive. My son (23) showed it to me, and it was a great beginning. I'm down 10 lbs and have joined a women's gym. One of those curcuit ones, but it's all that is available, but they have lots of cardio equipment besides the stations so combined it seems to be doing the trick. At least I feel like I'm actually accomplishing some, for an old girl. I did take a beginning picture and plan to take one every month, figured you wouldn't see a whole lot of change from week to week. I work in a Nursing home, dementia unit, and that keeps me on the go too, but it was not enough. So between, getting my foods on track and exercising, I'm off to a good start and hope by summer, I'll be well on my way to a big improvement. The youngest goes off to college in the fall and will just be hubby and me, so it is nice to be doing just for us again. Thanks everyone for the great welcome and Christina so nice you have joined everyone here. :)
Kim