Weight Loss Questions - How Can I Keep Losing Weight on My Fitness Plan?

Weight Loss Question:
I've recently lost 50 pounds, with another 25 to go. I walk about 3 miles a day up and down a bridge. I jog a lot of it also. I exercise almost an hour 3-5 times a week. I've just recently incorporated weights in my workout. Since then I haven't lost a pound but I understand muscle weighs more than fat.

Since I'm walking so much up hill and jogging, should I still be doing weights on my legs. Can I just do squats? I don't want my thighs getting too big, I just got them down quite a few inches. My legs are pretty tired after my walking. I have all my weight equipment at home and am having a hard time figuring out a good full body workout to hit all muscles. Can you recommend something for me?

Weight Loss Answer:
First off, muscle and fat weight exactly the same (pound for pound). Muscles actually takes up less space than body fat though, so when you gain muscle and lose fat, your clothes fit much looser. If you have been doing a high amount of cardio along with a good weight training program and you're still not happy with your current level of weight loss, I recommend taking a very close look at your diet and really focus on eliminating all of the empty calories from your nutritional plan. I would recommend focusing on lean protein sources (chicken breast, turkey breast, egg whites) and lean fibrous carbs (broccoli, mushrooms, squash, zucchini).

You might also want to try limiting your cardio workouts and try a high intensity form of cardio which lasts only 20 minutes a day. Here is an article on HIIT training:

• High Intensity Interval Training - Cardio Workouts

If your legs tend to be tired, try to take a day off of cardio before your leg training day with weights. This way you will have much more energy for an intense workout and will not feel burned out and tired from the cardio session the day before. I would stick with barbell squats and leg presses for your main leg exercises. Here are both exercises:

• Barbell Full Squats
  
  
• Leg Presses

A great upper body workout would consist of flat barbell bench press (chest), lat pulldowns (back) and side lateral raises (shoulders). Here are these exercises:

• Barbell Bench Press
  
  
• Wide Grip Lat Pulldowns
  
  
• Side Lateral Raises

In terms of strengthening your abs, here is my favorite ab exercise which really burns the muscles and builds up those wash board abs. Your abs should be trained every other day and stick with 5 sets of 25-40 reps per set.

• Exercise Ball Crunches
  

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