recently lost 30 lbs now what ?

[mimi123]

Justs recently Ive lost 30 lbs. Ive never had to watch my weight until the last 3 years. Im a stay at home mom of two boys. Now that my youngest is in school part time I decided that it was time for me to get back into shape. My pre pregnancy weight was 125lbs at 5' 2". I am now 133lbs. But what I want now is to shape my body. I know that I have to reduce my overall body fat in order to have the resluts that I want. I have a Gym Membership but I dont know what to do with it. I seem to gravitate to the tread mill or other cardio machines, Ive read in this forume that I should do heavy lifting in order to get the results I want. Any way my question is How do I reduce my body fat and build a little muscle? I dont know what to eat or what exercised to do while Im at the gym. Thanks for all the info thus far it has been helpful but a little confusing.

[Blaithin]

I've been trying to respond since yesterday! This site won't let me post for some odd reason. LOL!

I'm also 5'2" and a SAHM! When I got back to exercise after my kids got a bit older, I started with the Body For Life program. I found it a sound start for nutrition and an exercise program. Once I got used to lifting again, I branched out and started doing splits and such. BTW, My kids are teens now!

Personally I wouldn't focus too much on cardio. I made that mistake after finishing w/ BFL and spent a lot of time not making any gains in muscle because of too much time spent on cardio. Talk about spinning your wheels! I couldn't believe I could accomplish more by eating and lifitng heavy! I guess I was brainwashed and what they call skinny fat! LOL! I'm still petite. I stick around 114 lbs. but am seeing more firmness all the time by cutting down cardio and eating LOTS! My daughter can't believe how much I eat and stay small. It's by far a much nicer way to live. That's enough about me. I just don't want you to get caught up on the cardio bunny treadmill!

Denise

[livingloca]

Here are a few suggestions to get your transformation underway...

To reduce bodyfat... you need to do cardio. Next, you need to incorporate a good weightlifting routine. Depending on your time constraints during the week... you can choose to either do a full body workout several times a week or do splitwork routine. Cardio will shed the fat and lifting weights will build muscle, giving you the tone and shape. Of course, first and foremost, your diet is the so important. Eating clean will, without a doubt, allow that transformation to occur faster.

Although Blaithin doesn't do alot of cardio and seems to be able to eat alot and just do weights... not everyone is the same and I would not make the mistake of not doing cardio and begin eating alot. Your goal is to shed bf and cardio will achieve that. Once you see how your body begins to respond to cardio, weights and your new change in diet, you then can re-evaluate your progress and gains and begin to tweak your workouts, diet, etc.

As your body begins to build muscle, yes, your body requires more food/energy to sustain itself along with fueling your muscles.

Best to you!!! Keep training hard! :)