Novels and Barbells

[Fiction2Fitness]

How long have you been in your deficit? Like you said on my thread, it's a shame going up to maintenance has such a knock on effect.

I hate the fact of being short (I'm 5'2") as calories need to be so low :/

It has been several months at this point cause I ended up back to above 145 at the beginning of the year but I didn't start off at 1200 calories, was eating more earlier on. Had to re-lose the weight I had gained without trying from winter when I stopped counting and the focus was on something else. I've had the random day breaks as things come up periodically. Last year I was at 127 around this time then got sick, had birthday, stepdad's birthday in Vegas and things went downhill from there. Going to have break for my birthday, trip to Colorado for stepdad's birthday but not as crazy food wise and then back to diet when get home.

Does suck being 4'11" cause it takes less calories to maintain, lower calories to then lose weight and the "healthy weight" is lower. Just trying to get below 120 and that has been a struggle of a challenge for the last couple of years.

That's brave. I caught Swine Flu working as a pharm tech before the vaccine came out. Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiserable.

Eh, I've just never gotten the flu shot. I get the occasional cold from coworkers but nothing too bad and I've worked in retail for over 7 years at this point. The worst was the 2 months I worked in an elementary school as I got sick twice in that time. Even working in a store with a pharmacy I really don't get sick that often and never have called out even.

[Fiction2Fitness]

Quick update...

Ended up not going to the gym yesterday or today instead of the 2 weeks straight of gym. I ended up working 2 stores yesterday as one near my main store didn't have a closer so worked and extra 1.5 hours to help them out. Today was the one I switched with a coworker because his brother is in town and he needed today off. Sister is with her friends tonight so I'm home alone and enjoying that, which lead to me not going to gym after work today. I'll workout for the rest of the days leading up to my birthday.

Also work wise... I did get the application in for the specific ASMT position and informed the manager when it was submitted. It happens to be the one I know from my previous store, which was encouraging. I avoided my email for the last few days as I didn't want to get another rejection in less than 24 hours. Shift lead who came and handled our registers today looked through on my phone with me and so far, so good. Only had the email saying it was submitted, didn't get a rejection yet. I don't know if there will be an interview or anything. Coworkers have asked me but not sure what to expect. I also admitted to them I'm not getting my hopes too high up even though they all think I stand a good chance but I've had let downs before in trying to move up which is why I'm trying to stay reserved on the issue.

Fingers crossed for the job.

Also fingers crossed that there is some progress on the scale. It is going tedious slow and I know there will be a setback coming up cause I'm going to enjoy whatever I want for my birthday. I'll have to wait and get to below 125 after September cause not making it this month.

[FallenAngel80]

Keeping everything crossed for the job

How long has your weight been stuck around the same point? There's a video on YouTube by Shredded Sports Science about plateaus, so I'm not sure if that'll be helpful?

[Fiction2Fitness]

Keeping everything crossed for the job

How long has your weight been stuck around the same point? There's a video on YouTube by Shredded Sports Science about plateaus, so I'm not sure if that'll be helpful?

Thanks!

It has been going slow this last month but the last week probably doesn't help because had my monthly cycle as well. Not uncommon for short term the scale looks like very little progress is made then it will dip down a lb or two at random. Long term it's like oh, yeah I lost 5 lbs, short term it's like ugh when will it ever show something new on the scale. Right now just doing a final push until my birthday then will ignore the scale for a week so can enjoy the two days and not let the fluctuation mess too much with my head. September it will be back to more serious focus on getting down to below 120.

[FallenAngel80]

Thanks!

It has been going slow this last month but the last week probably doesn't help because had my monthly cycle as well. Not uncommon for short term the scale looks like very little progress is made then it will dip down a lb or two at random. Long term it's like oh, yeah I lost 5 lbs, short term it's like ugh when will it ever show something new on the scale. Right now just doing a final push until my birthday then will ignore the scale for a week so can enjoy the two days and not let the fluctuation mess too much with my head. September it will be back to more serious focus on getting down to below 120.

Enjoying your birthday sounds like a good plan

I've enjoyed my week on maintenance calories, so we'll see these 'breaks' in the deficit help over the long term.

[shesprints]

I hate what my period does to the scale. It's been happening for me this week, too, super annoying since I would've liked to see an initial drop from just starting to be strict with diet. I wonder what the biological mechanism is around that? Intuition would indicate "Durr, just your body fills with blood or something," but I know that can't be it.

[Fiction2Fitness]

Enjoying your birthday sounds like a good plan

I've enjoyed my week on maintenance calories, so we'll see these 'breaks' in the deficit help over the long term.

I will have to keep peeking in your journal to see how things go. Or you can post in the "cutting" thread so I'm not the only one talking there... just saying. hehe

I hate what my period does to the scale. It's been happening for me this week, too, super annoying since I would've liked to see an initial drop from just starting to be strict with diet. I wonder what the biological mechanism is around that? Intuition would indicate "Durr, just your body fills with blood or something," but I know that can't be it.

I don't know what it is about bleeding and the body wanting to hold onto water. And it's not the same every month. I have some cycles where my weight will drop and I'll not feel like eating much. Other times it jumps up a couple of lbs for no reason. Pesky hormones and inconsistencies.



Had today off from work so walked to gym then took 3 classes: Zumba, body attack and body pump. The body classes were both taught by the same male instructor. He was one of the more talkative male ones. I don't mind chatty instructors but when they start trying to get high fives and stuff, umm not for me. I don't clap during Zumba either or yell anything. I'm quiet when I lift so I'm going to be quite in any other exercise forms. My arms are so tired from the last class cause it's not even heavy weights but so many reps of pushing up and doing skull crushers, which I don't normally do. And ugh, ab work. But they are quite the workout.

Then I ate ice cream from Salt & Straw for lunch cause why not. Dinner is just veggies and protein to keep calories low.

Now to continue waiting for the scale for those numbers.

[mavd]

I hate what my period does to the scale. It's been happening for me this week, too, super annoying since I would've liked to see an initial drop from just starting to be strict with diet. I wonder what the biological mechanism is around that? Intuition would indicate "Durr, just your body fills with blood or something," but I know that can't be it.

I always assumed my body was just coming up with ways to torture me as punishment for not becoming a baby basket yet again.

[Fiction2Fitness]

I always assumed my body was just coming up with ways to torture me as punishment for not becoming a baby basket yet again.

Ha. That's what we blame the cramps on, me and my sister. Though she never wants to have a baby so it more came from her as she blames the period woes on her body being mad she's not a baby factory. lol


Made it to the gym yesterday for cardio. Should have benched but shoulder was a bit iffy after the pushups and other stuff from attack and pump classes. Arms are still tired from body pump, which the upper body tracks it's not so much too heavy weight, it's doing the motions in a cardio style. Plus, I tend to not do skull crushers for a reason and all of a sudden it was like, here do several to a slow beat and now pulse. Elbow no like.

Today after work it's lighter lower body lifting and cardio. Tomorrow, I actually took a shift at the store by the gym as someone texted me asking if I was available. It's a morning shift so I'm going to walk to the store, work, then go to gym before walking home. I won't be doing any classes right now since I'm working on all of the days I would do the classes but maybe after next week, whenever I get a week day off I'll try to incorporate them since they are quite the workout.

Still hate the scale. At least it's not showing 130 anymore but hasn't gone below 128.8 yet. le sigh

[Fiction2Fitness]

Well, today ended up being just cardio once I got into the gym. Worked 11-7, which normally isn't too bad of a shift but the last few hours was so busy with me stuck at the register the whole time. Didn't even have the chance to go to the bathroom. And for some reason I was really tired. I had a little fig bar as breakfast and a zero calorie energy drink instead of coffee but have had that before. Lunch was greek yogurt, pineapple and a protein bar. But for some reason I got really tired and it carried all evening. I walked on the treadmill for the hour, making myself go to the gym despite not wanting to go.

Not sure why the low energy. Going to bed soon as picked up the shift at the other store so need to get up early for the morning shift. Hopefully even with walking will have more energy to lift tomorrow.

[Fiction2Fitness]

Super long day. I worked at a store close to where I live, the one near my gym, which I rarely ever cover shifts at since they are slower paced and get much less hours. They get 2 techs for the entire day, one open and one close, that is all. It has a drive thru too. Since it's close I walked there instead of driving since it takes just over 30 minutes to get there by foot.

While I work mornings at my store, I'm not the opener. There are a couple of things I don't normally do and one of them I had to do for the first time today at an unfamiliar store. I had to put away the order (what meds came in from the warehouse). Every store has a different layout so it was a challenge finding where everything goes. I ended up going to lunch a little late and had to finish dealing with the partial and out of stocks, what was waiting for more meds to come in, when I got back. It was interesting and nice to not be at the register the whole time but still was a lot of work.

Afterwards, walked to the gym. Did the lighter weight bottom up squats, good mornings and sumo/conventional deadlifts. Also spent 30 minutes on the spinning bike and 45 on treadmill.

Then walked over to a nearby park where on Thursday nights they have a few food trucks that set up. I have always wanted to stop by and check them out, just took over a year to do it. Not the most diet friendly but I'm workout out a lot, scale isn't moving and let's face it, food is better than weighing less. Seriously, that whole "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels" is all kinds of no. I can say a fruity pebble churro sundae is much better. It was delicious. As was the spicy pork and kimchi burrito. Didn't expect the egg in the burrito so the combinations were different but so good.

Maybe the extra food will help things along cause have to admit, low calories leads to a particular problem and that is with regularity. The other nuisance aside from water fluctuations and hormones.

[FallenAngel80]

Not sure why the low energy. Going to bed soon as picked up the shift at the other store so need to get up early for the morning shift. Hopefully even with walking will have more energy to lift tomorrow.

It's weird because some days I am sooo hungry, and feeling low on energy and then other days I'm fine. You'd think if you're in a cut the energy levels would be fairly consistent, but sometimes I have loads of energy and then sometimes I just want to go to sleep lol.

[shesprints]

I saw that burrito on instagram. Looked amazing... I'm not gonna be able to do anything like that until after my competition. I know what you mean about regularity; I eat a lot of vegetables even cutting (lettuce, cucumber, broccoli, you know, all the lower-calorie ones) and it's still definitely not as easy to get fiber as when not on a deficit. But yeah, real food, whole grains, high-fiber vegetables, all help.

Lot of time on the cardio equipment there. Do you listen to podcasts or music or anything?

Energy levels on a cut are weird. Sometimes, lower calories give me greater energy/mental clarity. Sometimes I crash. Variable.

[Fiction2Fitness]

I saw that burrito on instagram. Looked amazing... I'm not gonna be able to do anything like that until after my competition. I know what you mean about regularity; I eat a lot of vegetables even cutting (lettuce, cucumber, broccoli, you know, all the lower-calorie ones) and it's still definitely not as easy to get fiber as when not on a deficit. But yeah, real food, whole grains, high-fiber vegetables, all help.

Lot of time on the cardio equipment there. Do you listen to podcasts or music or anything?

Energy levels on a cut are weird. Sometimes, lower calories give me greater energy/mental clarity. Sometimes I crash. Variable.

Yeah the energy thing is weird cause I've had less and done more before. I've had that particular energy drink too so it's not like can pinpoint an exact culprit.

As for cardio, yes I listen to music for the most part. I have some decent wireless earbuds that as long as I've remembered to charge them, it works great. I have sometimes found on youtube episodes of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives to torture myself with while walking on the treadmill.


Today oddly my back is achy but in a weird way. I'm used to some back ache with the arthritis but this was sensitive to the touch. I get an ache, touch my back and there is a topical ache, which I don't know why.

Work - So annoyed. Found out that right now I can't get ASMT because the position requires the yearly evaluation score of 3.0 and the new scores come down after August... so, I will have the 3.0 once this year's are finalized but I don't quite yet. Just on the edge yet again. Then had the young coworker today start telling me what to do and stressing cause I was typing a script and working on the line of customers (cause they want us to multi-task). Then later the pharmacist asked if one of us would be at the registers for a while so the closer didn't have to do it for 4 hours. I work the register all of the time and had just moved down the line from it, plus no one takes the register so I'm not at it for hours even though it causes me pain to be there for long times. I even had to pee for hours and couldn't get anyone to take over the register. The one tech said it was messed up that I wouldn't take the register but guess who didn't go over there either. Just was a really annoying part of the day.


Gym was just cardio: 20 minutes rower, 20 minutes bike, 30 minutes treadmill.

Bodyweight was up this morning cause I ate that big burrito right before bed. Digestion struggle is still real. I do eat veggies too but ugh. Considering the occasional laxative at this point cause my stomach has been a bit achy for days now but not enough progress to help ease things.

[Fiction2Fitness]

Sigh

Another struggle of a day at work as today it was just me and the tech who likes to tell me how to do my job. She got on my nerves yet again today. Just the approach she takes, how she says things, her tone, how she doesn't work that much most of the time and all that, it grates my nerves. She does things like personal calls and plays on her phone when on the clock, then tries to boss me around. I just got annoyed again.

Been eating 1400 instead of the 1200 but also so far have worked out every day. Hoping to get in three more days of gym. Though I didn't lift today because my back was still a bit achy. I did try a different machine. It's kind of like an elliptical crossed with a stair stepper as you can do the longer strides or you can do more up and down. Very tough and my legs really felt it. Also did the treadmill for an hour.

Tomorrow going to walk to gym for Zumba then maybe later in the day after taking sister over to Hollywood for her friend's b-day might go back later for lifting. Also need to look for a shirt to wear Wednesday and need to check out bakery to maybe get me a little cake. At least I don't have work tomorrow.

[Fiction2Fitness]

Made it to zumba this morning and did a little bit of walking on the treadmill. Ended up having a really long day after taking sister over to Hollywood for her friend's birthday party, I went to the mall. Really do need some clothes, in particular a shirt for going to Disney. Didn't find anything I really liked or wanted to spend the money on. Walked around the mall hungry (didn't eat food before going) and ended up only buying some protein bars and chips from GNC. Was going to try to find a bakery to get a cake but it was already getting late as some are closed early on Sundays. Did stop by 85 C, which has some fun baked goods.

We are making a minor schedule change. Going to Disney on Thursday instead of Wednesday, so will be the day after my birthday. Her friend can go then and she has a parking pass, so will save 30 bucks just on the parking. I can find a cake on my birthday since have both of those days off from work. Might go to the gym in the morning then to get some cardio in then pick where-ever I want to eat.

[Fiction2Fitness]

Well, now for break from diet. Only have gotten to 129 but oh well. Back to deficit focus after vacation as we're leaving the 3rd for Colorado (driving) and won't be back until about the 10th. Not going to worry as much about food right now. Plus, today is my birthday so I'm gonna enjoy cake, beer and a nice dinner.

Did go to the gym around 10 days in a row. Did cardio yesterday and made it over for Zumba today. Had a sprinkles cupcake last night. Going to an Italian bakery in hopes of finding a cake today.

[FallenAngel80]

Well, now for break from diet. Only have gotten to 129 but oh well. Back to deficit focus after vacation as we're leaving the 3rd for Colorado (driving) and won't be back until about the 10th. Not going to worry as much about food right now. Plus, today is my birthday so I'm gonna enjoy cake, beer and a nice dinner.

Did go to the gym around 10 days in a row. Did cardio yesterday and made it over for Zumba today. Had a sprinkles cupcake last night. Going to an Italian bakery in hopes of finding a cake today.

Hope you enjoy your birthday, and all the food

[mavd]

Felt inappropriate to say so on your IG.... but the cupcakes looked like bewbies :'D

We have a place called Extraordinary Desserts that I will be going to for my bday in a few weeks.

[shesprints]

Happy bday! LOL @ comment above on cupcakes.

Hope you're having a good one after the gym streak

[Fiction2Fitness]

Felt inappropriate to say so on your IG.... but the cupcakes looked like bewbies :'D

We have a place called Extraordinary Desserts that I will be going to for my bday in a few weeks.

Hehehe. The circle design is their "iconic" method. The ironic part is on the cupcake wars show, Candace (owner and creator of Sprinkles) always gives bakers a really hard time if the garnish or decorations aren't edible. Sure you can eat the circles if you want but they don't taste good.

ooo Extraordinary Desserts sounds good. Hope it lives up to the name.

I still haven't gotten a cake. I got a couple pastries from an Armenian bakery nearby and those have been delicious, but still no cake.

Happy bday! LOL @ comment above on cupcakes.

Hope you're having a good one after the gym streak

Thanks. It has been fun and a nice break from the gym and dieting. Now to get ready for crazy road trip vacation.

[Fiction2Fitness]

Slight Test. I haven't posted in my own journal in months. I've been lifting barely, just a few times a month at most. Been working and not spending time on the forums. Each time I think of what I could put in a post it has seemed a bit much so I just ended up posting nothing. I will do a more detailed post soon though if it goes through and my journal still exist. Have a lot with work, going out and options for the future though numbers for lifting are down.

So... more to come hopefully. *fingers crossed*

[Fiction2Fitness]

Yay I still have a journal. Okay now more of an update.

Nutrition: I haven't been dieting for the last few months. In fact, I haven't even stepped on the scale. I know my weight is up some, probably in the 140's but it's not to the point of pants not fitting other than ones that were already on the small side. I have been loosely tracking calories on myfitnesspal but not really caring at this point. I'm going to be adjusting very soon though to have a daily at 1500 to 1600. My goal is to work up the fitness side in order to be able to get to under 130 but without going down to 1200 calories as that was just daunting. Even now when not dieting I'm hungry often so going to try a different approach. Need to get back to the gym on a more regular basis then get the training in gear to get some new maxes for this year.

Slight issue: I have consistent shin pain. Ironically, I cut back on cardio and haven't use the bike or run in the past few months but I have developed shin pain with the right being a little more of a problem that the left. The issue is I work on my feet all shift so I can't stop that in order ot give them a break so I worry a little with an idea I want for cardio because that could make things worse. There is even an ache just in driving.

I do have a little bit of a social life. In December I went to a singles meet up event and since then I've been getting together on occasion with a woman I met there. We've gone to a dance class, last weekend we went ice skating (which I hadn't done in 20 years) and Sunday I'm going over to her apartment to workout in the gym there. So, I've made a friend and we're seeing if there may be a potential for something more.

Other good news. I applied for Assistant Store Manager training program and this time, I have the evaluation score needed so I was able to move further. In fact, I had an interview on Wednesday. It was at my old store with the store manager who promoted me to technician. He knows a lot of the stuff I've done on the floor before moving into pharmacy. The other person in the interview met me when I trained as a technician at a store I help out on occasion now that has been struggling so we had some good connection points too. There is a good chance I will get the promotion as they really want someone who is licensed and certified already with a background in pharmacy. Will find out in a week.

[FallenAngel80]

Hey, good to see you back! Life can get busy and it sounds like you have some positive things going on with your new friendship and the potential job promotion! Fingers crossed for you

[Fiction2Fitness]

Thanks. I missed the forums though the break was a little nice from lifting. It was interesting to see the aches come about from work when I cut back on lifting and all cardio. Work gets busy around "winter" (live in California so it's still nice in January) since I work in pharmacy right now. We have flu season and January is the time most insurance changes happen plus other stores have been short people or had call outs so I get called or texted often asking if I can work at other locations. This month I worked in 5 different stores and one of the weeks I worked in 4 stores. Now I'm just waiting for the result from the interview and then who knows as that will mean a major change.


I did go lift yesterday at a location I hadn't been to before. Normally I lift at the North Hollywood location but the Burbank one is only a little bit further away and I can still walk. I decided to try it out and might go bench there more because they have 2.5 plates unlike my usual location. The rack setup is different though as it's a section of 4 and they are facing each other. It's a square so while squating was facing another person, that day it was a woman working on oly lifts. The safeties are off to the side but at least this one too has oly plates unlike the Hollywood location that didn't back when I lifted near the Vine st store.

Tomorrow I'll probably not have access to a barbell. Am going over to T's (will be easier to give some aspect of name to friend for reference) apartment that has a little gym in it. She's wants to get back to weightlifting and working out more. So will check out what she has available and go from there. Have the day off from work too. Then on Monday I'm going to Disneyland with my sister and one of her friends. Fun times and nice to have a slightly easier week as I'm working only 4 days though split between 2 stores.

[Fiction2Fitness]

As I expected, the apartment gym didn't have much. Some dumbbells, a few machines, cardio machines and a smith machine with not even that many plates. Still did okay with a workout. It was a laid back type of workout as we chatted while doing the different lifts. I showed T some options for foot placement with goblet squats and how to use the lat pull down. Lifting wise I did a variety: goblet squat, one harm db snatch, db overhead press, lat pull down, ez bar light deadlift, and one arm db row. Afterwards we went and got sushi at wokano since it was still open.

Still waiting on schedule for next week as I'm sure it was busy at work today. Didn't want to text pharmacy manager about it either considering the things I know we didn't get done yesterday but will have to ask about the schedule tomorrow since I only know when I'm working up until Wednesday.

Now to sleep in as we're going to Disneyland in the afternoon.

[shesprints]

I saw a pic on your IG from Disneyland! I hope you're having fun there. I don't know about you, but I always enjoy going to the gym with friends. I like your exercise selection with limited equipment. For legs, I typically like to do things like Bulgarian Split Squats and Stiff-Legged Deadlifts if I only have dumbbells. DB snatches were a great idea.

So this new friend... are you guys in Queer Dating Limbo? I know that's happened to me before! Where you just keep hanging out and it takes ages to see if something romantic is happening or you'll stay friends. Of course, I also don't have personal experience as an asexual person so I wonder how that works too.

[Fiction2Fitness]

I saw a pic on your IG from Disneyland! I hope you're having fun there. I don't know about you, but I always enjoy going to the gym with friends. I like your exercise selection with limited equipment. For legs, I typically like to do things like Bulgarian Split Squats and Stiff-Legged Deadlifts if I only have dumbbells. DB snatches were a great idea.

So this new friend... are you guys in Queer Dating Limbo? I know that's happened to me before! Where you just keep hanging out and it takes ages to see if something romantic is happening or you'll stay friends. Of course, I also don't have personal experience as an asexual person so I wonder how that works too.

Disneyland was fun and tiring. We did over 20,000 steps and that's even with my sister's friend who has a cane and kneed brace with her. Well, usually with her cause umm her cane broke on a ride. We were on Big Thunder (a railroad type ride) where they forgot to take it from her. It slipped down into the spot the safety bars are on the bottom and full on snapped the metal so only the top portion remained. That was crazy. We did also drink and eat a lot since they had a little special food festival for the Chinese New Year.

I guess you could call it a little bit of limbo. We both are in a similar place in that we are trying to get out of our shells more, to go out and do things. We met at a singles event but so far we're just hanging out as friends. She just got out of law school and does need to focus more on preparing to bass the bar so isn't sure she wants a relationship yet at this point. So, we're mostly just friends with the option of having more develop. Since I'm asexual I'm not interested in anything very physical. I don't have many friends so whatever way it falls is something good for me. Just have to wait and see where things go.

[Fiction2Fitness]

Working between stores can be daunting and makes it hard to get a schedule going solid for the gym since didn't even get schedule until about 2 days before the week started. However, I finally made it back to the NoHo gym with my equipment. I hadn't used my squat shoes or belt in months. Having to wait for the equipment was a little rough and why I don't like to go right after work when I know the gym will be even busier. I did some landmine rows as I waited for the rack. Did some squats and good mornings, worked up to 165 for 2x5 using the belt. Can tell I've gained some fluff in the past few months without even stepping on the scale cause I am back to hole 3 on the belt, le sigh.

Had to measure waist for ordering corsets and the bigger part of my waist, about where most sites think should be the smallest but isn't on me, it's up to 38" so just a couple of inches but still makes a difference. However, on that note I did order myself a corset at long last. I've wanted one since I was 18 and I'm 35 now so it's about time. While I don't like spending a lot of money, the web site is known for having good quality corsets (my ex roommate has a couple from them) there was a sale of buy 1 get 3 free. So, yeah, I decided to place the order. Looking forward to getting that shipment. I've also gotten a couple of more pricier clothes than I normally spend as I tried out a stylist box called stitch fix. They send some items picked out by a stylist for you and you try them on at home. The pants I decided to get from the first box are nice and black so will come in handy often. Only getting boxes every three months to check out since I can't warrant buying clothes often.

Going to karaoke tonight with coworkers to celebrate one getting promoted to head pharmacist. I skipped out on the karaoke last time so decided to go to this one. Tomorrow will go to T's apartment and lift after I work at the other store.

And on the other notes with work... just awaiting for things to be official.

[shesprints]

Oooh this is good work news? I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

I've looked at stitchfix but I'm such a contrarian I knew I would automatically reject stuff just because I wasn't the one who picked it. It does seem like an interesting idea if you're more openminded.

How do corsets work with weight loss? Presumably you could just tie it more tightly, right? I presume this isn't waist training, which can harm your core strength.

On a side note re: weight loss, the unfortunate truth that I've learned is that weight lifting itself burns relatively few calories. Cardio, even walking, helps a lot. I imagine if you do work on your feet you're burning more calories that way as well?