Yeah...this is a hard one....especially now that it's state fair time here.

Stay away from any low carb processed foods like Atkins bars, shakes or chocolates. Make your own shakes with sugar free Almond milk and EAS whey (sugar free powder).

Also if you are a slow loser, make sure that you eat! I think starving yourself slows down the metabolism.

I use shirtake noodles, coconut oil to cook in, shredded cauliflower as a rice substitute.

I also lift free weights.

Thanks for the kind words everyone. Like I said, if I can do it...anyone can!

The stress test for me will be during the holidays.

Kind regards
Marie

Congrats! for your success

congratulations! wtg

what a great story! congrats!!!!

Congrats! I am also a huge fan of the " food that tastes so good, but dosen't look so great on my hips afterward " category. Glad that you did, and a size 4 is awesome!

That is so awesome!! I can't wait until I can fit my 'skinny jeans' again!!

Thank you for the inspiration!

how awesome!!!!

Me too. How long has this taken you?

It took me a little over 4 months between size 10 to size 4. It was all from eating completely clean. NO processed foods AND also to weight training and light cardio.

The weight training changed my life over a course of a year.

Congratulations!!! What a feeling!!!

Congratulations Mkatasonov! You look beautiful and I can only imagine how great you feel! Would you mind passing on a quick summary of your workouts -- the weights and cardio that you do? I've enjoyed reading your posts and I'd love to start some free weight work to kick up my weight loss, but I'm not sure what will really work. It seems like your approach is just that! Many thanks! S

Well there's a wonderful woman here who's name is Julia. (I need to email her, she changed my life). She turned me on to weights Sept 2008. I didn't really take it seriously until Jan 2009. I lost the weight between Feb-April 2009. I still do the same weights. I used to do anywhere between 1-2 hours of serious cardio and my weight would not budge.

Now I do 20-40 minutes of cardio after weight lifting. I run the tread mill for 10 minutes and I walk up hill on the highest incline at 4 mph for 10-30 minutes depending on my mood. Although I don't count calories, I like see that by walking the tread mill like that I burn over 840 calories an hour.

I use the free weights: every other day-lower body (with abs) and upper body.
Legs-goblet sqatchs, dead lifts, smith machine.
Arms free weights that work the tri/biceps.

I spend about 30 minutes in the weight room. I cut my work out to an hour (roughly) a day from over 2 and a half hours and not loosing a pound.

Marie

I wanna be a 4!!!!!!!!!! Really, I'd be thrilled with a 7!!! You go, girl!

Mkatasonov I would really like to learn more about weights. I have a book but it's not complete enough. Do you have any links I can look at for form and stuff? Maybe a book or any ideas? I know using weights in addition to cardio really help with losing. I would appreciate any tips you have!

Hi!

Okay, I'm not an expert on this. When it comes to weight training there's only about 8 types of weight lifting techniques that I do. Again, Julia...was responsible for turning me on to this. I was doing an enormous amount of cardio and the weight was not budging.

I would google this things for ease and explanation:

I do 3 sets of 13 reps and I wait 1 minute between each set.

Dead lifts
Goblet Squats
Smith Machine squats

I have to look up the names of the other stuff I do, so hang on.
I'll get that to you in another thread. Sorry about the delay...I just want to get the names right.