Doc said even if I came off the Adipex it would still work to eat 1100 calories a day and exercise 30 minutes?

Question

each day, but it is not working anymore. I stopped the weight loss pills. I did NOT increase my calories and I continue to exercise 30 mins. a day. Sometimes 45 or an hour but I have a 2 year old and 2 jobs - one full time and one part time job so no more time to keep exercising and exercising! Doc said spread the calories out during the day so I am. My weight has crept up a lot since I had my son. And I am NOT even lifting. I ONLY do cardio because I want to avoid muscle gain. The only thing I "lift" is my two year old son. I am whacked out by this scale! I feel like my body will NOT lose weight. It keeps gaining weight, but I AM eating a healthy variety, I SWEAR I am - I teach nutrition so I know about food and exercising. But my body does not abide by the "rules". How do I get over this plateau?

BTW I am only 5 feet tall!!!!! I was 110 lbs 2 yrs ago and now I am 130.

Answer 1

To break the plateau you have to start challenging your body more. Lift weight to tone your muscles and this will increase your metabolism since muscle requires more energy (calories) to sustain it than any other body tissue. This means that you will burn more calories in everything your body does - including sleeping.

If you are avoiding muscular conditioning because you are afraid of getting big, don't be. Just make sure that you do more reps with lighter weights - fewer reps of heavy weights will bulk you up, but still only to a small extent because as a woman, you don't have the necessary testosterone to get big. The great majority of female weight lifters (and males too) take nutritional and hormonal "supplements" (wink, wink) in order to look the way they do, since it is virtually impossible for the female body to do that unaided.

Besides, what's the worst that can happen if you try muscle conditioning - if you think you look too toned, stop and you will be back to 'normal' in a few months.

Good luck!