I am trying to lose 10 pounds. I am 5 ft. 2 and weigh 123 pounds. I have been at this weight for several years now. I always wanted to lose 10 pounds, but I thought my body just wouldn't go that small. I have to admit that I didn't eat right and didn't exercise regularly. But, I'm changing that right now. I am eating right and now I've started working out. I work out during my lunch hour. I run and walk briskly on the treadmill for 35 minutes 5x a week. After work I go to the gym and work out for 45 minutes doing circuit training 3x a week. I just started this routine last week and so of course no results just yet. Do you think this is enough cardio? Should I do more cardio to get the last 10 pounds off? I am eating healthy now and drinking a lot of water so I'm not concerned about my eating habbits right now. How fast do you think I could drop the weight? I want to lose it faster than a pound a week.

Hello, The first thing I need to address is the understanding of an appropriate weight for each individual. A persons weight depends on their skeletal structure, height, activity level, body fat percentage and muscle mass. Therefore, a better indicator of how healthy you are would be a reflection of these attributes instead of what you weigh on a scale. However!!!!!! I know I am talking a lot about "health" rather than the physical appearance of your body. And, for many people it is more about visual appearance than health. Although in many cases the two are very related. Let me ask you a question. If you weighed 137 lbs but you looked exactly the way you wanted to and you were very happy with your body would you still be concerned with what the scale said? Think about this for a minute. I mention this only because I want you to think in terms other than what the scale says. The reason I want you to do this is because as you begin to exercise you will be losing fat but you will also be gaining muscle. This is incredibly positive! You want this to happen. But, the scale may not change as fast as you would like. Don't let this ruin your motivation! You said you wanted to lose more than 1 lb per week. If you think like this you could be setting up a dangerous pitfall toward your progress. I say this because you are a small person and losing 1 lb per week is like losing approximately 1 percent of your body weight. This is the perfect amount for you. You actually don't want it to come down any faster than this! If you try to lose any more than this it is simply too fast. Your metabolism will go into and "emergency mode" and your progress will come to a grind in about 3 weeks. Focus more on what you look like and get a body fat test to give you a better indicator on your fat loss progress. Don't just hop on the scale everyday to gage your progress. Most women seeking general fitness are healthy if they can maintain a bodyfat percentage in the range of 16-25%. And, for female athletes a bodyfat percentage in the range of 12-22% is appropriate. Ask a trainer at your local gym to perform a caliper bodyfat test for you so you can work on a more specific "health number" than scale weight. If your bodyfat percentage in in the healthy range and you still feel you want to lose "weight" the amount of activity you are doing currently is great. I have 2 comments as far as your activity level. What is the intensity of your cardiovascular exercise? This can be determined through heart rate. You need to get your heart rate up to 65-75% of your estimated maximal heart rate. To find your estimated Max HR subtract your age from 220. Therefore, if you are 30 years old your est. max. HR is 190. (6 days a week of cardio work for 60 minutes at a time is fine as long as you are not overtraining and pushing too hard. If you are just starting you need to build up to this. It should take you about 8 weeks to get to this level. Don't rush things or you will get injured and believe me, that really puts a damper on things!) Secondly, What type of weight lifting program are you on. Again it is a question of intensity. That is why the Fitrex programs are so valuable. It is easy to figure out intensity for cardiovascular exercise, but very hard to gage intensity for weightlifting. I would like you to consider trying one of the 3 Day Women's Fitness Programs or the 3 Day Get Lean Program. Also, you mentioned you are not worried about your eating habits. Even with the amount of activity you are doing it is still possible to not lose any weight or even gain weight if your caloric intake is too high. Let me say that it is great that you are eating better quality foods. This is a very important first step. However, even if you ate totally healthy foods but you ate too much of them you will not lose body fat. Here is a great fundamental tip. You need to expend 500 calories more than you take in every day to lose one pound a week regardless of the type of foods you are eating. (One pound of fat has 3,500 calories. 500 x 7 days equals 3,500). You need to eat a balanced diet of protein, fat (good sources of quality fat such as fish, nuts, or supplements such as Essential fatty acids or flaxseed oil), and complex carbohydrates. Try to avoid fried, breaded, processed, sugary, and other junk food. Instead try to eat fresh whole foods like lean Meats, Fruits, and Vegetables. Please check out our nutrition section under the Fitness info button for a great explanation of how to eat better! Stay positive, work hard, don't expect everything to happen overnight and you will do great!!!