Losing weight, diet question?

[Red92Stang]

ok heres the deal, i have lost about 80lbs or so already. i dont have a problem with what to eat etc...

my question is, i would like to lose about 20 or 30 more lbs. when i lost the weight before it was pretty much just doing cardio, i didnt really lift any weights.
the past few months i have been lifting pretty regularly and have seen some pretty decent gains in strength.

right now i wanna try to get the weight off within the next couple months which i know i can do. since i have been lifting my weight has pretty much stayed the same but it fluctuates up and down about 5 lbs or so but i always end up in the 215-220 range.

if i just hit the cardio real hard and let up on the weight training, am i gonna lose a lot of my strength? i dont really care about being the strongest person around, right now i just wanna lose my stomach and cut my bodyfat just so i have a little definition. when i lift i dont seem to lose much weight but if i quit i dont really wanna have to start all over to get back to where i am now strength wise

[ceyko]

If you're trying to lose FAT, hit cardio more and eat right...etc. If you lift harder you'll put on muscle and "weight".

I guess what I'm trying to say, is if you see yourself bulk up muscle wise, don't expect to see the scale change. HOWEVER, if you wanna lose fat you should stick with cardio. Practice long distances/times as opposed to 2-3 miles or whatever. *I* personally saw major loses doing 1 6 mile run with 2 3-4 mile runs in one week.

If you're already at that point, you'll just have to turn up the frequency.

All this coming from a guy who put on 20 of the 80 he lost. :D

[The Raven]

The last time I seriously dieted I counted every calorie, got 30-45 minutes of cardio 4-5 times per week, and hit the weights just as hard and heavy as usual. I lost a little over 20lbs in 3 months, and was actually getting stronger the entire time. Keep your protein intake up, and cut out all saturated fat and alcohol. As long as you don't get into to big of a hurry (no more than 2lbs per week) you can burn fat without sacrificing any strength. I've read where bodybuilder don't usually see any serious effect to their strength until they start dieting below 8-10%. Take your time with it, if you seriously decrease your calorie intake, your body will have no choice but to go catabolic, and eat away at hard-earned muscle tissue.

[Jonny00GT]

Step 1: Chuck the scale and pick up a tape measure. How your clothes fit is a better indication of your progress then a scale will ever be.

Step 2: Keep doing what you're doing. Keep up the weights and cardio both. Putting on muscle increases your resting meteballic rate so it's easier to loose the fat.

The biggest down fall for most people who lift to loose weight is the scale. You could be trading muscle for fat and never know it looking at a scale so they get discouraged and just do cardio. Lifting with the cardio will get you there faster.

Who cares how hard gravity is pulling on you if you've got a six pack and a bad-ass shape!

Hang in there, you'll hit your goal!

[Red92Stang]

thanks for the info guys

[pntbutta]

You should really be shooting for a particular body shape. How much do you weigh? If you are lifting as you put on mass and lose fat your weight will hover or even go back up sometimes depending on where you are now. If you want long lean muscle try going up in reps and lower in weight and vice versa for mass. I used to be 190 w/ a 29-30 waist so weight really isn't the defining factor.