Where to now?

[kazzsjourney]

Hi - I am hoping if I can tell my story a lil bit I can get some feedback/suggestions. The story is this 6 years ago i weighed 173.1 kilos (380 pounds) over the last 6 years mostly thru calorie cycling and averaging out 1800 cals per day i have lost most of the weight i need to lose. I now weigh 89.1 kilos (196 pounds)...I am really struggling to lose the last 10 kilos (22 pounds) but I am really at a point now where the number doesnt bother me as much as I would like a more toned body. I do have excess skin on my thighs and stomach which i will always be stuck with and ill never have a flat stomach etc which i am fine with (i dont want to have excess skin surgery) but i do want to make the best of my body in this situation. Currently exercise wise i do body pump 2-4 times a week....and the last 7 weeks or so really pushing to increase those weights and I do one weight session per week with one of my personal trainers - currently we are primarily focusing on upper body work and I also run twice a week (6.5km one run and 10kms the other run). Anyway im interested in feedback on where i should go to make the most of my body and circumstance....ive never been brave enough to go in the weights area alone....if i was to do this is there suggestions of workout guides? I am thinking about going paleo but eating dairy as well but definitely cutting out the grains - what is the difference tho between primal and paleo? Any suggestions on what I could do I would love! (I still wanna keep up the running as im doing a 12km run in september)

[kazzsjourney]

Oh I should add lol I am female 5"9. I had a dexa scan in april and 64.9 kilos of my 89kilos was lean body mass so i do have quite high lean mass...and they only reacommended i lose another 5-7 kilos of fat

[Sphynx]

First, congratulations on your success so far! Not many can claim to have achieved what you have, and the fact that you kept at it for 6 years speaks volumes for your commitment.

When you say that you wonder where to go next it reminds me of a story *adjusts glasses, strokes long white beard.* I was out with my family one Christmas day and we had to climb a chain-link fence to, well, break into a school, but that's not important! What is important is that I used to be the fat kid (213, 5'6 if it matters), but I had been training and losing weight and getting stronger for awhile at this point so I sprung over that fence like a mofo. And I'll always remember what that felt like. I wanted to lean back and scream to the sky:

"NO WALLS CAN CONTAIN ME!!!"

*ahem* The point is that if you've ever felt that way, then that is what you should think about moving forward. After that, I absolutely caught the strength bug because I wanted to be strong enough to climb walls and do pushups and all the other things I couldn't do when I was a kid. Now, I don't normally recommend guides and such, but since you asked I would say that the strength guide Steve offers here on the site is pretty solid.

You can find it here: http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/store/

If you want to try something similar before dropping $50 on the Rebel Strength Guide you can find a similar (very, very, suspiciously similar) free program written by the co-author of the rebel strength guide here:

http://www.gymjunkies.com/strength-training/

Although, naturally this doesn't come with all the nifty extras and advice which is where the real value of the guide is in my opinion.

Lastly, I would recommend that since you have access to a personal trainer, you ask him to tutor you in these lifts if he hasn't already.

Godspeed and good luck.