It probably helped that we walked 5 miles a day, and that I cooked at her apartment a few times.

I just spent a week in Manhattan with my mother (who loves to eat, especially in restaurants), and I didn't gain any weight!

People often ask me what my weight loss secret is. Their faces always fall when I say "It's just consistent effort over time -- counting calories."

The most important thing is getting the fit right in the shoulders. If the shoulders fit, a shirt or dress will usually look nice. If not, it looks sloppy.

You guys might try working less and dancing more.

I love my weight workouts and other kinds of exercise, but nothing makes me feel glowing alive and downright sexy like dance does.

I danced 2-3 hours a day last week, getting ready for the 4th of July parade, and I just blasted through my plateau and can now brag that I've lost 80 pounds!

Last Wednesday, traineo actually said I burnt more calories than I consumed. I let myself eat a little more on Thursday and Friday as a result, but I found that I didn't really want to eat.

All I wanted to do was dance.

Pico de gallo salsa (aka salsa cruda) makes a really tasty low-calorie salad dressing. I like to put some chicken or ground turkey on the salad with assorted vegetables and then spend some of the calories I saved on avocado.

Wahoo! I danced in the town 4th of July parade this year and am now celebrating having broken the 80-pound-down mark this morning!

5'8"

Amber and other newbies

I joined trained 2.5 years ago when I weighed 226 (down from a max of 232). I weighed in this morning at 152.4. If I did it, so can you!

The weight's come off slowly, at about an average of 3 pounds a month.

It's been a lot of hard work and discipline, especially at the table. I think that 80% of weight loss is on the input side. I also work out and do aerobics religiously, but I do that to maintain my muscle and bone density and general health, not to lose weight.

Amber, I suggest starting in on the diet side by setting a realistic calorie target (there are calorie calculators all over the place). Plan 4 small meals and two light snacks for yourself so you can eat frequently and not be so hungry.

Center your diet around fruits and vegetables and lean proteins. Eat whole grains sparingly. Allow yourself small healthy treats (and even smaller occasionally unhealthy treats).

It's summer, so the perfect time for salads. Try sliced tomatoes with fresh basil chopped; cold summer cucumber salads; green salads with shredded carrot; steamed green beans in vinaigrette.

You don't have to change your diet all at once. You can start with one or two meals a day the new way and transition over time. You have plenty of time to do this; take your time and be gentle with yourself and treat yourself well.

If there are fruits and vegetables you love, eat them. Give yourself permission to eat the healthy things that taste and feel good. Use herbs and vinegars for flavor rather than fatty sauces and dressings.

This is all about you. You're doing this for yourself, and a slimmer, healthier you is the biggest treat you can give yourself. Pamper yourself along the way; it's important!

Yay Tania!

I know what you mean. Those plateaus come and sometimes it's not clear what you do to chip your way through them.

But we know what we need to do in general, so just keep doing that and adjusting a little here and there, and you'll get there.

You know, I am ounces away from having lost 80 pounds, the tape measure says I've also lost 77 inches, I've gone from a size 20 to a size 8, I see this svelte leggy thing in the mirror, and I'm still not always sure I can see the weight loss.

I went to get some pants last week, picked up some size 8s and then, even though my own size 8s are getting a little loose, felt like an impostor and picked up some size 10s just in case. The style I liked didn't have any 8s, so I got some 10s. I have to belt them to keep them from falling down.

So I am a size 8, no matter how weird it feels to say that, and I might even get down to a size 6 as I shed the final 10 pounds.

I suggest super slow high intensity lifting for anyone who wants to build strength. Working slow means that you control the movement through the whole range of motion, so your lifting will be more effective and you will be less likely to injure yourself.

Working super slow tends to mean that you use lighter weights than you otherwise would. When you want to up the intensity, you first slow down the movements even more and then up the weight and work a bit faster.

Weight-lifting is not about pushing as much weight as you can as fast as you can. It's about developing your strength optimally. I've found that I get better results lifting lighter weights super slow, with the added benefit that I don't need a spotter and can work out at home.

If I'm learning any move for the first time, I try it first with no weight. I don't even pick up a weight until I have the form right, and then I use bunny weights the first few times through, increasing the weight slowly until I find my working load. My goal is to find the optimal load for my body and not to injure myself in the process.

Strong grrrrls rock! We'll back you up, Angie; just say when and where.

Here's my bicep:



Quiver with fear; Pumping Grrrrrls are here!

Base measurements (Christmas 2006):

Bicep: 34 cm
Forearm: 27 cm
High bust: 109 cm
Full bust: 117 cm
Bra band: 107 cm
Waist: 101 cm
Widest part of hips: 126 cm
Thigh: 67 cm
Calf: 46 cm

July 2nd 2009 measurements:

Bicep: 27 cm (-7) 10.5" (-3.25")
Forearm: 23.5 cm (-3.5) 9.25" (-1.5")
High bust: 83 cm (-26) 32.5" (-9.5")
Full bust: 92 cm (-29) 36" (-11.25")
Bra band: 84 cm (-23) 33" (-9.25")
Waist: 79 cm (-22) 31" (-9")
High hip: 94 cm (-36) 37" (-13.75")
Low hip: 97 cm (-22) 38" (-8.75")
Thigh: 52 cm (-12) 20.5" (-6.75")
Calf: 37 cm (-9) 14.5" (-3.625")

Down 76.625" and ~80 pounds.

My size 8 pants are getting a bit loose now.

Hi Angella,

Do you know Miriam Nelson's Strong Women programs? One of them might work for you now -- they're short and effective, and many of them have modifications for elderly and disabled people. She has books and a web site.

That aside, put on some rocking music you love, dust off a light set of dumbbells, and start with a short, easy routine, say 5 exercises. Ease yourself back in. You can do that. It'll only take a few minutes.

I danced for three hours yesterday getting ready for a show on Saturday. Man, my booty and legs are feeling it today! And my abs are sore, too, just from dancing.

I also walked 3 miles yesterday afternoon. I thought the different motion would be good for my legs, keep them loose.

I burned something like 1400 calories yesterday.

More dance rehearsals tomorrow and Friday (but not today; I'm lifting weights instead today).

Karla, be gentle with yourself. Don't force yourself by pushing back into your old routine; ease yourself back in by taking baby steps. Cut back calories slowly, one meal at a time maybe. Start the exercise again gently as well, with a short walk in a beautiful place or something else that is easy that you enjoy. Coax yourself back onto your path by giving yourself a taste of how good it feels to take care of yourself again.

Ooh, Angie, good for you!

What I love is being able to wear smaller pants than my teenagers and borrow all their cool clothes.

I'm now an advocate of specificity (I can't say it but I agree with it) ... If you want to get good at climbing hills on your bike, climb lots of hills on your bike. The amount of force to turn your pedals even on the tough climbs is a fraction of the force you would lift in the gym. The best fitness machine to use to get better at climbing hills is your bike.

Mike, that's true in some sense, but, if you don't also pay attention to your overall fitness, you'll make specific parts of your body strong and other specific parts of your body weak, leading eventually to injury and problems with your skeleton.

My goal for fitness is to have a healthy, well-functioning body until my expected life exit date at 132. I lift weights partially because it makes me feel strong and macha, but I also do it to keep my bones and muscles strong and balanced.

I really credit working the small opposing muscle groups (which my current workout includes) with preventing injury and enabling me to be a general-purpose fit person. Those little muscles might not be hard to work or seem important, but they play a big role in keeping the body in balance and keeping the skeleton aligned.

I really like the research of Dr. Miriam Nelson, a gerontologist at Tufts University, about the beneficial effects of weight-lifting for health in older individuals. Lifting weights can make a big difference in the quality of life as you get older.

So far, I seem to be getting older. It's a trend I want to continue, and I want to have a good life while I'm doing it.

Okay, I was vegan or vegetarian for a long time, and I believed that it was the healthiest way to eat (and the best for the planet) for most of those years.

When I discovered that it wasn't a healthy way for my body to eat, I felt betrayed, like I'd been sold a bill of goods. For the past few years, I've felt angry every time I've heard or seen vegetarian/vegan evangelism, because I had believed it and it caused me a lot of pain and debility.

I am not saying that a vegan or vegetarian diet is wrong for everyone, just that it was wrong for me and a number of other people who all fervently believed that it was the right way to eat. So, if you're thinking of switching to a vegan or vegetarian diet, also consider checking in with your body to see if that diet works for you.

I have dear friends who are serious vegans. Some of them seem to thrive on it and others have the same kinds of health issues that eventually led me out of the world of vegetarianism entirely.

Also, I have serious doubts about all of the highly processed soy foods on the market. There's a growing body of evidence that a diet high in processed soy is not healthy, just like there's a growing body of evidence that a diet high in processed corn is not healthy. It's like eating a lot of white sugar and white flour -- you're consuming something that is an industrial product, not a natural food.

So.

Listen to your body. Hear what other people are saying, but don't let it put blinders on your eyes. Pay attention to how you feel after you eat different foods, different quantities, different combinations.

Food allergy testing has gotten quite good. It's expensive, but it can pinpoint foods that cause problems for you.

We all make choices, and I don't want to criticize anyone for the choices they make.

That said, there are expensive things that people buy without thinking about it: nutritional supplements, body care products, cleaning products, cosmetics, convenience food, drinks (of all sorts), alcohol, etc. In many cases, these can be either eliminated or replaced with inexpensive substitutes.

Fresh, organic, unprocessed foods are not that expensive if you shop wisely and know how and have the time to prepare them. It takes time, though, to learn how to cook all of the different grains, legumes, meats, fruits, and vegetables that are on offer. It also takes time to prepare them for yourself, and time might not be something you have a lot of.

There are great recipes for almost anything online, though, and you can incorporate new foods into your diet slowly. Once you get the hang of using, say, turnips and the various cabbages and parsnips and winter squash and yams, it's not any more trouble to cook them than the old standbys, and you can shop for what's in season and at a good price right now.

I was vegan for about 8 years and vegetarian for 15-20 years. I ate healthy mostly unprocessed food (the highly processed soy frankenfoods didn't exist back then), and I thought it was the best diet for the human body and the planet.

As I approached middle age, however, my body started breaking down. I had arthritis in my hip so bad that I was partly disabled. I had a bad skin condition. I gained a lot of weight.

It turned out that I had developed allergies to pretty much all of the vegetarian protein sources: soy, corn, almost all beans, almonds, eggs, all dairy. I changed to a meat-and-vegetable-based diet with low carbs and I immediately looked and felt a whole lot better.

Since then, I've talked to a number of middle-aged vegetarian women with pretty much the same set of symptoms: creeping weight gain, low energy, joint pain, skin problems.

I've come to believe that our bodies can survive but not thrive on a diet that is based on grass seeds and legumes.

Jazzercise this morning and then my weight workout.

How do you know it wasn't my husband who was trying to get me to burn those calories in that particular way?

My suggestion would be to reduce the carbs and sugar a little more and substitute lean protein and veggies.

A while ago, friends and family who have been supportive of my journey to buffness started saying "You can stop now, Heather."

More recently, they've started to seem a little concerned.

"Are you sure you're not becoming anorexic?"

I never thought I'd hear someone say that to me.

And, yeah, I am sure. My body fat percentage is 23.4, which is normal, but not even close to underweight. I still sport a pair of DD cups. At 5'8", I'm wearing size 8s and weighing in at 154 or so, still 8-12 pounds above what I consider my ideal weight. I'm muscular, not skeletal.

I mentioned this to my husband, and he said, "Well, you don't have much left to lose."

I told him I still have pockets of fat here and there, and he wanted to know where. I tried to show him, but he didn't seem to think those spots had much fat, and then he got distracted.

Angie, hun, I have 4 kids, have been pregnant 11 times, and miscarried 7. I have tons of stretch marks, but they're on a body that is shapely and toned.

I earned those stretch marks. I earned the body I have now, too. What I am now is not just the body nature gifted me with, but what I have made of myself by living my life the way I've lived it.

Being vain, I am still looking for non-surgical ways to get rid of the stretch marks, but I certainly wouldn't trade my kids for the smooth belly I had when I was 25.

When I decided to lose the extra weight I'd been carrying around due to a 10-year disability, my goal was to hit the big 5-0 as buff as I've ever been in my life. (I've been working out since I was 21, so that's not a particularly low bar).

People shook their heads a bit when I told them that, like it's a nice goal for those who can afford it or something.

At some point, I decided to go for broke. I started telling people "The older I get, the hotter I get, and that's a fact."

Most people laugh a little and say "Well, I guess it works for you."

Some people, though, jump right up on my bandwagon. I have an 85-year-old friend who had heart surgery last year. She looks and feels terrific, and she's decided that no matter how old and hot I am, she's a lot older and hotter.

I'm 48 and I still have a year and a half to get my abs totally ripped and my body buffer than it's ever been.

You can do it.

Step by step, day by day.

If you get off track, don't beat yourself up, just get yourself back on track.

We're here to support you, to give you the atta-girls when you do well and the that's-okay-shake-it-off-get-back-where-you-want-to-bes when you slip up.

2 hours of dance yesterday kicked my booty but good.

Today I've got my weight workout and a trip to the beach.

Oh, and I am now 0.8 pounds away from 80 pounds down.... What a long strange trip it is.