Q: hey im female and around 147lbs and im trying to lose a whole lot of that weight. im trying to go on a lowfat diet and probably will start on your suggestions and i workout for about 30min - 1hr a day. i cant fit in much with my busy schedule but i was wondering if you had any suggestions and the type of workout that can maximize fat-loss in the limited workout time i have. and i also would like to know how i could lose back fat. a lot of my fat is in my back, mostly upper.....a little more and it could become like boobs on my back :/ i dont want to tone it up and make it muscly i just want to lose the back fat first THEN tone my lean back.

A: Starting on weight training will go a very long way towards accomplishing your goals. If you can, try to join the gym -- you'll be able to find freeweights and machines there that are adjustible to the right level of intensity. That means that for every exercise you'll be able to find such a weight or resistance level that you can only perform around 8-12 repetitions before literally being unable to do another. That is the level of intensity you should be working at for maximum fat burn. If you are not comfortable at this level, still pick the same weight but do it only 6-10 times so you don't have to strain quite as much near the end. But always pick heavy weights.

If you cannot join a gym, you can still make pretty good progress at home. I have this and this programs that require no or little equipment and can be performed at home.

Now about the diet... I do not recommend a low-fat diet. You will get better results with a high-protein/moderate-fat/low- or moderate-carbs diet. You can get a sample diet if you fill out the Fitness Guide. Put 'Lose Fat' as your goal when you fill it out. Look at the suggested diet carefully and try to adapt it to your own lifestyle while keeping the 'spirit' of it, meaning total portion sizes and relative amounts of protein/carbs/fats, about the same. In the couple paragraphs preceding the suggested diet I give some suggestions of how to adopt it to your specific needs.

Finally about the fat loss process... You cannot control where your body stores or loses fat directly. You can't force it to just lose the upper back fat. But you CAN lose fat overall and that will lose the upper back fat too. That should be your goal. A good diet such as one suggested by the Fitness Guide and a good workout program and possibly some cardio on top will lose that fat for you. Just always remember that you have to lose fat EVERYWHERE and the best way to do so is to exercise muscles EVERYWHERE. Also remember that the surest way to lose fat is slow. As slow as 1 pound per week. That will ensure true fat loss instead of muscle loss and depressed metabolism.

Also, as long as you're losing weight and fat, you do not need to worry about becoming too muscular -- your body will not build muscle to any significant degree while it's losing weight (or even while weight is staying constant). So the most you'll get is some muscle tone as the melting fat reveals the muscles hidden below.

So get started with training, in the gym or at home, switch to a healthy diet -- I recommend filling out the Fitness Guide instead of the low-fat approach, do some cardio, and adjust your diet to keep on track for about 1 pound per week weight loss. Good luck!