Q: I'm 31 and a mother of a 6yr old. Through out my early twenties I weighed no more than 175lbs and looked and felt great! I'm 5'10 and now weight 235 distributed. I've had my thyroid tested because I can't seem to loose much more than 12lbs or so. I was very active and could eat anything. My arms are what bothers me the worst. I hate wearing short sleeves or tanks. I have plenty of muscle and used to belong to a gym for 6 months doing on rotation muscular and cardio workouts. My trainer kept advising put more weight on, NO! I don't need any more upper body mass. During my gym days I ate nothing but healthy, fish, skinless chicken, veggies, fruits and some carbs like Muslix Cereal with yogurt. PLEASE, advise. I am distributed pretty evenly but very over weight. I'm 5'10 and weight 235. Not interested in the gastrobypass! I have a 6yr old so after work or early walking just won't work for me. Please advise, Thanks!

A: If your trainer encouraged you to use more weight when you performed exercises, then he or she was actually giving you the right advice. Remember: lifting heavy weights in the gym will NOT make you bulky! Overeating is what makes you bulky! Lifting heavy weights AND undereating slightly is what will give you the best fat loss results. Lifting light weights isn't going to do nearly as much to boost metabolis as lifting heavy.

It sounds like you were eating most of the right things while you were working out. Muslix and yogurt are two things that should go and you may have needed a bit more healthy fats (like olive oil in your salad, for example).

Right now your goal should be two-fold. One, improve your present diet to have several small healthy meals throughout the day. Two, restart resistance training, either in the gym or with minimal equipment at home. To both ends, please check out my Fitness Guide, complete it (put 175 lbs for your weight) and look at the recommended exercise and nutrition programs. Then do your best to follow them. If you do not have a gym membership and can only work out at home, then use either this or this program -- they're not going to be as effective as a good gym lifting program, but still far better than nothing. And again remember: DO NOT BE AFRAID OF HEAVY WEIGHTS!!! They will never ever make you bulky unless you eat too much. By having a good diet like the one suggested by the Fitness Guide, you will turn heavy lifting into the best fat-burner possible. You should be losing about 1 pound per week for optimal sustained long-term fat loss. Spend a week or two on the suggested diet and from then on adjust your serving sizes up or down to stay on track for 1 pound/week weight loss. Good luck!