Q: Will you tell me if my diet & workout routine is on the right track to losing about 8 pounds in 4 weeks or so? Weights: Monday and Thursday-shoulders, upper back, biceps, triceps, chest. Tuesday and Friday-abs (tuesday only), quads, hams, calves, lower back, glutes. All with weights heavy enough to do 6-15 reps 3 sets each. Diet is: meal 1...1/4 c oats with 1/2 banana. Meal 2: 1 can tuna fish on multi grain low carb wheat bread with 1 tbsp horseradish. Meal 3: 1 c. stir-fry vegetables or other green vegetables with 1/2 c. lowfat cottage cheese. Meal 4: USUALLY bbq chicken or chicken, mushrooms, and provolone with side of vegetables. But I admit I sometimes cheat on meal 4 (dinner) since my husband is not on the same diet as me. Thank you in advance!! I love your site!

A: Your weight training routine looks very very good! However I'd say you're trying to lose weight just a little too fast and correspondingly your diet though is a little on the light side. I would recommend making 4-6 pound weight loss your goal for these 4 weeks, adding a good source of protein to breakfast (for example: a scoop of whey protein, half a cup of cottage cheese, or 1 egg + 2 egg whites omelette), and trying to split the dinner into two meals, so that you have a smaller regular dinner and another small meal of dinner leftovers (make it veggie-heavy) before bed.

On the whole though, you're definitely on the right track and may even be able to lose those 8 pounds. It's just that unless you're badly overweight a rapid weight loss like that will cost you some muscle tissue and cap your metabolism a bit which means you won't be able to keep losing fat for long and will become vulnerable to some fat coming back. So again, I'd recommend eating a little more (especially for breakfast) and being happy with 1 pound/week or so weight loss pace.