Q: I have been working out for an hour (30 minutes of light weights and 30 minutes of cardio) faithfully 3-4 days a week for the past nearly 4 months. I have seen a little definition in muscles, but the fat on top has barely budged. My caloric intake is probably about 1500/day (I am a female) but nearly half of my calories come from crappy foods. Could my diet really be affecting my weight loss THAT dramatically?

A: Yes, your diet certainly DOES affect your results dramatically and getting half of your calories from junk is no way to continue! Clean up your diet and replace junk calories with good stuff. The other thing is to not be afraid to move on to heavier weights and whole-body exercises (not just stuff like bicep curls or shoulder presses). As long as you're not gaining weight (and at 1500 CLEAN calories you won't be), heavy whole-body training is your best ally in burning fat. Right now with those light weights, it's pretty much just more cardio. Increase the weights significantly and do whole-body movements like I recommend in my sample programs here. Good luck!