Confused about calories/exercise and could use advice

biscuitnow

After having lost about 75 lbs on a calorie deficit + cardio exercise, I am currently 140 lbs (female, 5'6''). I stopped losing weight in 2013 since I had to attend to some (chronic) health problems and I'm relatively skinny, but quite flabby at the moment (I've mostly just done cardio exercise and little strength training and I've still go too much fat on my belly/thighs etc). Losing weight by eating less only seems to make it worse at the moment. I've talked to my doctor and he told me I could do body weight exercises if I liked and perhaps go to the gym too once I'm a bit stronger.

I realise that getting stronger is going to take a while and I don't mind - losing 75lbs certainly took time and I'm a patient person. It's just that I have no idea where to start. I've read/been told so many different things and it's very confusing.

How do I go about building a bit of strength and getting less squishy (losing more weight is optional)? Should I just get started exercising and continue eating a calorie deficit in order to avoid weight gain? Should I eat at maintenance level to "feed" my muscles? Or eat more than that? Or should I try to lose more weight first and start building muscle after that? Should I continue doing cardio? Help please?

SezxyStef

I started with bodyweight stuff mainly. 30 day challenges (yes I know people make fun of them but you gotta start somewhere) then I moved to Jillian Michael's 30DS....that was amazing.

After doing the for 2 months I moved to Stronglifts (heavy lifting).

I have been doing heavy lifting since September 2013...

All of those things combined (in that order) has helped me stay out of the realm of "squishy"...well almost no squish...still working on it.

If you don't want to lose anymore weight yes eat at maintenance...it will take a while to see a change but it will come.

I also personally know women who just do Jillian Michael's type exercises and are very lean...not as strong if they were lifting heavy but no squishy...

As for the cardio if you like it sure why not. I do cardio while lifting heavy...mainly walking fast but I have just started the c25k app

Hope this helps.

biscuitnow

Thanks, it does help. I guess what I'm mostly worried about is the flab just staying right where it is if I don't eat at a deficit - is that going to happen?

I've watched 30DS on youtube and it seems really hard. (Maybe you can tell just how weak I am from this comment, lol). I'd be pretty ecstatic if I could last through a 30DS session by the end of the year. I've been trying out the suggested exercise schedules in the You Are Your Own Gym book and suffering through the beginner's soreness, haha. This should be fun. I'm really looking forward to having some more strength though.