losing weight too fast

flame_retardant

Higuys, I'm 5'7, 29 year old female. I started at 141lbs on 1/20/14 and am now down to 138lb. I know weight loss happens faster in the beginning, but I wanted to lose 12lbs total, in about 5 months :-) so dropping 3lbs in 3 weeks is making me worried that I am losing muscle mass.

My exercise routine is 45 minutes of cardio 5 times a week (hiit treadmill+ elliptical), ab work-outs, and some shoulder presses cus I really want to be able to do a push-up. I haven't changed my food habit much except to cut down on rice to about a third of what I used to eat. I guess that's cut down my calories as well but I don't count, so no idea how many I am eating.

My goal is to be able to run for 10 minutes at 6.5mph at the end of June :-) right now, I can run 2 minutes at 6mph. I am actually happy with this because when I started exercising 3 weeks ago, I couldn't even run 1 minute at 5mph.
My other fitness goal is to do 10 real push-ups by the end of June. This is going to be the biggest challenge cus my upper arms are big, but all fat. No strength at all. How can I build up some ,muscle in there?

fushigi1988

Open up yourdiary, or at least post calories you are eating.
That 3 lbs is probably water weight

Add more strength, you are only doing a lot of cardio now, ab exercises do not work if you want a flat stomach.

ottermotorcycle

You just started in the past few weeks. Most likely, you initially lost water weight and your body is now adjusting to your new lifestyle. Keep at it, and don't get too used to losing so quickly, because it will slow down.

flame_retardant

Hi guys,

Thanks for the reply :-) I am actually worried I have lost muscle mass in my 3lb weight loss cus I do a lot of cardio, but not enough strength training to balance it out. I wanted to lose 2lbs/month or thereabouts cus then it would be fat loss.

So guess I have to add more strength training, but don't know where to start

ottermotorcycle

Hi guys,

Thanks for the reply :-) I am actually worried I have lost muscle mass in my 3lb weight loss cus I do a lot of cardio, but not enough strength training to balance it out. I wanted to lose 2lbs/month or thereabouts cus then it would be fat loss.

So guess I have to add more strength training, but don't know where to start

I just started doing the New Rules of Lifting for Women program. I bought the book and just devoured it, and I'm on week 1 of the program right now. I know it's going to be challenging and really help me build strength, so I do recommend it.

A simple place to start is by doing just squats and pushups. You can do them at home whenever you have a spare 10 minutes, and you'll help yourself retain muscle a little bit. Also make sure you're eating enough protein!