Getting married, need tips on how to CUT and tone up!

Hi, I am 5'3 and currently at 125 pounds. I had gotten down to my goal weight at my engagement in June at 119 but have slacked off since. I wouldn't mind getting back to that, however, I am needing help with toning up. I don't want to gain any muscle I just want to define my muscle that I already have and tone up. I have hear cardio builds muscle and I should weight train...is this true? If so what success have you had and what do you do to tone up? I have until June to look my best in my wedding dress and on my honeymoon, any tips would be great!

You are in a good healthy weight range right now. Cardio is good for you. I do it just as much as lifting but in my over 30 years of lifting and running (5k up to 50 miles and everything in between) is that cardio does not do near as much for your look as weight lifting.

Lifting weights is KEY. I recently had my DXA scan done and at 51.5 years of age I have the bone density of a super athletic 30 year old. That is a direct result of lifting for over 30 years. Now if that is not scientific proof that lifting weights keeps you younger I don't know what is! Also I believe it is why most people think I look much younger than I really am.

Start lifting now, lift heavy and change it up often, find a lot of weight routines with free weights, make it fun, embrace it, make it part of your life. Only 3 days a week is all it would take. Crank up your tunes and learn to love it, because your body will love it and it will make your quality of life better in many ways, especially when you get older like me.

Because of this I don't have to worry about osteoporosis. If you wait until you are older and your bones start to deteriorate it's a bit too late, you can't get back what you lost, and you can only start a resistance routine that will prevent further damage.

If you are female you don't have the hormones to get big naturally. I lift heavy and I'm still really tiny. My lean body mass is only 104 lbs and that is fairly heavy for a 5'1" female, and quite a bit of this is due to my having very dense bones from 30 years of lifting, not all muscle, and I'm still quite tiny.

My muscles really are not that big, but they show a lot of definition because I'm quite lean. If I gained some fat then I would have a softer more toned look (which is OKAY too!). Then if I gained more fat I would look bulky and hefty like I did most of my life until last year. YOU CAN HAVE WHATEVER YOU WANT. Lean and ripped, soft and toned, or hefty, it all depends on how much fat you leave on your body. Calories are the only thing that changes fat. Exercise is for changing or maintaining your lean body mass only. Lifting weights will give you the best bang for your buck for shaping your body. I finally changed my shape by putting lifting first and cardio 2nd. You cannot out exercise too many calories.

I think I may almost have this memorized.

Me too. I've seen all of the same pictures so many times I can't even get them out of my head anymore either.