feeling bikini ready after dropping 43 pounds

sorry that the sized of the bikini shots are off but my profile is open so the full shots are visible there if anyone wants to check them out

Sure....as far as stats go...

I'm just under 5' 5" and at last weight was 125

I'm wearing a size 4 (USA sizes)

Around 132 I stopped actively pursuing losing weight and began just focusing on strength training to build lean muscle and tone up my butt and thighs...to do that I increased my workouts but ate back as close to 100% of the calories I was burning as I could.

When I first started trying to lose weight I programmed in my stats and set it for lose 2 pounds a week...I set a personal goal of burning no less than 300 calories (as indicated from a heart rate monitor) every morning 7 days a week doing some sort of exercise--DVDs, treadmill, or long walk with my dogs. If I remember correctly I would eat back some of those calories but not all of them.

Over time, as I got closer to goal weight it got harder and harder to stick with what the app told me I would need to restrict my calorie intake to in order to lose 2 pounds a week....#s were in the 900s I believe, pre-exercise. I never allowed myself to eat anything less than 1200 so I had to increase my exercise time to gain more calories so I had at least 1200 to eat. Around this time (probably when I was around 138-135 pounds) I started getting confused, headaches, crabby and feeling like I wanted to rip food out of my husband's hands when he would eat in front of me :grumble: I knew I needed to change my plan so I increased the amount I was eating/slowed the amount of weight I was targeting to lose to 1 pound a week and the confusion, headaches and crabbiness went away...also I suddenly had more energy so I was able to workout more intensely than I was before. I probably increased calories to around the 1350 to 1450 mark without exercise (I would still eat back some of my exercise calories but not all)...

When I got to 132 I started trying to figure out what my maintenance calories would be. I have been gradually increasing the number of calories I eat per day...right now it is set to 1850 pre-exercise and I eat back every calorie I can from exercise...and I have still been losing a little bit of weight and I think a lot in inches. With exercise calories included I usually eat between 2000 and 2400 calories every day and love every minute of it!

The last 2-3 weeks I have doubled my workouts in an attempt to get my lower body to where I wanted it to be. I have been exercising both am and pm and probably burning between 500-800 calories most days (again based on a heart rate monitor reading), some days I burn a little more, some days a little less.

As far as workouts go, I do mostly DVDs in my home. I credit kickboxing routines with the definition I am getting in my arms and stomach because I have been thin before with other workouts but never as muscular/toned as what I am now (this is the first time I have ever included kickboxing in my exercise routines). I also do a lot of circuit training both in DVDs and on the treadmill/incline treadmill. I don't enjoy running much though, I prefer the DVDs. I also think the kickboxing DVD are doing a lot to help with my butt and thighs

forgot to mention, I also do a lot of push-ups...you have to do push ups if you want good arms...start with it on the knees and work up to standard push ups...I am just starting to be able to do more than a couple standard push ups in my workout routines

Hope that gives you some of the answers you asked about...happy to share more if you are interested through PM.

Stacie