What's the secret?

The secret is to combine weightlifting or some other kind of resisitance exercise with cardio such as walking, jogging, bicycling, rowing, etc. Weightlifting is the best resistance exercise in my opinion because not only will it increase your muscle volume which revs up your metabolism, but the stress of the weight on your body, forces your body to strengthen it's skeleton as well. Weightlifting makes your bones as well as your muscles stronger.

Thanks, George. I had been doing a combination of weights and cardio, with inconclusive results (as a newbie, I'd been losing too fast to really track), but we had a sub in my favorite class at the gym on Monday, and it's Thursday, and I'm STILL hurting! I think this chick may be my key! I am down 1% BF this week--it was instantaneous! It's taken almost 3 months for 7%, and then in 1 hour, I'm down 1 more %! I am shocked at how much more toned my thighs are after only one class with her. I agree that weights are critical. Maybe I just need to push myself more. I had also heard that smaller weights, more reps was ideal. Any thoughts on this?

Yeah, low weights with high reps is ideal for toning your body, mid reps and mid weights are good for building new muscle tissue, and high weight low reps are good for buidling strength and power. I rotate between the three every month, I switch it up because your body is crafty and will "plateau" if you do the same thing over and over again. Switchin it up is good to shock it into better gains regardless of your goals.

So glad your on this!