Weight issue..

If you want to lose weight, you need to address your eating habits. Exercise barely burns off any calories though it is extremely valuable for toning your body and by adding muscle you will burn more calories even at rest, though, again, not enough on its own to see the results you want.

You need to look at what you are eating and learn more about how the amount of calories you are taking in each day is compared to what you need. Most women your height should be taking in about 1800-2000 calories a day in general. You can certainly go on different websites and get a better analysis on this but I can tell you that to weigh 190 lbs at 5'2" you are taking in much, much more in calories than you need.

I am not a fan of radical diets or making big changes to your eating habits because it won't stick, you may lose weight initially but you will gain it back and then some once you grow tired of the new diet. Instead, start making small changes. Here are some ideas:

1. Don't drink your calories. Cut out coffee drinks with added cream, sugar, milk. Don't drink energy drinks. Don't drink juices, eat fruit instead. If you drink any milk, make sure it is 1%. Don't even drink diet sodas. Recent research has shown that artificial sweeteners may just make your body even more hungry and craving real sugar, so you just end up eating to make up for it later. Drink 6 to 8 glasses of water everyday. There are a lot of reasons to drink water but one of them is that if you are dehydrated, you will feel tired and when you feel tired, you will want to eat or drink the types of things to give you a "boost" such as diet sodas or energy drinks or just plain old comfort food.

2. Make sure you are getting fiber with every meal. How? Add fruits and vegetables to each meal. And, no, french fries do not count. I keep bags of frozen veggies on hand and I add them to whatever I am eating to make sure I get the fiber that will help keep your blood sugar even and control cravings as well as fill me up. Also, I love breads, cereals and pastas but I only buy ones that show in the nutritional info that they have at least 2 grams of fiber with each serving.

3. Reduce your portion sizes slightly. If you eat out, never ever think that you have to finish your plate of food. Restaurant meals can be a whole days worth of calories or more. Instead, I eat at most 1/2 of my restaurant meal, sometimes 1/4, and then I take home leftovers and dole them out for lunches or dinner and mix a lot of veggies in to each meal to offset all the fat and calories you find in restaurant meals.

I have a lot more ideas but the point is make small changes to your eating habits, get used to those changes and a month later, make another small change. Keep doing it and you will lose weight without feeling deprived.

People always say "eat healthy" but I know it's not that easy. When I wanted to lose weight I read this magazine that changed my life. Unfortunately I can't remember what magazine it was but I know what it said. This is sort of what it said in the article:

You know that huge bowl of cereal you have in the morning? Or that three scoop ice cream cone you get everyday? You may think it's okay, but you will be just as full with a smaller bowl or a two scoop cone. See, your body is full, but you can't realize it when you're eating. Start with smaller portions and to help, buy smaller bowls so you CAN'T put that much cereal in it. And when you eat dinner, wait 20 minutes before eating dessert. It takes about 20 minutes for your body to register as "full", so you may not even feel up to eating dessert! And eat meals slower so the body can digest and break down food while you eat. Gaining weight can be caused by lack of the body breaking down food.

I hope this helps =D Good luck.

PS- take the stairs instead of the elevator and use your bike instead of the car.