Lynne,
Being one year out doesnt mean you are not going to be able to loose more weight.Yes you could be beyond the point where weight loss happens quickly.As far as the role of exercise and weight loss there are a couple of things to keep in mind.
First of all weigh yourself at the same time each time but do it only once or twice a week.If you weigh to often you will drive yourself crazy.
If you are working out at a gym start with 20 min of cardio to warm up before you weight train and then afterwards do a longer period of cardio.The 20 min warm up is important as it takes this amount of time to get your body into its fat burning mode and will allow you to keep burning fat as you build muscle during weight training.If all you are going to do is cardio remember it is beyond the 20 min mark when you burn fat.
You also need to find out at what heart rate zone during cardio execise you burn fat and a trainer should be able to help you with that.
On the days you weight train pick a set of muscles you are going to target and alternate those throughout the week.As you increase your muscle mass and your bodyfat goes down you may very well not notice a change in the scale but your measurements will change.This is ok unless you are going try and be a world class marathon runner or cyclist as their bodyfat is extremely low.The other thing to remember is that muscle growth does not take place lifting,it happens while the muscle is repairing itself after being broken down.This process requires quality protein to feed the muscle.This is why its important not to work the same muscles every day.
Most books on weight training are hard to understand and your best info will come from a competant certified trainer.They will also be able to show you the proper techniques for each exercise to prevent injuries and poor results.
I spent some time in the gym but had my best success when I took up cycling and started concentrating on heart rate zones while riding.With the amount and type of training I do I need not weight train my leggs as it targets the wrong muscle fibers.I should probably spend some time on my upper body in the off season but here in So California we really dont have one.
Dont worry you are probably just on a plateu.It will pass.
Good Luck
__________________
Damon
Open RNY
3/21/2001
350/175
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