could i get your thoughts and opinions please :)
 

So a few weeks ago i decided to restart my weight loss journey .. instead of just eating right I've decided i need to work out (i know common sense .. but i needed to get use to eating right before eating right and exercising) well at the gym my favorite thing to do is ride the bikes .. they have these really cool bikes and you can race people on the bikes next to you .. well the other day before i went to the gym my sister was talking to her exercise guru boyfriend on the phone and was telling him i was on the way to the Y .. and he was like tell her she needs to get on the elliptical (i hate them things) and i expressed my hatred towards them things .. lol .. hes like well tell her she can ride the bike all she wants but unless she gets on the treadmill or the elliptical shes going to give herself skinny legs and keep her big *** (such a nice man, but he was just trying to help i guess something like tough love?? lol) .. my thinking is burning calories is burning calories .. i do get on the elliptical but i cant go more then 4 mins right now which only burns like 20 calories .. with the bike i can burn 140 calories in about 40 mins .. so your thoughts I'm looking for is .. am i doing myself no good riding this bike?? i don't see how sitting around all day to riding a bike 40 mins a day is harmful .. lol .. if i do the elliptical and only burn 20 calories i leave the gym feeling like crap and by the time i get off I'm so not in the mood to ride the bike so i do some weight training and leave .. and he told me that's my problem i have no one to push me but i do push myself if I'm on the elliptical and at 2 mins i want to quit i push thru it for another minute the first time i got on i seriously went a minute and wanted to die .. thanks in advance for your suggestions :)

I would recommend looking at HIIT (high intensity interval training) for the bike. Do what you like, ignore the guy.

Well, the bike will burn calories and it's good for your leg muscles, so don't think you have to give it up completely! OTOH, you really should add some weight-bearing exercise (treadmill, elliptical) because you will use more muscle groups and help your whole body.

When starting on the elliptical, go slow at first, and at a low level. You don't have to be a tri-athlete right off the bat! Aim for doing 20 minutes at your slow pace. If there is a pulse reader in the machine, use it to keep yourself at the low end of cardio or in the "fat burning" zone. Really, you'll find it's not that much different from a bike once you get used to it.

Don't worry about how many calories the machines say you're burning. Those estimates can be really off. Instead, just go for time on the machine at a level you can comfortably maintain--which means, you aren't gasping for breath and your heart rate isn't too high.

One mistake a lot of folks make with exercise is that they think they have to be dying for it to be benefitting them. It's not true. You can go at an easier pace and get a lot of good from it.

Good luck!
Jay

You're exactly right. Calories are calories. "Spot reduction" is a myth. If you are enjoying the bike, continue to enjoy the bike! Making exercise a part of your life is easier when you are enjoying it, so I think it's great that you have found something you like to do! And Nelie's suggestion of trying HIIT on the bike could help you burn even more calories.

As you progress, I suspect you'll want to challenge yourself in different ways, or just mix it up a little, and you may find yourself loving the elliptical or the treadmill or swimming or whatever. However, I think if you're doing forty minutes on the bike and following it up with weight training, you're doing great! Congratulations -and ignore the "exercise guru." As you said, there's no comparison between the bike and the couch.

Well, I definitely think that any exercise is terrific, and 40 minutes on the bike is awesome. Especially, if you are really working it at a pace that is good for you.

I would suggest that you continue giving the elliptical a try. I hated it in the beginning and could barely hang on for 10 minutes, but I've stuck with it and I can easily go 45 to 60 minutes on it, and it really does burn a lot of calories and does great things for my behind, as does the treadmill.

At my gym, I always mix it up. Most days I do the elliptical and treadmill because I like those machines the best. Last month when I pulled my groin muscle I had to stay off the treadmill, so I did the bike. It at least gave me a workout and that is what matters the most.

So basically what he's saying is if you use the bike, and get to your goal, you'll have super skinny legs and the rest of you won't change at all--does that sounds realistic? I don't think so.

Exercise "experts" make me crazy. Personally I think the best exercise is the one that you'll do for long enough time to see results.

We have an expensive ellptical machine we bought from a store that sells gym quality machines. Anyhow, we joined a gym so I could use treadmill, bike, and ellptical. Well they have different types of ellptical machines and I tried one that goes by percentages. It starts at 15 % and I love it. I can go longer than the one at home which is usually just a few minutes. I will look at the brand next time I go. Maybe, see if they have one with % resistance and try that. Good Luck! I go 40 minutes on the % machine and I was up to 35%. But it took awhile to work up to that. But went back to 15 % because haven't been going to the gym very much. Which explains the weight gain.

I like to do shorter times on multiple machines instead of a long time at once. That way I get a more varied workout. I'll do 10 min elliptical, 10 min stairclimber or treadmill, and 10 min bike. I do the bike last because it's hardest for me and I'm worn out afterwards. You might want to do bike first and elliptical last.

As someone mentioned above, spot reduction is a myth, you'll lose weight on any machine. But mixing it up is good because you work different muscles, which gives an overall tone and better range of motion.

Everyone here is right, that guy is wrong.

Also, if you will start doing some weight lifting, particularly upper body, that will help your endurance on the elliptical. Heavier weights, not 1 or 3 lbs, they won't do a thing. 5s then 10s on up will.

I agree with Aclai. Don't give up the bike completely but maybe mix it up some. Weight bearing activities (like the treadmill, stairstepper and dreaded eliptical) will burn higher amounts of calories because, for 1, your using more muscles and 2 the resistance you get from having to hold/move your own weight.
In my honest opionon when I go to a gym I tend to do the exercises that will give me the most amount of calories burned in the least amount of time, but that's me.
Do what you enjoy. Maybe try warming up and cooling down on different machines and keep with the bike for your main workout if thats your thing. The important thing is your doing it!!
On a side note, I'd ignore the guru fitness buff your sister's dating from here on. He obviously isn't a well informed guru if he's preaching spot reduction and bad advice isn't going to benefit you right now.
ROCK IT HOWEVER YOU WANT TO!!