I go to the gym with my husband 3 days per week. When there, I run 3 miles on the treadmill and work on weights and resistance after. Every article I read says to alternate the 2. I do run outside as well, but I don't like to skip 3 days/week of running.

What are the benefits of alternating cardio - weights - cardio - weights only one per day. Am I getting the same benefit by doing cardio and weights - cardio - cardio and weights - cardio or am I missing something?

I can't figure out why as long as I get weights in... it matters.

I'm not aware of any reason not to do both cardio and weights on the same day. Lots of people do cardio every day or nearly every day. It's not a problem to lift on cardio days, but it's usually recommended that you lift before cardio to preserve your strength for the weights. If you lift after cardio, you might be too tired to get in a good workout.

I do cardio every day and lift five days a week. Works for me!

Great. Thanks! By the way, you look great and your story and photos are amazing. What a transformation! WOW!

You make reference to having a hypoactive thyroid. If you don't mind me asking, were you formally diagnosed and were you treated with synthroid or another T3 or T4 drug before and during this weight loss or was all of this done with hypothyroidism by boosting your metabolism through cardio workouts?

I was just asking because a friend of mine was diagnosed with hashimotos and she has dropped 17 lbs in 1 month without even trying just from finding the right dose of synthroid.

Thanks for your kind words!

I was formally diagnosed as hypothyroid in 1995, long before I lost the weight. I've taken synthetic thyroid hormone -- either Synthroid or Levoxyl -- since then so I was on it when I lost the weight in 2001 - 2002. Sadly, I've never had unexplained weight loss, like your friend! It can take six months to tweak a dose of Synthroid to find the correct dose, but once it's found, your friend should feel a lot better.

About metabolism ... cardio can boost metabolism temporarily (for a few hours after exercising) but our metabolisms can be permanently boosted from building muscle through weight training. Muscles are the calorie burning furnaces in our bodies and burn calories 24/7/365, so the more muscle we have, the higher our metabolisms are. That's why it's crucial to weight train during weight loss in order to prevent the loss of our precious muscle mass.

Best of luck to your friend!

Very, VERY true about the muscle building. That was my biggest exercise shortcoming in my opinion. My husband and I are starting to go to the gym 3 days/week and this time rather than doing cardio there, I plan on running 3 mi (right now after logging off) and tonight at the gym, just doing weight and resistance training.

Thank you for all of your info. I want abs and arms like yours and I don't even consider them the worst part of my body (not a lot of fat...just need toning)! I can't wait!