I'm a bit confused, all the books I have say after a while you train with weights you should start training one single area of the body per day, with one day rest, like one day legs, one day arms, one day abs....
Up to now I've done a bit of exercizes for every part every day with one day rest as well, but I never split it on different days.

I wonder, won't this make me fat? This way every part of the body only works out once per week, that seems too little to me, what do you all think?
Anyone 'separating' like my books say?

I think working all parts with total body workouts with cardio in between are better for losing weight at first.

Working one part a day is better when you really want to target and start putting muscle on and not focus so much on weight loss. The idea is to work one part hard 1 day a week and give it a week to recover to let the muscle grow. Depending how long you work one part a day, you could have extra time for cardio though which can help burn calories. Just my opinions!

Well what you are talking about are splits which means giving your muscles a rest so that they can rebuild.

I'd recommend looking at our lifting forum here:
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=80

A good site that describes different versions of splits is the following:
http://www.stumptuous.com/category/training

One of the most simplest splits is an upper/lower body split which means one day you do upper body, one day you do lower body but still at least a 3 day rest before your next weight workout with same body parts. Another type of split is a 3 day split where you do a lower body, upper body push (chest, triceps) and upper body pull (back, biceps). Although lifting heavy with weights can you give you a cardiovascular workout, a good program includes a pure cardio workout. I'm also in favor of programs that work big muscles primarily and don't worry about smaller muscles because they are worked as a result of working the large muscles. This only works if you are using free weights versus using weight machines though. Free weights are really the way to go though.

I'd also recommend reading the New Rules of Lifting for Women, which is a great book.

I'm sorry, maybe I've been unclear. I am not looking for what kind of exercizes to do or whatever cardio, or what kind of splits.

Instead I'm asking if giving each part 1 whole week to rest isn't a bit excessive and maybe that doesn't focus on weight loss.

And I do cardio, about once per week, because I have seen doing more doesn't influence my weight loss or just stops it, and I achieve much better results with little or no cardio but my question is not about the cardio.

I was trying to address a functional program.

I used to do a 5 day split when I first started which meant giving every 'group' a week rest. I was also using weight machines mostly versus free weights. I lost weight that way, my first 75 lbs (in 3 months) was done that way. I couldn't do any cardio at the time as I could barely walk (busted knee). Over the years though, I've changed my views on weight training and probably wouldn't establish a similar weight training program.

When splits are done with only one body part per week you work that body part for 40 to 60 minutes sometimes with an additional cardio session ... Believe me you WILL need a week rest in between that particular body parts workout. You end up working much more intently when you work one body part at a time/week. I've done it for years, and you do NOT gain weight when you do this you gain a lot of muscle.

Muscles are metabolically more active than fat so you burn more calories at rest when you have more muscles.

Hope this helps, if not, just keep asking questions....

Cardio will only affect your weightloss if you make sure your eating the right amount of calories... too little and you won't lose and too many you won't loose. So if your eating right, Cardio will help you burn off fat and strengthen your body so your body burns more fat on its own. Plus the benefits to your heart will let you live longer.

Also, I have read in many magazines that for regular weight training (not bodybuilding) you should not go more than 4 days between working the same muscle group. Because the effects of your last session will start to wear off after 4 days and you need to consistently train your muscles (at least 2x per week) to see any results.

Maybe that answers your question.

I am sorry, I'm closing this thread because it's not about cardio and all of you have gone off topic trying to sell me cardio when I know it doesn't work for me. And sorry to be arrogant, but I live in my body, not you all, so I know what works for me, not you. So the question was about weights and all of you are trying to sell me cardio, I don't need it!! And it's plainly off topic! Thanks ringmaster for answering the question.