My name is Amanda. I am 26, and my weight has been up and down for the past 5 years. I weighed 260lbs about 5 year ago, and went on a CRASH diet and lost over 100lbs in 8 months (I do not suggest this by no means)..... I went down to 135-140 lbs. and I found out I was pregnant with my son. When I delivered my son I was 200 lbs, (March 03') and really didn't do much to lose the weight until the last year. I am currently at 168 lbs, and would like to get back down to 130-135. I am 5'5.

I FINALLY joined the gym, the YMCA to be exact. I love it. I have workout everyday since the day I got my membership. On avg. I use the elliptical for 30-35 minutes and generally shoot for 3 miles. I then ride the bike on "trainer" setting for 30-45 minutes. according to the 2 machines I am burning approx. 500-600 calories. I know I need to add weights in, but I am trying to get one thing down at a time so I can fit them both in soon.

Can anyone give me an example of their gym workout/routine? Minutes on each machine, which machines you use, what settings, ect......... I know you should lift weights everyday with the same muscle group, but every other day is ok.

I've had my membership just over a week, today is my first off day.

Thanks in advanced.

Amanda
SW: 195 (January 05')
CW: 168
GW: 130-135

You definitely must add weight training to your workout. The muscles you gain will help burn calories. To start, for 4-6 weeks you should do a full body workout 2-3 times/week to get your muscles, tendons and your body in general used weight bearing exercises. Then if you want you can do some 3 or 4 day splits.

Here is a great site to get you started :
http://www.stumptuous.com/weights_index_revision.html

Hope this helps

I'll second Ilene's vote for stumptuous.com. It's great.

Here is a thread I just found that may help you out..... http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/show...911#post971911

okay I will post my routine but I did not start out here bear this in mind. When I started out I actually started out walking okay I could barely walk 1/4 of a mile. Okay I was really out of shape and I was over forty but I made a commitment to walk 20 minutes 3 times a week thats all I did for about a month then I went to 5 days a week
that was another month. granted I wasn't losing much weight at this time but I was learning to discipline myself I was also learning how to eat healthy (not diet but eat healthy something I can do for the remainder of my life) well once I could walk a mile with no problem I started with the gym so all I can say is slow and steady wins the race. Don't bite off more than you can chew and don't look for fast results but they will come I promise..here is my current schedule as of sept 2005 I change things around once my muscle adapt

I exercise 6 days a week
my usual routine is as follows
Monday
walk 5 miles ( I just upped it from 3 miles) I do this 6 days a week
upper body weight training at the gym (chest,shoulders, back, triceps, and biceps)
bike ride ( 5 miles per day 6 days of the week)
elliptical trainer 20 minutes per day
Tuesday
I do all the above except instead of upper body weight training I do lower body
(Quads, hamstrings, calves and abs )
Wednesday
No gym
I do pilates or taebo or dance ( some video type exercise)
bike and walk 5 miles of each
Thursday
same as Monday
Friday
Same as
Tuesday
Saturday
walk 5 miles
bike ride 5 miles
Sunday
Now that's my day of rest (motivation day: my favorite mantra You will either live with the pain of discipline, or the pain or regret)
I exercise my mind as I envision the body I want and the price I must pay
then I pray for the fortitude to do what I need to do


If I can anyone can and to think 2 years ago I had a hard time walking. You can

Flipafart - how do you manage to fit all that exercise into each day every day? This is a serious question. It appears that you are spending at least 2 hours in the gym every day. More if you count changing back and forth from work clothes to exercise clothes and showering.

I have a one-hour commute each way, and am typically at work from 9 a.m. until 7 or 8 p.m. I am lucky to be able to take a 1 1/2 hour lunch break that includes walking to and from the gym; showering; and having 45-50 max of actual workout time.

Do you live close to work? Do you not sleep, ever? Sorry for all the questions, I am just envious that you have that time, and am wondering how you do it.

I spend almost 3 hours a day exercising. I exercise from 5:10 - 8:10am I shower and eat and do anything I darn well please from 8:10-9:30. I have the entire day to do cooking,household task, gardening etc. I work from 3:00pm-1100pm. In bed by 1am up at 5
and the routine continues. I live within a 5 mile radius of every place I need to go so that saves a lot of time and it saves gas.

I thought that this healthy lifestyle should be livable, IMHO I doubt that anyone could live very long on 4 hours sleep/night... Sounds to me like you will burn yourself out on this routine. Just my 2 cents...

well it is livable for me. I just happen to be a person that never needed much sleep.
I could sleep 8 hours if I wanted to and still have time to put in 3 hours. I use to waste that much time looking a silly television shows. Everyone has to do what works for them. stay strong all and make your dreams come true. You can

Thank you for answering. That is impressive. I personally cannot function on less than 7 hours of sleep. I mean, i can for a little while, but within a week it starts to catch up with me and then i start making mistakes. (then the firm gets sued and i get fired!)

I have tried to make myself get up early to exercise. I suppose if i keep at it, it would become ingrained.

flipafart...dang girl - you never cease to amaze me...

I put in more like 2 hours a day split up in to smaller chunks...one straight hour at the gym - 45 min ellyptical, 15-30 min on weights and ab crunches...i need to start taking classes...I'm pretty good at self motivation but I'm starting to bore myself..
I also take a short 20-30 min walk with friends at work and another 30-45 minutes with the dog in the evening...weekends I might spend more time at the gym depending on what's going on...

It sounds like a lot looking at it as I'm writing - but it really isn't that hard...

Listen you guys and or gals I notice that word I only need 4 hours of sleep.
I have been like that all of my life. Never ever compromise your health and
not get the sleep that you need. Everyone's body is different. and find
a workout that works for you. Oh and Gina kudos you know you kick butt
keep up the good work and stop being hard on yourself

I AM all that and a bag of chips (Ruffles Light Cheddar & Sour Cream, of course)

BTW - I've been checking out the stumptuous.com site - very informative...gotta get me some combat boots for the gym