hi there
im a 27 year old female in San Francisco. im 5/1 and 140 pounds.
i just joined a gym three days ago, and have gone every day at 5 am.
i do 45 minutes of the elliptical and 15 minutes of either the stair master or 15 minutes of biking.

Im eating an average of 1200-1500 calories.

i really want to lose weight and see results fast.
My question is:
which machine at the gym is more effective?
i dont like using the treadmill because its hard on my joints and knees.

what do you all use?

This is a little like asking which exact food will make you lose weight the fastest -- you're going to get a bunch of various opinions because there is no single right answer for everybody.

You appear to be doing an hour of cardio per day, that's great. If you want to experiment with it you can research HIIT (High-intensity interval training) and maybe mix that in on the elliptical/bike/stairmaster.

You could also throw a bit of weight lifting into your routine if you like that sort of thing.

I'd say more important is that you continue to exercise consistently and continue to monitor your calories appropriately.

Good luck and keep up the great work!

I second the weightlifting....it will speed up your metabolism, make you stronger, and help you lose weight a little quicker while toning up your muscles.

Don't focus too much on a time frame, though - it may take a while to get the results you want. The important thing is to get healthy without injuring yourself!

I find that the ellipticle burns the most amount of calories per minute.

There isn't any one thing that will be necessarily better than others. Try to mix it up to keep it interesting. I get really bored of cardio machines at the gym (even the ones with its own TV), so I generally do 20 minutes of one thing followed by 20 minutes of another. This includes treadmill, reclining bike, regular bike, eliptical, rowing machine, etc. I find that using a heart rate monitor keeps me honest in making sure that I work equally hard at whatever machine I am using.

im eating more calories, about 1500, and not only am i doing an hour of cardio every morning, but ive added the p90x workout in the afternoon. man, that really kicks my butt.
is this too much?

TOO MUCH!

P90x is not meant to be done in conjunction with an hour of cardio. P90x, when done correctly, is more than sufficient. I eat a minimum of 1800 calories when doing P90x.

If you want to "see results fast", well, you are going to have to choose: do you want to lose weight, become fit, and get healthy or just lose weight without regard for proper nutrition and health?

i want to lose weight in a healthy way, yet, i dont want to over do it.
so far, ive not done the p90x for a couple of days. and i finally took a day off from exercising, which was a wise choice for me because i was able to rest and the next day, i was able to perform well.
thanks for your support, people.

The Weights! Use the dumbbells, barbells & EZ Bar for Weight Lifting. You body will transform!

what type of exercises do you all do with weights?

I do a 20 minute circuit on about 10 weight machines (focusing on upper body, since I get enough leg workout on the bike/eliptical/treadmill), keeping a log of how much weight I'm lifting on each machine, and then as I get comfortable with each weight level, I increase the weights by about 5%. I do the weights twice a week, preceded by at least 30-minute cardio warm-up. I also do a couple classes of a combo of tai chi, pilates and yoga. That was recommended to me as a good complementary activity to weights, to help stretch the muscles. That is also preceded by at least 30 minute cardio warm-up.