I was wondering what everyone did for exercise. I am currently doing Medifast and have a gym membership, due to lack of knowledge, I only do the elliptical, treadmill or bike at the gym... I usually go to the gym 3 or 4 times a week and do one of the above machines for about 45 minutes to an hour... Also, I try to go for a brisk walk during my lunch break for about 30 minutes...

So just wondering what you are doing??

I am on Wonderslim. I am exercising 5 times a week. I do 15 minutes on the exercise bike, then about 10 minutes at the weight machine (upper body, back, and midsection work) and another 15 minutes on the exercise bike or sometimes treadmill. It's boring, I don't enjoy it, but I crank up the iPod and chug away.

at the gym ask an instructor to help you find your fatburning range and cardio range. these will be for example 120 -140 fatburning zone then 141-160 cardio zone (beats per min)

max fat loss work in the 120-140 band for a min of 45 mins and for best results first thing in the morning before eating. after you finished cardio drink water and no calories for 60 mins

your time of 45-1hr is perfect just need to check your HR some gyms have monitors you can borrow if not you can get a polar fs3c for around $50 probably less if you hunt the web. simple to use and saves you putting your hands on the metal strips of the machine all the time.

first thing in the morning your body is fasting therefore burning fat reserves until you eat. provided your not prone to getting up at 1am or later for a midnight munch. so if you exercise then you'll burn more fat this continues at a gradually slowing rate for around 60mins after you stop exercising so shower drive home etc then when you get in have you normal breakfast.

bikes are good but they are no where near as good as riding outside you can do and hour on a bike in a gym and not be as tired as doing 20mins outside on a real bike.

ellipticalls you need to be careful of regarding your knees as they can in some people strain the joints due to the perfect motion it moves in and the imperfect motion we walk/ move in. treadmill is the best option for calorie burning is as fun as watching paint dry.

skipping (jump rope) is a fantastic cardio and i mean fantastic if you feel upto it give it a try.

seeing as your at a gym does it have a pool? swimming after cardio is great to warm down and stretch out as well as being good for a general non impact work out.

try and get some weights in there too. light weigths so say not more than 10lb for each dumbell and do some general all over toning exercises again ask your gym instructor for help thats what they are paid for.

i skip for 20 mins and then do some crunches core stability work and then do 20 mins on a stepper while watching tv

i dont want to start a fight, but i would give careful consideration to following slimming's advice...

"fat burning zone" = myth

exercising on empty stomach = myth (granted, go ahead and do it if you cant tolerate working out with food in your tummy. SOme people DEFINITELY prefer it, and its fine it its what works for them.-- current studies show ingesting PreWO nutrition can result in higher overall caloric expenditure. Fat loss is, at the end of the day, about your total DEFICIT)

lifting barbie sized weights = waste of time
"toning" = myth

i am tired and dont have time to expand on these ideas...im sure some of the more experienced fitness folks out there can help me out? If not i will catch up in the am

Slimming-- i really am not trying to start anything

I really like this website: www.stumptuous.com

I personally run 5 times a week and lift weights 1 to 2 times a week. I also play softball with my work team 2 times a week. I'm busy, but some of my exercise is also social time. In the AM I don't eat before I work out, but I do in the afternoon, although personally, I run better if I don't eat immediately before, maybe an hour or two before working out.

If I were you, I'd incorporate some weight lifting into your workout to build some muscle. I think that increasing lean muscle is going to increase your overall efficiency and will make you look better as well.

I have been following the couch to 5k on the treadmill. I have been doing it more then 3 times a week even though the site advises against moving ahead quickly. When I go to the gym I generally stay clear of the weights because my boyfriend helps me with those at his house. I don't really know what I am doing when it comes to weights yet.

So when I go to the gym I stretch, I do the stepper, elliptical, bike, another type of bike, and then the treadmill. I spend maybe anywhere between an hour to two hours when I actually do go to the gym. Lately I have just been exercising for about 45 minutes at my boyfriend's house. I have been using his treadmill.

I am going to the gym today. I am actually excited because I haven't been in so long because I lost my campus card. I am going to get a REALLY good work out before my classes start back on Monday. I will be busy again...

And, I always eat breakfast before I go. Today I had two nutrigrain whole wheat eggo waffles and sugar free syrup. I couldn't exercise on an empty stomach.

You're completely right. It is true that working out in the "fat burning zone" burns a higher percentage of fat in relationship to carbs. However, by working out at that lower intensity, you are burning fewer total calories during your workout. Working out at a higher intensity (in the "cardio" zone) will burn more calories, and like you said it's all about the deficit at the end of the day. I recommend (if they are able) doing higher intensity cardio for a shorter length of time vs. low intensity for 45-60 minutes.

Same thing with the working out on an empty stomach idea. Some people have to eat to have the energy to put in a hard workout, and some people aren't phased either way. I do yoga in the morning on a completely empty stomach but it's a preference thing. I always eat a very light snack 1-2 hours before I run, because I know I won't be able to give it 110% if I haven't eaten. But again, at the end of the day it's calories in vs. calories out.

thank you Ann!

Good idea for a thread!

I'm not a member of a gym, so I have to work out ways of doing exercise at home or in my area. Currently I run three times a week for about an hour each time (depending on the weather - I’m a wuss.) I do interval training twice a week for about 15-20 minutes (this kills me off,) then on the other days I do a mixture of activities, such a jump-roping, a little running, stairs etc. You can do these at whatever pace you like, although obviously higher is usually better for burning calories.

I also do moderate exercise such as walking (I try and do three hours of moderate activity a week if I can) and three full-body weight training sessions using dumbbells. These last about 40 minutes each.

My goal is to be super fit at my age of 40 and to feel like a teenager in energy level.

I consider myself a lifestyle exerciser in that I get most of my exercise by activities that aren't at the aerobic heart rate for the most part. I walk 1-2 hours a day and dance for 2-4 hours on weekends. The walking and dancing is usually not that strenuous.

You might be thinking, how do I walk that much. It's simple...I don't own a car and am sick of public transportation. And I live in a walkable city. It takes me 25 minutes via subway to go 3 miles to work. But it only takes a brisk 50 minute walk to get to work. So I put on my iPod, enjoy the weather and go.

I finally broke out my bike and ride to and from work now, so I'm getting less walking exercise, but I still take a 45 minute walk on my lunch hour.

But there's more...

I have a running routine that I have been building for the past 3 months. I am running 3-4 times a week for 3-4 miles. I am building my distance slowly and want to build to 5 mile runs.

What I love about fitness is that it is always changing. As I get fitter, I can run farther and longer. And I add difficulty slowly. Each week or two, I work little bit harder.

The only rule I follow is to do as much as I can, but not push my body past it's limits. I have had injuries in the past and I want to avoid that so I have built my fitness slowly and listen to my body.

Have fun finding the routine that works for you.

Yoga 3-4 times a week at a studio, with home practice of planks and core strengtheners and headstand practice.

A hike once a week. During summer I bike and walk in the woods, as well.

It's more important to exercise than it is to do it "right": people get so stressed out about finding the perfect formula or being efficient that when they can't do it perfectly, they quit completely.

It may well be that exercise A is 5% more efficient at burning calories than exercise B, but exercise B is 100% more effective than nothing. It's extremely discouraging to people new to exercise to have someone say "X is a total waste of time" when that's what they've been doing--and frankly, if it involves any effort at all, it's not a waste of time.

When I started exercising seriously in August, everything I was capable of doing were things people told me were a waste of time: I could ride the stationary bike for 5 minutes/2 miles, and I could walk less than a mile. It was partially physical--I was 300ish pounds and totally sedentary, after all, but a lot of it was mental--I was constantly anxious and restless and bored and desperate to quit every minute I exercised.

So I "wasted" my time for weeks. But it improved my conditioning and my mental space. Every 1-2 weeks, I upped it a little, and now I exercise almost 2 hours a day, 7 days a week in three separate sessions, and I never, ever miss. I'm in great shape, and getting better.

That said, I am good at persistence but not at intensity. I really, honestly am not sure I've ever had my heart rate in the "target" zone--I seem to have all sorts of problems (in my head or in my muscles? I don't know) with getting up to any sort of speed. But my resting heart rate has still gone down to under 60, I've lost 100+ lbs @ 2 lbs/week while eating at least 1500 calories a day, my bp is good--maybe those numbers would be better if I got my heart rate up more on a regular basis, but they are a **** of a lot better than they were--and if I'd listened to doctors and experts who said that you only burn fat and improve heart health in that "target" zone, I'd have given up long ago.

My point is that it's best to do whatever you can bring yourself to do, and don't worry too much about getting it exactly right. There's plenty of time ahead to expand and tweak your program.

Excellent points, Schmead! The best exercise program is the one you can do, and will stick with and enjoy! And one that offers room for growth.

You've made awesome progress!

I also encourage to exercise what you enjoy and only advise seeking a personal trainer as you go through different stages.

Last Jan 2009, I started my weight loss efforts. I lost 40 pounds by mid-August. I adjusted my goal weight and went a bit further. I started off because my knees were trashed and I thought it was my weight. I slowly started moderate, low-impact dvds at home about 2-3 times a week. I increased my times, intensity, and frequency. Then I increased my outside activities including walking many miles most days and biking many times in a week. Toward summer, I got more and more intense and really was working out ALOT very intensely. By vacation I was so super-fit, I thought I was Wonder Woman. During vacation I ran for 1 1/2 hours on concrete two days in a row. In a couple days, I had bad pain in my hip and my knees were sore. Within about two weeks, I was in emergency for sciatica. I've been working on my body for six months. My patellas (knee caps) were too far to the outside & I had too tight IT bands (tissue in thighs) which was what caused my extreme knee pain--not my weight.

I now know about sanity, moderation, and enjoyment. I do have some maintenance with modest weight loss goals. I exercise with low-impact, kickboxing (mostly upper body with weighted gloves, abs, and kicking) three to four times a week at 5am for 45 minutes. My video doesn't help with triceps so I stop the video three times to stand on one leg each to do some tricep/weight exercises. Outside, I bike when the weather allows and walk when we can't bike (my family doesn't own a car--husband, two elementary boys). Every night, I do many ab crunches and about 20 minutes PT exercises to strengthen my legs for my knees/IT band.

I've been on physical therapy with an awesome PT for four months but have finally been cut loose. If I am cautious and respect my body, I'll probably be pain free by the Fall or mid-winter and able to do many things--like walk (with proper shoes), bike (if in low gears), walk up stairs (without heavy bags), and moderate to high impact (if careful, no lunging, and for moderate times).

I'm so grateful that I lost all the weight last year and have been able to keep most of it off and am almost back to my August weight---with a sane exercise/food plan. I know I need to naturally keep my days physically active. I can't ever let any of my changes go but can very occassionally enjoy moderate dessert and a break.

Not to pick on Slimm more but this statement:

"bikes are good but they are no where near as good as riding outside you can do and hour on a bike in a gym and not be as tired as doing 20mins outside on a real bike."

Is not necessarily true either. As a training Triathlete I tend to burn MORE calories on a bike trainer because I can control the resistance and not just noodle down the street. Outside though you tend to engage more muscles by keeping balance so there is that... Honestly both can be good choices. Plus you're not going to get run-over inside. As long as you're getting your HR up to burn the calories at this point I wouldn't fret over inside vs outside.

As for what I do... 6 days a week I workout 3x a week swim, 3x week run, 3x week bike, and 1-2 strength. My hours are pretty crazy though as I'm just starting to ramp up my training.