I found this really fun "Hot and Flirty" fitness video on Youtube, but it's mostly toning. Does toning help lose weight or inches on your thighs, waist, hips, etc?

Muscle burns more calories than fat does. So if you increase your muscle mass your body will burn more calories at rest . I started heavy lifting several months ago, have lost 10 lbs during that time, but 3 clothing sizes. It makes a huge difference in how your body looks!

Nice! What kind of lifting do you use? Like, equipment and such? I do the overhead press and the ab machine and the row machine...but I'm trying to lose the inches off my hips and waist

Contrary to popular belief you can't target different parts of your body for fat loss. For example, working out your abs won't make you lose stomach fat.

This is true, too!

I use almost all free weights, now. Check out the New Rules of Lifting for Women. It's a great reference!

So I guess i'm toning up all over, not just special places

It's true that you cannot spot reduce, but if you work out a particular area of your body, it will build more muscle. Muscle takes up less space than fat. That's why when you build muscle, you can weigh more but still be smaller.

Also, especially with women, proper working of the muscles through the torso and thighs has a cinching, girdle-like effect that absolutely pulls you in, even if it doesn't affect the fat on top of it in a definite way - just strengthening and correcting your posture with ergonomic, powerful working of underdeveloped muscle groups is immense in changing how you look. It is the best thing you can do for your body next to cutting out the harmful/inflammatory foods, in my opinion.

As already mentioned by Val, do check out NROLFW, it is an excellent book. My personal preference after having done resistance bands and free weights is to do primarily body resisting exercises without extra weight. I've lost more inches, improved my lymphatic function more than I thought possible, and burn a LOT more calories more quickly. TTap was the perfect program for me, but any strength training regimen that focuses on proper form and working the full breadth of the muscle and surrounding systems is crucial. Toning in the traditional female workout definition is kind of worthless in my opinion. Working to your personal max with few reps and heavy weights (or compound resistance movements like my preferred system) is where it is at!

Muscles weigh more than fat but they take up less room. Muscle also burns more fat while at rest by revving your metabolism. I think weight training and toning is a great way to go for toning up and getting smaller.

Thanks everyone! I usually alternate days when I do weights versus cardio, but I've yet to see a difference in anything

It'll take a while. It took me several months of heavy lifting before I looked in the mirror and thought "Whoa!" Now I've got muscles popping out everywhere . Like Arctic Mama said, lift to your max! Swinging 2 lb weights around won't get you results .

I think my limit changes per weight I use..like, when I use a crunch machine, I can do 90. But when I do an overhead press, I can only do 35lbs. And when you say "several months" what does that mean? Could I POSSIBLY see results by July?

Ditch the machines. Check out the weight lifting forum here

If you start doing some serious weight training you'll probably see SOME results quickly. Usually you get some newbie gains that would otherwise take a while to show.

Otherwise July might be too soon especially if you have weight to lose. When I first started lifting several years ago I saw results in how my clothes fit after several months, but because I was around 190lbs the fat was covering whatever muscles I had built. It wasn't until I got to 125 or so that I started seeing muscles in my arms (my legs I saw muscles back in the 150s) and right now they're pretty prominent.

It takes time. Weight lifting for women means you will see progress in the course of months and years—not days and weeks.

Yes, ditch the machines! I don't do ANY ab work. I might do planks or crunches like twice a month. My ribs pop and I just hate them... BUT I have abs showing through. So, working your abs doesn't go very far for definition, but burning the fat on top of them does. You need to strengthen your stablizing muscles. Machines aren't very effective for that.

July might be a bit too soon, especially with weight to lose too. You'll see results, for sure... maybe not definition quite yet. Keep it up, things will start happening!

I put the book on hold at the library. Hopefully it will go well