Is 30-40 minutes at the gym...

@xcvbn I find I make better choices around food now I exercise between 6-8 times a week. I'm eating to fuel muscle growth and nourish by body. I'm also busier, so can't mindlessly eat. And I heard that the higher your muscle mass the more calories are burned at rest? So surely nutrition and exercise have more of a symbiotic relationship?

A simple thing in addition to all the helpful ideas would be to buy some ankle and wrist weights to wear while doing the school run. You do walk quite a lot during the day and the extra weight might help with toning.

It sounds like your calorie intake is already too low to reduce it much further.

Also is there a swimming pool near you that you could take the kids to? Or you could swim/do exercises in the water while they're having lessons. I've been doing Aquafit and the exercise combined with water resistance is very beneficial for toning. For example having a woggle that you can push down/stand on and lift and lower etc.

You need a deficit of 3500 calories over the week to lose 1lb - it is unlikely that would be burned from the gym alone.

Eating less calories is the best way to lose weight.

The exercise is a brucey bonus

If you are exercising then you are using more calories then when sedentary so she can eat the same and still be in calorie deficit.

This is decent advice and wanted to add the following -

6-8 reps if lifting heavy and looking to gain muscle, 10-12 reps at a lower weight if not.

Personally, my minimum is usually 3 sets, but that's really rare. I mostly do 4-5 sets. I always start with 5 sets of deadlifts. Resting between sets is important too.

Lastly, always start with the biggest compound move as you won't have the energy to do big lifts like deadlifts by the end of your workout.

There’s not really such a thing as “toning” - it’s basically increasing muscle mass and reducing fat so muscles are more visible.

Cardio doesn’t really build muscle in the same way as strength and resistance training but is good for overall cardiovascular health.

PTs can be invaluable, even just a couple of sessions to safely teach you how to use weights either free weights or machines.

I thought I'd been doing them entirely wrong for a moment!!

You need to eat less to lose weight. Cardio and weight training will help your fitness levels but only a calorie deficit will shed pounds.

Could you go to a strength training class? I went to 5 before I had the confidence to use the weights on my own. Not because the men put me off, they all seem focused on doing their own thing, but because I wanted to be happy with my form and know I wouldn't do myself an injury.

Weightlifting and it’s toning results speed up metabolism.

Convenience

Pelvic floor crunches for continence !

You can mix and match for interest / continence

So three sets of 12 is a common pattern

Three sets of 8 or less for bulking up/ get in stronger fast

One set of 20 on days when time is pressured or if stamina is your main goal

I often just do a minute of each exercise alternating lower / upper body

Two sets of 8 or 12 if you have just upped the weight

All should be hard by the end so more weight less reps - personal preference after that , as long as it's hard it's doing you good

How do you know how many sets and reps to do at the weights? I'm never sure, but know I need to add more into my gym sessions.

Also, if your Apple watch/Fitbit/whatever tracker tells you you're burning x number of calories during your workout, it doesn't give you license to eat that number of calories in addition to whatever your daily calorie allowance is. This is a mistake many make.

This is a total how long is a piece of string question.

It all depends on what you're doing for 30-40 minutes at the gym.

The only thing I do at the gym is weight lifting. It takes me 45 minutes to do three sets of supersets, with each superset comprising two or three different exercises and 4-5 sets comprising 8-13 reps, dependent on the lift/weight, (with 90 seconds of rest between each each set of reps).

Weight training increases muscle mass which in turn raises metabolism and burns (body) fat.

If you're walking outside of the gym, there's no point using the treadmill, stepper or bike. Do weight or resistance training as it will be far more effective in losing weight but it must be in conjunction with diet - losing weight is far more dependent on food.

I agree weights are crucial, but you should invest in a few sessions with a PT to ensure that you are doing it correctly. Also check out Caroline Girvan on YouTube.

Honestly scrape cal counting, eat a whole balanced diet , eat good fat and high protein to feel full

Cut out the processed stuff out or reduce it , allow yourself a treat meal once a week

Having read your 2nd post (sorry should have RTFT) I think you’re maybe not eating enough, or maybe not the right macros for you. Can you see a nutritionist ?

Would more protein and cutting out simple carbs help? I don’t eat bread, pasta, noodles,!or rice except as treats. Nor do I eat cake, biscuits or chocolate except as rare treats - maybe once a month.

Agree with PPs about serious weightlifting. But you need to be on a progressive programme - that is, adding weight in a planned way. So if in one week, you can deadlift 40 kilos (including the weight of the bar) easily for say, 5 sets of 5 reps, the next week try 45 kilos or 50 kilos. And so on. You’re aiming to train to near- failure - that is, that you can maybe only just complete your final set with good form.

This builds your muscles, makes you fitter and stronger, and muscles burn more calories!

You can’t out train a bad diet. You need to be in calorie deficit to lose weight.

The problems with cardio for losing weight are:
a) we generally don’t do enough or at sufficient high intensity to counterbalance calorie surplus

b) our bodies adjust to cardio/aerobic training so that the calorific expenditure reduces when you reach a level of fitness, so then you have to do more. And so on it goes

You could try HIIT - high intensity interval training - or metcon - metabolic conditioning. These are much better at getting you fit than steady state cardio.

But you have to go hard and fast for any effect!

Yes, it's enough to improve your health, and it's a realistic, sustainable amount with recovery time.

Both weights and cardio have their advantages and it's well worth mixing the two up. Cardio is about boosting your heart and lung capacity for general health, and high impact cardio like running is a form of strength training in its own right- you're basically doing thousands of single leg squats in close sucession! Weights are good for boosting your whole body muscle mass which boosts your metabolism which aids weight loss and crucially, maintaining it.

I'd structure each session differently. Maybe on two do 15 mins cardio and 30 mins weights, and on the other session do a longer more gentle cardio session to boost your stamina and a shorter weights session.

Any exercise programme will need tweaking long term to maintain gains by increasing the weight/ intensity/ resistance.

I don't work out in conventional gyms, but have a very mixed exercise routine of running, weights classes and other exercise like swimming, cycling and yoga. Variety keeps things interesting.
DH goes to a gym and uses weights and cardio machines and is sucessfully losing weight at a sustainable rate, seeing his cardiovascular health improve and muscle definition improve. 6 months ago he went to parkrun after a bit of a break and having only done weights thinking he was fit, and was pretty horrified at how much harder it had become since he last went regularly- since then he's knocked about 4 minutes off and gone sub 30 mins by doing structured cardio around his weights sessions.

Let us know how you get on, OP?

Pedant me just has to put this out there. It's LOSE not LOOSE.

Anyway, you are likely burning way fewer calories than you think doing your cardio. Weight training will increase muscle mass and this will make you burn more. I would do a 10 min cardio warmup then do weights for 30-40 mins if that is the time you have. Not little 2-3 kg weights. Big weights. You'll need some lessons with a pt. It'll be worth it. And no, you won't go bulky

Could you book in with a PT for a few sessions to get you set up? They can teach you form for weights to help prevent injuries, and give you an idea of what weights you should be using and how. Even if you maybe see a PT once a fortnight/month for a review, that may be enough to keep you accountable in between, and then see some progress with each session.

There are loads of free (and paid!) resources available now too online, so once you've learnt some moves, you'd be able to use You Tube or whatever in between.

What you're doing is absolutely better than doing nothing, but I don't know if you'll see much difference. And annoyingly, your body gets used to the exercise, so you need to up the weights, or train harder for the same results. Grrr!