How do I lose weight/tone ?

[catsgoldfishandtoomanypets]

50, 2 stone overweight weight. Belong to a gym. Lost my way. I would like to lose the weight & tone. I've been told weights are the way forward? But what do I do ?

Do they do classes at your gym? A Les Mills Body Pump class is a good place to start. Pilates will also tone you up

I love Les Mills Body Pump a lot more than the weights room too.

There's no such thing as toning. To get "toned muscles", you need to build muscle - that means resistance exercises such as bodyweight or weights, or a lot of cardio (NB cardio is also good for health, just not as good for building muscle). For those muscles to be visible, you need to lose fat - which is mostly done by what you eat rather than by what you do.

Does the gym offer induction sessions - you can ask them to show you the basics? And/or classes like kettlebells, body pump, etc - they are a good starting point. There are loads and loads and loads of workouts on the internet, Men's Health have a weekly email which usually has a couple in there. If you can afford a few PT sessions, they will really help.

I lift which builds muscle which is what people usually mean by toned. I do lifting rather than anything like body pump as that wouldn't hit the same way for me. So worth trying a variety of ways of building muscle to see what suits you.

Follow a Lift With Cee workout when you are in your gym.

Hi @catsgoldfishandtoomanypets try Pilates, you will see a huge difference. I even stopped going to the gym xx

Start following Caroline Girvan programmes, you'll find lots of free ones on You Tube and she has a new pay app: Lifting with her and upping your protein you will get muscle growth (hate the word tone!), her workouts are challenging, effective and never dull!

I suggest you take a holistic approach: start with a yoga class to get you going, then incorporate some gentle treadmill walk/ run and after start on strenght training. Best is to focus on your core. Ideally get a PT as well to guide / encourage you. Good luck!

Body pump is not the kind of weights that will really have an impact on your weight. It might tone you a little bit if you’re not exercising at the moment.

The version of “weights” you need is a proper programme of progressive overload using barbell and free weights, doing the main compound lifts: back squat, deadlift and bench press. Actually just squats and deadlifts will do it.

But you can’t put train a bad diet. The only way to lose weight is to amend your diet.