Exercising - Changing Routine

boehle

I have been back on my exercising adventure for almost 2 months. I have lost about 7 lbs (I haven't calculated inches yet)
I feel like this past month, I have been staying right around the same area.
I did also bring into play some of the weight machines.
When I go to the gym, I pretty much do the same workout..
Arc 20 minutes
Chest Press - 3 reps of 30
Pull dow - 3 reps of 50
Stationary Bike 20 minutes.

Do you think I should be switching up my exercises so I am not doing the same thing every day?
Will my body reall get used to it and halt my loss or is it kinda sticking still because I have been adding in some of the weights?

Basically, do you do the same exercise everyday and see a loss?

vorgas

Weight loss comes when the calories you burn throughout the day exceeds the number of calories you consume.

As you do an exercise your body becomes used to doing it, so the effort required is reduced, which reduces the number of calories you burn, although it won't be significant for a while. You can counter this by increasing the weight and/or intensity of your workout.

The best exercise program in the world is the one that you will stick with. If you need routine, create a routine and stick with it. If you need variety, switch it up when you need to. Make sense?

That being said, there are a few points we can make about your routine. And I am assuming when you say "3 reps of 30" that you mean "3 sets of 30 reps" and that you aren't doing "3 reps at 30 pounds".

1: 90 to 150 reps of weights is not really weight training. It's essentially a form of resisted aerobics. You probably are just not going to see any significant benefit from this. You would burn more calories on an elliptical and you aren't going to gain any muscle. You probably won't even get your muscles into a trained state doing this (where they store more glycogen, a good thing). Increase the weight slightly each time you do the exercise. When you can't complete all your sets, reduce your reps by 5 until you are doing 3 sets of 10. You aren't going to bulk up at 30 reps, but you will at least get your muscles into a better state.

2: If you do the same pace on the stationary bike for the same period of time, you are going to get diminishing returns. Once your body is able to accomplish a task, it has no reason to adapt. So if your body can do the pace you give it, why would it change? It's going to stay the same. Look into High Intensity Intervals for a great option to really accelerate your weight loss and get a host of other wonderful benefits.