New to the gym! need some help =]

MinnieInMaine

You're seeing a lot of advice to strength train and I just wanted to quantify that by saying even though you don't want to tone up first, the more muscle mass you have, the more calories you're going to burn in the long run so don't dismiss using weights right from day one. Definitely look into a free training session to get you started.

If they don't offer one, my advice for weight training is to find the right amount of weight. A lot of women are afraid to use more than 3 or 4 pounds at first but what you need to do is test your strength to see what weight is right for you. Do 810reps of say bicep curls with 5 pounds. If you feel like you could do more, you're not using enough weight. Once you find the right weight for each exercise, up the number of reps until you can do 3 before muscle fatigue sets in, then up your weight by at least 2 pounds next time. Hopefully your gym has a chart or something to give you some ideas on what exercises to do, but if not, google strength or resistance training routine for women to get some ideas.

As far as cardio goes - just start trying out the machines (and classes, if your gym offers them) and see what you like best. As someone else mentioned, make sure you do at least 15 minutes on each machine to get the health benefits.