New to exercise. Need a bit of advice.

If you are very short on time, you might try an upper body - lower body split. That way you can do weight training on back-to-back days. And obviously working half the body is quicker than doing the full body workout.

I do about 30-35 minutes of lifting for each, but you can shave that back some and still be doing well compared to zero, of course Choose the big muscles and skip the smaller ones since you'll have to skip a bit. Like don't worry about calves, you know? Good luck!

edit: oh, and lift heavy with a low rep range. That's quicker than high reps anyway. I love that part And it's quicker to do other body parts instead of really resting between sets. Do it circuit-style for the quickest bang for the buck.

Congrats Melanie! Exercise will change your life!! Have you ever heard of the workout program T25? Only take 25 minutes a day at home!

While I agree with what you said about commitment I do have to say that time isn't something I have. I have 3 kids: 9, 8, and 3 (one of which requires weekly doctor apts and pharmacy visits), I have 5 classes that total about 20-25 hours per week between class and homework (also a 4.0 GPA to maintain and a 45 min drive to and from work/school each day 5 days a week), I have a job that totals 20 hours a week, I have a home to tend to, laundry to do, dinner to cook, dishes to wash, bills to pay, and all of the normal activities that 3 kids come with. I have no problem with commiting to anything. What I have a problem with is time. I do not have the resources to make time for EVERYTHING that I need to do. I do the most important things and squeeze in the lesser important as I have time. I can't slack on school, work, or kids so I lined up what MY priorities were and went from there. Which is why I was asking about 15-20 min routines. I'm not trying to be rude, but this is why I've haven't posted on these forums in years. Everyone is so quick to judge. I'm not trying to work miracles and lose weight by sitting on the couch and eating chips. I'm making steps in the right direction. I never said I wanted a buff bod with 15-20 min routines, just that I'd like to start there and build on it as I can. It's taken me close to 3 years to lose this much weight so I assume I'm not going to see overnight results. Thank you all for your input.

I can certainly relate to your dilemma. I don't have kids, but I teach at a boarding school. The job is 7 days a week, with 12 hour days being the easy ones, 16 normal, and 20's hit a couple of times a week, and you have to do all of your grading and prep work outside of that. In addition, I run a small organic farm - 2 1/2 acres of vegetables, 10 alpacas, a llama, ~180,000 honeybees, peach, almond, nectarine, and pear trees, 1/4 acres of raspberries, plus we make soap, lip balm, and various other body care products.

But here's the thing: if you want to work out more, you'll prioritize it over something else. For example, you mentioned the 4.0 GPA you "have" to maintain. Really? What would change if you "slipped" a bit, and only had a 3.8 GPA. At most schools, you would still be able to graduate cum laude. If the payoff for that shift of priorities is better health, is it worth it? If yes, you'll make the time. If no, then you won't. But only you can make that decision - and you have to make it based on your own expectations, priorities, and code of conduct. Don't worry about the judgements of others - they don't live your life, they don't have your expectations and priorities, or live by your personal code of conduct. But do be honest with yourself. A personal tale:

I used the "no time" excuse to keep from doing many health-related things: working out and sleeping chief among them. Then one day after I hit a wall (figuratively), I decided, "screw it! I'm going to sleep." I started sleeping at least 5 hours per night, even if it meant not preparing to teach class. You know what happened? I actually started teaching better! I was able to perform better "winging it" with less preparation than attempting to execute a "great" plan well prepared, but so tired my brain wouldn't function efficiently.

Then, through a conflagration of life events (including getting a new orthopedist who gave me different advice about my knee), this January I started running without a predator chasing me for the first time since high school. It took time I had previously allocated to other things - mostly the farm. But it lowered my resting heart rate, lowered my blood pressure, was key to my weight loss so far, and has helped strengthen my knee so it actually hurts less now. Ironically enough, the farm has done better because even though I'm spending less time working on it, I'm working faster and more efficiently because I'm more fit. I'm also teaching better, because that time I have running is finally the time I have to myself where no one can interrupt me and I can recharge myself (I'm an INFJ, so as much as I like interacting with people, it drains me. I need time alone to recharge). And now I'm attempting my first half marathon this Saturday. I didn't have the time. Now I do, and I'm no less busy. Busy people will expand what they're doing to fill whatever time there is. So you'll always be just as busy - no more, no less.

People always ask my wife and I how we do it all. Our answer is that we don't. We don't do a lot of the things most people do. We don't own a TV. We don't clean the house regularly (this time a year it really shows and it's embarrassing, but we've prioritized elsewhere and deal with it). I haven't washed a car in decade. I haven't mowed the lawn in 5 weeks (of course, my PR for lawn mowing is 7 1/2 hours, which has been hard to find during this part of the school year + harvest time). It looks like you're in about the same place. You can't do it all. So, something needs to slip