Gym help please!!

Since your gym time is limited, if I were you I would switch to lifting weights (either on machines or not--I am seeing lots of progress as a newbie just using the circuit machines, even though some on this site look down on that). You could do the "toning exercises" at home on other days whenever you can fit it into your day, since no special equipment is needed.

For Lifting I recommended Compound lifts. You can google for a more complete listing of these but basically, they are lifts which incorporate multiple muscle groups. Such as Squats, Deadlifts, Bench Press, Dips, Pull Ups (Or Lat Pull Downs) Etc. These types of lifts will work a larger portion of your body in the same motion resulting in a higher heart rate which can boost calories burned. Ideally, do as many free weight lifts as possible. You can google some good free weight compound lifts which would provide more then I ever could.

Supersets are basically working out opposing muscle groups back to back with no resting. I think I mentioned as an example Chest and Back. A superset of this would look like. Bench Press then immediately do a set of Bent Over Rows followed by a 30 - 90 second rest. There should be no resting between the two sets and should be in a way looked at as one set.

HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training. When you work out at low intentisy, you are burning a portion of calories. When you work out at higher intensities you are not only burning calories, but you are boosting what is called EPOC (Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption) which will burn calories at an increased rate for hours after you actually work out. You don't need to concern yourself too much with what this is or how many calories you burn through EPOC. Just know that performing HIIT 1-3 times a week can really help fat loss. So what is HIIT? It means that you are cycling short durations of high intensity training with slightly longer times of lower intensity training. Such as Sprinting for 20 seconds, resting for 40 seconds. Many people will debate the perfect timings, but this is just an example.

If your goal is that you are trying to lose weight, then nothing is more important then your diet. Ensure you are at a caloric deficit every week. Do your cardio and lifting and you'll reach your goals. And as an FYI, just because you lift heavy, does in no way mean you will get enormous muscles. Bodybuilding women do not look like that because they lift a little and neither will you.

Just my 2 pennies

Thanks that's really helpful i shall check out the books and also some compound lifts. I do HIIT on the bike and in spin class also on the treadmill normally 2 mins on 1 min off 3 mins on 1 minute off etc. is that too long time wise?

As for keeping a calorie deficit this is were i get a bit confused my daily limit is 1482 im assuming deficit is anything under that? so im usually a 100 or so below that but if i work out i normally gain back between 300-500 calories do i need to eat these or not?

Thank You Again!

No, 1482 (assuming that is the number MFP gave you) already has a deficit built into it. You should be eating to that number, not necessarily trying to stay below it. And yes, you should eat back your exercise calories (again assuming you are using the MFP method), though I would personally only eat back 1/2-2/3 of exercise calories if you are using MFP to calculate burn because it tends to overestimate. So, if you exercise and burn 400 calories, you would eat a total of 1682 calories that day (or close to it at least).

Whether or not it has exercise built into your TDEE calculation is dependent entirely on what multiplier you used when you figured it out. Personally I don't use MFP's calculations to log any sort of calorie burns; I use an entirely different website to figure out my caloric needs and add a set amount to my diet on days I hit the gym. I don't do cardio, either, though, so there's that.

If you're using TDEE, you don't eat back exercise calories because they are built in. However, that sounds incredibly low for someone using TDEE. How big is the deficit your friend calculated?

I don't know your height, but putting in your other stats and 5'3" as height shows TDEE for maintenance as 2214. That means a 20% deficit (which is pretty significant) would be 1771. I think your friend calculated your TDEE wrong.

i'm 5'2" almost 3" and i focus on weight lifting. i always end my workouts with 20 min on treadmill at a very fast walk. But i spend an hour lifting weights. I know for me the trick to building muscle to look toned is to make sure ur squeezing your muscles and executing the workout right

when i do tricep extensions i tighten my muscles and try to make my arm as straight as i can so that im getting the maximum benefit of the exercise

if you're lifting weights you will burn fat and increase your metabolic rate but if you're sloppy with your execution you won't really be building muscle to "sculpt" your body.

also make sure u lift the heaviest weight you can with only being able to do 10-12 reps. if you can do 30 reps than the weight is way too light.

That was slightly uncalled for you don't go to MY gym and yes actually i do lift free weights and i also know HOW to lift free weights. Generally the guys that are in there are shirtless, in front of the mirror and spend more time looking at them selves than actually lifting a weight so yes i would say they are posing. I never once said the word FAKE so not sure where that came from and yes I'm sure they are very nice friendly people but as a women in a gym i find it a little intimidating being stared at as soon as i set foot in the 'Man Zone'

So please don't be rude to me i wasn't intending to offend anyone just pointing out what MY gym can come across like. And for the record i don't blame anyone for what i don't do only myself.

That's an amusing misunderstanding. Posers vs poseurs.

http://www.1percentedge.com/ifcalc/

Here Jess go ahead and run your own numbers and check your variable options.

A lot of people will gain a little bit when they start a new program due to water retention from freshly damaged muscles. Also, a 2 lb fluctuation for no reason at all is totally normal.