Cardio vs Strength Training: When to do what?

What I have learned from others here is muscle burns more calories than fat.
I try to do strength training (kettlebell workout) 3-4 times per week and cardio (C25K) 2-3 times per week.
Initially I thought strentgh training would be useless until I lost the layer of fat hiding my muscles, but I feel stronger since doing strength training.

I would suggest getting started with strength training right away. The thing with building muscle is that it will greatly increase the speed at which you reach your goal weight. Muscle requires many more calories to maintain than fat and when you begin losing weight without exercise, it is not fat that you are losing but muscle. Even if you are just doing body weight strength training I would start right away.

Body weight strength training is something you can do at home and can help you start building up muscles you havent used in a while. Doing movements such as straight arm lifts, leg lifts, squats, push-ups, sit ups, and the like will build your muscles and require no equipment at all. it also boosts your metabolism.

Adding cardio right off the bat is also good. It will help improve your cardio vascular system and it burns calories. It is best to just get started doing something, even if it is not much. Do not do so much that you burn yourself out, but do something every day whether it is going for a walk, doing squats, or anything else active.

I'm new here and on this journey and was wondering the same thing. I was looking at books the other day for my Kindle to get "educated" and by accident bought "The Biggest Loser Fitness Program". It was written by the "behind the scenes" people involved with the show with tips from the trainers. It had some "flluff" to it with tips from contestants that are kinda "obvious". But the fitness basics were surprisingly very informative.

Their suggestion is to warm up first (not stretching)...followed by upper body exercises....lower body exercises....core exercises...cool down and then stretching the muscle groups at the end while they are warm. This is done 3 days a week. With cardio being done every day. And they suggested that weight training is done before cardio if you do them at the same session. I would save the cooldown/stretching till after the cardio. The book went through all the exercises (with pics) and then gave 3 different workouts so you don't do same every day and get bored. My biggest question was what size weights to start with. The book suggest something that by 10 of your 12 reps, it's hard. It also went to detail without being boring and explained they "whys" and "hows" of the workout parts and how this way helps burn calories.

While it wasn't what I wanted to buy ...after reading it, I think it gave me some really good information, especially as a beginner with strength training. I didn't think the book would be worth a dollar but in the end I was glad I read it.

I put the workouts on a sheet of paper so that I can hang them on the wall by my treadmill and work them before I do my intervals on the treamill.

lifting weights is awesome, Don't get discouraged when you wake up sore it's normal. Don't be afraid to lift heavy many people stick with 5lb weights with fear that they will bulk but that won't happen or they think that they can't lift more than 5lbs but if you can lift a gallon of milk then you can. If you don't know where to start get yourself some fitness magazines they have routines in there to start up your program. You can do a split workout or you can do full body workouts.

I'm new here and on this journey and was wondering the same thing. I was looking at books the other day for my Kindle to get "educated" and by accident bought "The Biggest Loser Fitness Program". It was written by the "behind the scenes" people involved with the show with tips from the trainers. It had some "flluff" to it with tips from contestants that are kinda "obvious". But the fitness basics were surprisingly very informative.

Their suggestion is to warm up first (not stretching)...followed by upper body exercises....lower body exercises....core exercises...cool down and then stretching the muscle groups at the end while they are warm. This is done 3 days a week. With cardio being done every day. And they suggested that weight training is done before cardio if you do them at the same session. I would save the cooldown/stretching till after the cardio. The book went through all the exercises (with pics) and then gave 3 different workouts so you don't do same every day and get bored. My biggest question was what size weights to start with. The book suggest something that by 10 of your 12 reps, it's hard. It also went to detail without being boring and explained they "whys" and "hows" of the workout parts and how this way helps burn calories.

While it wasn't what I wanted to buy ...after reading it, I think it gave me some really good information, especially as a beginner with strength training. I didn't think the book would be worth a dollar but in the end I was glad I read it.

I put the workouts on a sheet of paper so that I can hang them on the wall by my treadmill and work them before I do my intervals on the treamill.

this is all great advice. the thing about starting with weight training is you need to gradually work into it. Going immediately into an advanced routine with drop sets or super sets and a bunch of isolation exercies will most likely lead to injury. Find a routine that uses a lot of complex movements. Not only do your muscles need to get used to lifing, but so does your ligaments, joints and central nervous system.

That being said the biggest mistake I see women make is being afraid to move past the cute pink and purple dumbells (5-10 lbs) and doing way too many reps. You want to stay in the 6-12 rep rage and complete a few sets of each exercise. You want to use as much weight as you can manage to where your last couple of reps are very difficult.

That book ShaneT99 suggested is excellent. Also look for one called "Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess" or something to that effect.