Advice on current workout

Hi Fortissimo

Congrats on losing 13 lbs! you're 1/3 of the way there, almost!

I would increase your weight training and reduce the cardio.
Also, if you are doing the same routine every workout, your body will get used to it and maintain weight.
You should try doing resistance training 3 times a week and cardio twice a week. Cardio does not need to be longer than 30 minutes. Resistance should be about 45 minutes. I reccomend "1 set to failure" technique.

Good luck!

I joined the Y November 5, and have so far, lost 13 lbs. I started out at 250. I'm new to exercising... as a kid I was skinny by nature and didn't enjoy sports, so I'm pretty clueless on what I should be doing.

What I'm doing now...

30 minutes on the stair climber; resistance 2.
15 minutes on the treadmill, incline 7, speed 2.5
10 minutes on the elliptical, cross 5, resistance 2.

I do this Monday - Saturday. On Wednesday and Sunday I do the strength training on the circuit which does the entire upper and lower body.

My husband and I are starting the 200 situps/squats challenge starting tomorrow as well.

On Wednesday's I also do beginning step.

So... am I not doing something that I should be doing? Any advice, thoughts or ideas?

I would vary the cardio workouts--Maybe instead of doing all three machines each time, do 2, or even try to work up to doing an extended workout on only one machine. With 3 pieces of equipment, you can do a lot of different things. I rotate between running on a treadmill, stair climber and cross trainer, but I never do the same thing 2 days in a row. If you are going to try to exercise almost daily, you need that variety in order to ensure adequate recovery and also maintain the ability to do quality workouts.

You want to make sure you are maintaining a training intensity--monitoring heart rate or perceived exertion--and progressively increasing workloads as your fitness level improves. I would recommend that one or two days a week you shorten the workout time a little and include some higher-intensity intervals. It doesn't have to be anything super strenuous, just up the workload a little bit harder for a minute or two, then back down to recover, then back up, etc. This allows you to continue to improve.

It would not be a bad thing to add a third strength session. You are not doing too much cardio, but substituting another strength day for a cardio day might be helpful.

I don't normally say anything since a lot of people like to do it, but IMO, unless you really find this idea super motivating, I think the 200 situps/squat stuff is a waste of time. Once you get past 8-12 or even 10-15 reps to failure per set of exercise, I think there is little benefit to be gained for the goals you are pursuing. To do that many reps, the resistance has to be so low that you will not get the strength training benefits you are expecting. And there is absolutely no reason to be doing that much ab work, especially a mediocre exercise movement such as an ab crunch. Don't get me wrong--squats are a great exercise, but you don't need to do 200 of them. Use a heavier resistance instead. That's the same with all of the strength machines--work up to a resistance that results in fatigue (i.e. cannot do additional reps with good form) in 8-12 repetitions. Once you can do 12 reps, increase the resistance. At this stage, you can probably get benefits from 1 quality set, but I usually recommend 2 because often people don't choose the correct weight the first time and do not work the muscles hard enough. Also think about the exercises and make sure you focus your energy on the big muscles first. Not every machine in circuit is of the same quality. Do squats and/or leg press but skip the leg extension and thigh machines.

As you become stronger, more fit and more experienced, you should try to broaden your scope and move into the free weight area and also work with some of the cable machines. There's no rush, but just keep in mind that long-term success usually focus, progression and variety. Good luck and congrats so far.