ok...so I need some suggestions. I've been working out (Cardio...I think that is what it is called...all of the machines that work certain areas) for about 2 months. I switch back and forth between my arms and legs (first, someone tell me the proper terms for these...I am new to working out lol).

I normally do lifting and such for a little over half an hour (about 3 sets on each machine...at a fairly low weight...one weight above the weight that I was started on when I first started working out).

So, then (this is a recent addition) I also started doing this stair stepper for about 10 minutes, which was about 100 calories burned.

Then I do the elliptical (I think that is what it is called, and machine that follows your legs in a smooth running pattern) for about 25 minutes, and I burn 350 calories.

Some days I don't do the stair stepper (about once every other day, because I find when I do it two days in a row my legs ache).

Ok...so my first question is what muscles does a stair stepper work? I am not sure, and I can't find where it is posted on the machine. Is this a good machines, or are there better?

My second question is how many calories should I burn? I don't want to overdue it (I did that earlier and got pretty sick). I now know you want to know how much I eat or what I eat…

Normally I have either a bowl of oatmeal, a Nutragrain bar, a wheat bagel with fat free cream cheese, or a slim fast for breakfast (average maybe 200 calories). Then for lunch I have a slim fast of some sort (which is 220 calories). I normally have a 100 calorie snack around 3:00. For supper I eat quite a bit (because I know I need more calories than I had been eating (meat, vegetables, fruit, and starch…plenty of it…so my guess is about 800 calories) and I additionally have a good sized snack after I work out (about 200 calories).

So…I know to loose weight you need to burn more than you eat, but I also know it is very bad to overdue it. How am I doing? I am loosing weight and seemingly a safe pace.

There really isn’t much I can change with my diet, because I am a poor college student and I only have so many snacks in my room. I eat at the school cafeteria…so, from what I eat during the day, what would be a good goal for how much I am working out.

I am 157 lbs and 5’6

Thanks for any help!

Okay, the biggest problem I see is your diet. The fact that you have several small meals throughout the day is great, but that you have one 800 calorie meal is not so good. Part of the point to spacing meals apart is to fairly evenly distribute your daily calories. You need to drop your portions for the dinner meal and add a little more food to your other meals, keeping fairly even. Although you meal mefore exercise can be slightly larger since you are going to go work it off. If there is any way you can get nuts or jerkey or cans of tuna or any healthy, ideally protein food to keep around so that you have a healthy way to spread some calories around. Tuna is cheaper than Nutrigrain bars or Slim Fast. It will truly help a lot if you replace the sugar and starches in your diet with protein, veggies, and whole grains... if you can. Sugars and their effect on blood sugar promote a cycle of fat storage, so just try and make the best food choices you can. I know it's hard in college. I've been there. :)

As for your workout, the machines are more like circuit training/strength training. Cardio is aerobic exercise like eliptical, running, and even the stair stepper. The stair stepper is good for the legs in general, but is exceptionally good for the glutes (butt). It's very good cardio and it helps to tone the lower body too. In general I think you're doing great. You are seeing weight loss and evidently strength gains, so you are probably increasing some lean muscle which will help to raise your metabolism. Basically, just keep at it and make some small dietary changes if you can for optimal results. Gook luck and keep it up! :D

Thank you so much for the information Naxis. It is funny that you mentioned nuts and tuna, because I have both in my room (I forgot I even had the tuna). So...I plan on eating some during the day.

Thanks for the info about the stairstepper...yup I'll keep up with that lol. I think I have finally gotten pass the stage of gaining muscle (I know I still am), but I am finally starting to burn fat at a pretty even rate.

So, is there no set amount of how many calories I should burn at the gym? Am I burning too much with the amount I am eating? Or could I be burning more?

Thanks for the help! I noticed that you reply to almost everyone's post, and that is great!

There is no "set" number, but I think you're about right on the mark, especially since you're already at a deficit in what you're eating for the day. As long as you are no lower than 1000 calories below your daily maintenance needs, you should be fine. As you lose weight, you'll need to adjust diet and workout a bit, but until you see a plateau, I'd just stay on course. :)