Just joined a gym, need help with what I personally should be doing!

[PandaBear]

Hey guys, after shedding roughly 45 pounds over a like 3-4 month period by jogging and "kind of" dieting, I hit that wall where I wasn't seeing results the way I wanted so I joined a gym not to long ago and boy is it fun!  So many people there aiming for the same goal and pushing hard really makes you want to do the same, this is by far the best motivation i've gotten since I started and I completely suggest it to anyone who is on the fence about joining a gym or not.

But... I'm afraid I have no idea what i'm doing or should be doing there to utilize time best since I usually have to go at around 11:00-11:30pm after work meaning 2 hours of working out is about all I have in me.

Today I went twice due to it being my day off and I wanted to make a full day in town.  I did the elliptical for two hours, one in the morning, and one in the evening after going out into town to do some window shopping to net my steps in since it was my day off and its hard to get your normal steps in without making it feel like work on those days.

Anyways these were the stats it told me after finishing each hour.

First hour :: 1050 calories going forward, avg heartbeat around 140ish

Second hour :: 950 going backwards, same on heartbeat I think. I don't remember looking

I've been told going both ways is good because it works different muscles, but I never see anyone going backwards on it?  Plus i'm not sure which is more accurate when counting calories, the elliptical or the fitbit since I didn't keep my hands on the exact spot that monitors your heartbeat versus the charge always watching, but it would always say my heartbeat was lower than the elliptical but that I was burning more calories as well.

Regardless I feel like I need to focus mainly on cardio and the elliptical burns more calories than anything in the gym that I've found by a huge amount.  I do the step master for 10-20 minutes if I can at around level 5-10 depending on how exhausted I am.  Although I'm very skeptical of this deviled machinery since in a 10 minute period I feel like someone is beating me and sweat ridiculously but only burn around 60 calories?

I'm trying to look into some type of diet as well, i've been buying boneless chicken breast at work (Publix) so it's a little healthier than some of the other places "apparently" and eating it with rice/salad at work for my main meal (thinking about buying frozen vegetables since they're fairly cheap and are apparently as good as fresh if not better sometimes(?), and trying to get down a protein shake in the morning even though apparently you can only absorb 20 grams of protein in a sitting and i've been doing 2 scoops equaling 98 grams.... Guess i've been ripping myself off 😕

I really hope you guys can give me some tips on what you guys do and have been doing to get the weight off and keep it off, because i'm absolutely addicted going to the gym now and my main struggle is in my diet I think.  Honestly this is extremely overwhelming on some days because i'm struggling to see results so hopefully you guys have some relateable experiences and can maybe lead me in the right direction.

TLDR :: Trying to lose around 50 more pounds (At around 5000-6000 Calories burned a day according to fitbit) while getting tone so I dont get flabby, don't want alot of muscle.  Need to know a good workout to get this within 1-2 hours a day at the gym after work.

[SunsetRunner]

Hey I know you say cardio is where you feel you should be at - but I would seriously consider getting into weight training (perhaps have a one off with a PT to make up a programme for you) although your calorific burn will be less in an hour than a cardio session, the continued burn (for recovery and repair) is greater. Also, 2hours of cardio is excessive - if you're training for a marathon event you'd maybe be doing 2-3hrs of cardio ONE day a week, not every day.

I know you're looking at calorie burn purely but that isn't a well rounded view of what you're actually doing to your body and what it is now becoming accustomed to. If you've been doing cardio for months and continue doing cardio for months you're not going to keep seeing the initial changes, you need to keep adapting and challenging yourself.

[JPizor]

I agree with Electricpix'comment ... introducing your body to strength training can help you break thru the plateau while simultaneously increasing lean muscle mass - which increases your caloric burn rate at rest. Not only will you lose fat, you'll entirely transform your physique.

[WendyB]

I also agree with the lifting. Its not all about Cardio. You need to tone as well.

But eat a lot of Veggies and fruit. I generally have protein with each meal. MAke sure you get in healthy fats as well. Oil, avocado, nuts.

I eat 3 meals and have 2 snacks a day. Snacks are yogurt or string cheese. Other is some kind of fruit.

[DominicJ]

"Hey guys, after shedding roughly 45 pounds over a like 3-4 month period by jogging and "kind of" dieting, I hit that wall where I wasn't seeing results the way I wanted so I joined a gym not to long ago and boy is it fun!"

Without knowing how tall and heavy you are, its hard to be sure, but I'd guess you've done the easy bit.

"But... I'm afraid I have no idea what i'm doing or should be doing there to utilize time best since I usually have to go at around 11:00-11:30pm after work meaning 2 hours of working out is about all I have in me. "

Two hours is a HUGE amount of time to be at the gym.

You arent working out, you are wasting time or you are hurting yourself.

"I've been told going both ways is good because it works different muscles, but I never see anyone going backwards on it?  Plus i'm not sure which is more accurate when counting calories, the elliptical or the fitbit since I didn't keep my hands on the exact spot that monitors your heartbeat versus the charge always watching, but it would always say my heartbeat was lower than the elliptical but that I was burning more calories as well."

The fitbit HR is the second most accurate way available to track your calories, behind a heart rate monitoring chest strap, its miles ahead of a piece of gym equipment.

I never quite got the running backwards bit but I see a lot of people doing it, the eliptical just messes with my back so I dont use it.

"Regardless I feel like I need to focus mainly on cardio and the elliptical burns more calories than anything in the gym that I've found by a huge amount.  I do the step master for 10-20 minutes if I can at around level 5-10 depending on how exhausted I am.  Although I'm very skeptical of this deviled machinery since in a 10 minute period I feel like someone is beating me and sweat ridiculously but only burn around 60 calories?"

Your muscles tire from "hard" work at a fast rate than the increased calories, if you work 10x harder, you fail before 1/10th of the time. 

"trying to get down a protein shake in the morning even though apparently you can only absorb 20 grams of protein in a sitting and i've been doing 2 scoops equaling 98 grams.... Guess i've been ripping myself off :\"

I've heard that a lot but I'm yet to see any evidence of it.

"don't want alot of muscle"

Ha, if only it was that easy, you wont accidentally hulk out I can assure you, it takes years of overload lifting.  I usedto single arm curl 20kg and press 70kg, and Ive never had lots of muscle.

Losing weight is simple is not easy process, eat fewer calories than you consume, within reason, going from 15% to 10% body fat is MUCH harder than going from 30% to 25%

To do that, you need something to log your excercise, and something to log your food.

"Clean" eating is wildly less important than hitting the right calorie count.