Hello everyone....I've got a few questions. I'm 38 5' 9" 210lbs. 34" waist. 22% body fat. I wanna drop about 25 lbs. I've started exercising 3 weeks ago and this is what I'm doing: I go every other day after work, and I rotate between running and bike/stairs. I work out for an hour... I run on the treadmill....warm up for 5 min @ 4mph then run for 5 @ 6mph, 3 min @ 4mph, then 5min @ 6mph....etc. My heart rate ranges from 125-135 (4mph), to 165-175 (6mph). On my bike/stair days I pretty much keep my hr steady between 160 and 170 for most of the hour....

I've been reading about target heat rate and weight loss...am I working out to hard to early? Am I burning more muscle than fat? Kinda confused....

Thanks, Scott

HOnestly exercise is good for you and you should keep it up, but if you want to lose weight - it all begins and ends with the food you eat. Until and unless you control the food you put in your body, weight loss will be elusive.

Check out the sticky posts on the forums. There's tons of good information about managing your food, including counting calories or eating from a plan.

+1 on what KaraCooks stated. What you eat is going to play a major role.

As far as the exercise is concerned, you'll need to make sure you are listening to your body. Based on the information that you provided, I'm guessing you are doing 3 days of exercise per week? One hour of cardio exercise three days a week will probably be burning around 700 or so calories, give or take some.

As a basic guide, in order to lose one pound in a week, you need to burn 3500 more calories than you have consumed that week. Keep a log of how many calories you are eating, and this will give you a better idea of why you may or may not be losing weight.