I am just starting alli this week.  About 18 months ago I weighed 199 lbs.  I started walking 30 minutes/3 times per week on a treadmill and alternating upper and lower body weight training at the same time.  I also did one day of belly dancing (1 hour/week).  Then I added 2 extra days of classes from fit t.v..  I didn't change my eating habits at all.  I was just weighed at the YMCA and weigh 167, with a body fat percentage of 37%(how upsetting).    I was a bit discouraged with these results.  Although I now love to work out and hate to miss a day, I needed some help.  So I am now working with a personal trainer and have added Alli and your program.

Now I am doing Zumba(high energy salsa, type dancing) 2 days, belly dancing, 1 day, and treadmill as often as I can in between days.  I also am doing extra sets of ab work everyday that I am at the YMCA.  And when I do treadmill work, I alternate weight training (upper then lower body).  I also wear a heart rate monitor to ensure I reach my desired heart rate.

My question is this, is this considered moderate exercise?  I work out of the house and don't have children.  The rest of the time, I feel quite lazy.  I see other people doing insane step aerobics, and hours on the eleptical machines.  Is this really what is neccessary to achieve and maintain my desired weight?

Hi kerry-leigh, Congrats on starting alli and on your weight loss! You should be very proud! To answer your question, your workout regimen looks very good as you are incorporating a variety of exercises! This crucial to the long-term success of any weight loss program as it keeps your body and mind motivated and challenged! It isn't necessary to perform "over-the-top" workouts to achieve the heart-healthy benefits and promote a very good calorie and fat burn! There are 3 factors when it comes to exercise: frequency, duration and intensity. All 3 of these influence the effectiveness of a workout. Ideally, you should be exercising on most days of the week (frequency), 30-60+ minutes per session (duration) at an intensity that gets you into your heart rate zone (which you can figure out on the alli website!). In order to increase your caloric burn per workout session, it is necessary to increase the intensity and/or duration of the workout. So, just keep in mind that as you continue to lose the weight, you may need to change up your routine by going a little longer on the treadmill, possibly add in some elevation or a bout of jogging for 2 minutes at a time and then recovering back to walking. Just realize that anytime that you increase the intensity, you will increase the caloric burn, and in a shorter amount of time. I would also encourage you to make sure you're adding strength training into your weekly regimen 2-3 times per week in order to maintain/increase lean muscle while you're losing the weight! By doing so you will become more metabolically efficient b/c muscle requires more energy to function that fat...therefore the more muscle you have the more calories you burn all day long even at rest. Keep up the great work and keep me posted with your progress! Kelli