Anonymous wrote:if you have an hour 3 times a week you should be golden.

If you can do a gym membership - New Rules of Lifting for Women. It changed my life and you need to do it only 2-3 times a week. I started 12 weeks postpartum with #2. It was crazy - my weight was stable but I was fitting into pants that I wore when I weighed 20 lbs less (!!)

If not - I have heard good things about T25 and P90X3 - the latter is less impact which might be good.

Look up the nerdfitness beginner bodyweight workout. That's a great place to start!

I'll second that. Also, recently, Nerdfitness had a link to a bunch of bodyweight exercises based on various movies/TV characters. My husband and I found they were pretty fun to do (I liked the 007 one, he liked Jurassic Park, and my 11-year-old liked them all). If I can find the link, I'll post it, but you can't go wrong with nerdfitness (which also talks a LOT about healthy eating and how you can't outrun your fork).

Best of luck to you, OP! You can do it!

if you have an hour 3 times a week you should be golden.

If you can do a gym membership - New Rules of Lifting for Women. It changed my life and you need to do it only 2-3 times a week. I started 12 weeks postpartum with #2. It was crazy - my weight was stable but I was fitting into pants that I wore when I weighed 20 lbs less (!!)

If not - I have heard good things about T25 and P90X3 - the latter is less impact which might be good.

Look up the nerdfitness beginner bodyweight workout. That's a great place to start!

Thanks everyone. I am exercising at home while my child sleeps (morning or evening) so a gym is not a great option for me. I do have an elliptical and access to a wide array of dumbbells. Right now I am using the elliptical but thought I should replace some of that time with strength training.

I agree with PP that I need to change my diet as well. I just know that my earlier success was due to hours of cardio every day, and I don't have hours anymore -- I have 30 - 60 minutes, max.

Do yoga. It will increase your strength in a healthy manner. You will not lose weight through exercise though. You need to control your eating. No way around it.

T25. trust me.

Planks are good. And if you can hold one for ten seconds now, that gives you room to build on to that ten seconds.

You could also put your knees on the floor and do the plank that way and see how long you can hold it then. Some people modify planks that way in my yoga classes.

Do you have access to a gym? Free weights? A trainer? Might be worth booking a few sessions with a trainer to get an idea of exercises to do.

I am a women in my 30s. I have a toddler and I've never lost the baby weight: I want to lose 30 pounds. The last time I lost a significant amount of weight and kept it off (which was pre-baby) I did a ton of cardio every day, plus careful eating. I have less free time now and I've heard that building muscle is an efficient way to burn calories. Currently I have okay leg strength but zero core or arm strength -- I can't hold a plank for more than 10 seconds.

What beginner's exercises have the most impact for time spent?

A lot of the exercises I see online or in magazines involve some kind of plank, which as I mentioned I can't do (yet). Is it useful to just keep attempting planks until I get better? On the one hand it's hard, but on the other hand it doesn't feel like "exercise."

Thanks!