Definitely hit the weights. Too much cardio can cause a plateau, which I think is where you're at. Lift heavy and don't be intimidated by the strength training at all, it'll only make you look leaner. You may also want to increase your water intake as well.

Don't forget a rest day or two (not back to back), especially in the beginning. Your body will need to recover to avoid injury, and injury prevention should be your main goal at this point (with strength and endurance to come once you've safely built a baseline).

What do you think about a playing card work out on Thursdays and Fridays? We did one at bootcamp, and I loved it. I thought it would be a very fun workout to adapt for home or travel.

Get a deck of playing cards and take out Jokers, threes, fours, fives and sixes. So you're left with 36 cards. Then split them into two decks of 18 cards each. You will alternate these decks each day.

Thursdays are 'Leg days' and Fridays are 'Arm days.'

Assign four exercises to each suit, and twos are 10 bicycle crunches and 8's are 10 mountain climbers (keeps your heart rate up). Then pull a card and do the exercise in the reps on the card - Aces are 11 reps. So you pull a Queen of Hearts - so that's 10 squats, etc.

You can change it up however you like. But write down the days exercises because they're easy to forget when you're on a roll.

Run a few miles for cardio and most importantly fix your diet.

^^I should mention do all three (diet, weights, cardio) for all-around health and fitness.

Diet >> weight lifting >> intervals/plyo >> steady state cardio.

Weights and a home workout like P90x if you don’t plan on joining the gym.

But to lose fat/weight, you need to focus on diet.

Eat 20% less than your maintenance.

Lifting weights is for building muscle and creating a nice shape.

Cardio for heart and lungs.

Diet for fat loss.

Until now, I have always been thin but never worked out. I'm in my mid-30's, I had 2 kids in the last 4 years and I can't get rid of the last 10 lbs. Losing the last 10 lbs is my motivation but I would really like to make a lifestyle change- to be more fit, in shape, leaner, toner, healthier, etc.

So I would like to start working out at home. I have a 10 lb kettle bell and I like doing some workouts via YouTube channels. But what other at home workouts can I do? And what is the rotation I should be doing them in?

For example, do I do:

Monday- cardio workout
Tuesday - kettle bell workout
Wednesday - back to cardio
Thursday - ?
Friday - ?

Should I get any other "equipment"? I'm not talking a treadmill but small weights or anything?

I am totally lost on how best to introduce working out into my life (lifestyle) and any help from you workout experts/junkies for this newbie would be appreciate.