Alright, after much browsing I've decided to post up my attempt at a routine. I'm sure it needs a lot of work, I appreciate any help offered. I'm 21 years 5'3 and approx 110-115lbs. I have a computer job so unfortunately I'm pretty much sitting all day. I'm working towards loosing fat and becoming lean, my upper body is thin but lower body holds the fat as in most women. So loosing the fat and leaning out my legs, hips and butt is my eventual goal (I know about the inability to spot reduce, to be honest though it's all about losing my butt, which doesn't match up with my very thin torso) So anyways, I'm hoping over time I can accomplish this by losing overall body fat with a good routine, diet, and some encouragement/advise from you guys.

Let's start with my diet, here's an example of most days for me:

Breakfast: oatmeal with banana or Kashi cereal
Snack: Apple and maybe some almonds
Lunch: chicken breast salad or wrap with spinach leaves, romaine, tomatoes carrots
Snack: yogurt or cottage cheese + fruit
Dinner: Meat (chicken, turkey, or fish), brown rice or sweet potato, veggies
If I'm hungry before bed I'll have cottage cheese or egg whites
And I'm looking to invest in some whey protein for making an after workout shake to incorporate in to my diet.

Now for the exercise, here's an outline:

Mon - Weight training upper body, Cardio 30mins-1 hr
Tue - Walking 2.5 miles to work and same distance after, later on weight training lower body and 30 mins cardio
Wed - Weight training upper body, Cardio 30mins-1 hr
Thu - Walking (same as Tue), weight training lower body and 30 mins cardio
Fri - Cardio 30-1hr
Sat - Rest
Sun - Cardio 30-1hr

Cardio usually consists of walking/jogging intervals, sometimes with a few hills and sometimes a little sprinting but I don't think I can consider it hiit, I don't think I'm up to that point yet, my endurance is lame.

Weight training: (I think I need the most work here as I never know what exercises to do or how much to do them.)

My upper body:
bench press
overhead press
dips or tricep extensions
kick backs
crunches
(I think I need some kind back exercise?)

lower body:
squats (im never sure which kind of squat to do so I just do a set of deadlifts, wide stance and, the normal squat)
walking lunges
hip extensions

I'd be thankful for some advise with any of these areas.

I think you have a good diet and cardio routine. However, I would change your weight training a little. You do need some back exercises - bent-over dumbbell rows and pull-ups are the best exercises for your back. Also, you don't need to do dips and kickbacks, stick with the dips, they're a much better tricep exercise.

Are you doing regular squats and deadlifts? If so, good.

Also, you could have Wednesday as a rest day and then weight train on Thursday and Friday. Don't underestimate the importance of rest days, that is the time that your body does repair work. I'd also rest on Saturday and Sunday. As you are doing cardio on your weight days, your still getting at least 30 minutes of cardio 4 days a week.

Thanks for the advice. It's pretty hard trying to figure out the right routine for me. I actually think I might change from split body workouts to full body workouts after having read a few more articles.

Including Wednesday as a rest day sounds like a good idea. I think mainly now I just need to figure out the correct combinations of exercises to do durring WT. I'll definitely add in some back exercises and invest in a pull up bar.

Ok, I made a new workout. I decided to do a FBW Mon/Wed/Fri followed by approx. 30 mins of cardio. On Tues and Thurs I'll do either 30 mins of a higher intensity cardio or 45-60mins of med intensity and rest on the weekends.

I want to create two workouts to alternate using the form ABA - BAB.

After reading up on compound exercises I came up with this, please tell me if I should change anything or order them differently. I'm not sure if I'm hitting all muscle groups or hitting the same ones twice with different exercises. I'd like to keep the WT at about an hour.

Workout 1: 3 sets x 8-12 reps
Deadlift
Lunges
Bench press
Dips
Pullups
Bent-over row
Military press
(May throw in a few iso lifts)

As for workout two, should it be made with completely different exercises, or should I only change a few of the exercises?

Hi Emm,
You seem to have a really good base to start from in regards to your diet, your workout and your drive which is one of the most important things. Keep it up and I have absolutely no doubt you will hit your goals.

In regards to the weights workout, if you are doing a FBW like you have outlined, this hits all the main muscle groups in one workout so you actually just do that exaxt same workout 3 times a week making sure you have atleast 48 hrs rest between workouts. This will condition all of your major muscle groups and isolation excercises are not needed when you do this. Your body will still progress in such a routine for 4-8 weeks depending on your current level of fitness and assuming that you are increasing the weight as you become stronger, that is in itself changing the routine which means it will last even longer for you. Only when you start to see a lack of improvement or become really bored with the same routine should you bother changing something so simple and perfect for you.

When you do decide to change the routine you can go for a 3-4 day upper/lower or push/pull split incorporating more isolation excercises so as to have enough for each day without hitting all the main muscle groups like in a FBW. For now stick with the 3 day, same routine FBW as this will be the best for you. Keep up the good work and don't hesitate to ask more questions.

EDIT : Looking back at your last post you need to incorporate squats and then you are good to go with the information above.

Emm... There are some really good points. I just wanted to add some things. On average you will adapt to a program in 4 weeks... so every month you should change your workout up. the ways you can make it different are infinite but to keep balance I suggest on one level you go from endurance strength to hypertrophy to power and then back... etc...

Snewsome said it good with the push/pull... you want to really keep things has balanced as possible in your exercise so one muscle groups does not get over or underdeveloped... unless you are trying to do that for a particular reason.

In regards to the cardio... I would cut it to 20 min.... no need to go over that. Just give it an intense cardio circuit for 20 mins and you will be great. A lot has to do with you goals of course but it is awesome that you starting.

Weight training will change everything about you for the better!

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as long as the weight progresses you never adapt,the weider muscle confusion idea is rubish and imsurprised so many people still believe in that crap with all the science thats available to you today.

Thanks everyone for the advice and encouragement, I really appreciate it!

I thought deadlifts and squats worked essentially the same muscles so I wasn't sure if I should add them in. How about if I swap out the lunges for squats? Or should I do both?

So if this workout is good, then I can just do the same exercises M/W/F, I don't really need to create a second workout to alternate? But I should switch up my routine every 1-2 months?

Also, should I be increasing the weight of my lifts after every week?

Squats and lunges work the same muscle group - the Quads and Glutes. Deadlifts are going to work your hamstrings and lower back.

Switching between lunges and squats might be a good thing to do. I wouldn't do them both on the same day. If you're doing a FBW MWF, you don't need an alternate routine, but some people do.

Once an exercise starts to become a little easier, try increasing the weight a little.

I tried my routine yesterday but I'm hardly sore this morning, though I think I lifted a good amount of weight. The only thing I could probably increase on next time is deadlifts. But I believe I could increase weight on all exercises if a I do less reps, such as 3x5. Or would it be a better idea if I did more sets like 5x8?

Also I bought some whey powder last night, but should I even be drinking it if my goal is fat loss? Is it ok to drink it on non workout days?

I think 3x5 would be too few total repetitions. If you were to do something like 5x5, you'd be able to lift more weight and have a better number of total repetitions, but you'd be out of the ideal hypertrophy set/rep range. Were you doing 3x8? If so, for your next exercise day, try to do 3x10 with the same weight as last time. If you can do that with no problem, the next exercise day, go back to 3x8, but increase the weight by 5 lbs.

Whey powder is good for any diet that requires more protein, especially right after a workout. You can drink it on your non-workout days, just make sure you count the calories and other contents into your diet.