The reason resistance training is recommended when you're trying to lose weight is because lean muscle mass has a higher metabolic rate so the more muscle you have the more kj's your body is using just to sustain itself. Having said that to lose weight the recommendations are now cardio training for at least 30 mins EVERY day of the week.
It's easy to say weight loss happens when kj intake is less than kj output, and that is right, but you have to find your own level, if your kj intake is way below your basal metabolic rate (BMR) then your body is going to go into starvation mode and store any food as fat. So it's very important to find your BMR and then work at losing no more than 1kg a week through a defecit of about 2000-4000kj a day at least 1250kj should be through exercise. Initially (depending on how fit or unfit you are) you need to get your cardiovascular system to a level that you can undertake CV training so in the beginning you should stress frequency and duration over intensity. So walking on the treadmil on an incline for 45 mins rather than jogging for 10.
The minimum CV training you should be doing to lose weight is 30 min 6 times a week. There are lots of online calculators to work out your BMR heres just one I found ENERGY NEEDS CALCULATOR | DAILY KILOJOULES NEEDS CALCULATOR | DAILY CALORIE NEEDS CALCULATOR | CALCULATE YOUR DAILY ENERGY NEEDS | BASE METABOLIC RATE CALCULATOR | WEIGHT LOSS ENERGY NEEDS CALCULATOR | CALORIE AND KILOJOULE CALCULATOR
(Getting lazy now, going to copy some from another post!) I would recommend a combination of Cardio training and resistance training. You should be aiming for 3 sessions a week with weights at about 70-85% of the heaviest weight you can lift (there should be instructors on the gym floor that can help you figure this out) and you could do say...3 sets of 12 reps (the last set you shouldn't be able to complete, when you can up the weight). Focus on all your major muscle groups, allow 24 hours between resistance training sessions and 72 hours between training those muscles with weights again eg upper body on Mon - lower body on Wed and both on Sat.
For your cardio, a very rough guide to work out your correct training intensities is by using a formula to predict your maximal heart rate which is Predicted Maximal Heart Rate (PMHR) = 208-(0.7xage).
For fat loss your training zone should be between 55-70% of your PMHR, if you have a heart rate monitor it's easy, if you don't you can use the RPE scale (rate of perceived exertion) which is basically a scale of one to ten and you want to feel like you're working at a 5-7 with 10 being very hard, maximal.
What days can you train? Pump is great for weight loss so you could use that as your resistance training initially. Have you tried any other classes? If you can I really recommend Body Combat, it's my favourite! Is there another Step class you can do aside from the mon morn one?! Also grab a training buddy, it's so much more fun if there are two of you. Also have you thought about getting a personal trainer? It is a bit of money (I pay $50) but it works! And it's fun and you can work soooo much harder than on your own
To be honest for initial weight loss I think doing 2 Pumps and maybe 4 other aerobic classes would really benefit you. Treat the core classes as recreational exercise.
Hope this helps, it''s all a bit confusing and overwhelming as so many people give conflicting advice about what you can and can't eat and do. Don't try and restrict yourself too much with food, just worry more about portion control and the quality of the food you're eating and what it is DOING for your body.
Good luck hun you'll do great
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