I just heard a nutritionist say that instead of doing several short workouts that a few longer ones are better, since the body starts burning fat after 30 mins.

I am currently 30 minutes of cardio (stationary bike) Mon-Wed-Fri and 60 minutes Tu-Thur.
Am I wasting time with the 30 min workouts? I used to do solid 1 hour blocks but my weights coach (who competes professionally) said it is better to do cardio in staggered lengths of time, as the body adapts to repetitious activity.

Who is right? I'm trying to loose a lot of weight.

What will work is a combination of the 2.  I used to be 235lbs when I was younger.  I started running regularly and pumping iron.  Got really into pumping iron and got big and strong but slow,  now that I am older, I run a lot more.  That is what I found that helped me stay at 170 lbs.  I cut the weights out and do pull ups, crunches, dips and pushups.  I feel great.

I run consistently almost 7 days a week.  It is a good stress outlet, keeps my blood pressure and cholesterol down.

YMMV

Max

Quoted: I just heard a nutritionist say that instead of doing several short workouts that a few longer ones are better, since the body starts burning fat after 30 mins. I am currently 30 minutes of cardio (stationary bike) Mon-Wed-Fri and 60 minutes Tu-Thur. Am I wasting time with the 30 min workouts? I used to do solid 1 hour blocks but my weights coach (who competes professionally) said it is better to do cardio in staggered lengths of time, as the body adapts to repetitious activity. Who is right? I'm trying to loose a lot of weight.

Your best bet is daily cardio with split routines for weights 4-5 days/week.  You'll build muscle and lose fat at the same time.  30 mins. of cardio a day is really a beginner's pace.  If  you are looking to lean out, you'll have to do more.

Check this site out.  Tom Venuto's ebook is well worth it and there is a support forum on Yahoo with links to member photos going through the program.  The progress is amazing to watch.

www.burnthefat.com

If you are trying to loose a lot of weight just run 6 times a week one hour straight! Depending on your weight you loose over 110-150 calories per mile, do that at 6mph and you will shape up really well in a short time.  Thats loosing around 700 calories a day, and 4200 a week if you run 6 days!!!
Of course If you can't run that long start off maxing out and incrementing this by 5 minutes or so every other day. Remember its not the time run in to burn fat that matters but how many miles you run! (when I heard that for the first time I couldn't believe it, lol, I always thought the faster you run the more calories you would have burned even though you cover the same distance)
I wouldn't recommend running that long and hitting a lot of iron at the same time, light workouts would be the best I guess.
I'm just a biginner at strength training but not to running.

I plan on running 6 days a week in about four months, when I'm done shaping up my muscles. Right now I'm trying to build as much muscle as I can. Since in 4-6 months you see the most results, two months down for me.

I do the stationary cycling in the morning before work.

I am taking three PE classes as well at the community college at night after work.

On Mondays and Wensday I have a Swimming class then a Weight lifting class (both classes have about 1 hours of workout time each).

Tuesday and Thursdays I have a Circuit weights class which is mostly cardio (1 hour workout).

All three classes are pretty demanding, except Weights, which is pretty much self paced, but I push myself there too.

****

All that, and over the last few months I have lost less than five pounds, I shit you not. I don't know what else I can do. I am on a pretty strict diet as well; I really can't cut anything there.

I need some advice on what else I can do. Running is out- bad knee. It's like my body is impervious to weight loss or something.

I find that when I do an hour of cardio, as opposed to 30 min, I lose a lot more weight.  And it's true, your body doesn't start burning fat until 20-30 minutes into the workout

Quoted: **** All that, and over the last few months I have lost less than five pounds, I shit you not. I don't know what else I can do. I am on a pretty strict diet as well; I really can't cut anything there. I need some advice on what else I can do. Running is out- bad knee. It's like my body is impervious to weight loss or something.

First off, the scale isn't the best tool to measure fat loss. If you're lifting, you're building muscle, and that added weight shows up on the scale. Get your body fat % checked and pay attention to how your clothes fit, how you look, etc. to get a measure of how much fat you lose.

How many calories per day are you taking in?  If you take in fewer calories than you burn, you'll lose weight, but make sure you eat enough. Find out what your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is (many BMR calculators on the web) and try to not eat to far below it. If you do, your body will perceive it as being starved and your fat loss will slow or stop.

Are you eating the right things at the right time? Cut out ALL sugar, white flour, pasta, rice, bread, etc. Eat lean meat, vegetables, whole grains, and fruit (not too much fruit). Avoid processed foods. Also, eat more than just three times a day. Feeding your metabolism regularly will help control your blood sugar, keep you from feeling hungry, and keep your body burning calories. Try eating small meals 4-6 times a day.

As far as exercise goes, quality and variation are just as important as quantity. Get some intensity into your workouts and mix them up. Do some circuit training with weights or try some supersets. For cardio, do a couple interval workouts a week. After a few weeks of incorporating intervals into your workout, your fitness will improve. Most important, stay positive and don't get discouraged if the results don't come as fast as you'd like.

Any activity is better than doing nothing.  30 minutes of cardio is better than 30 minutes on the couch.  Do what you can with the time you have...  it will pay off in the long run.

Let me preface by admitting I'm no subject matter expert, except to say that I've successfully lost and kept off alot of extra weight myself...

I believe the current trend is to overanalyze everything, because of you come out with a "new" idea that claims to accelerate the process in any way, you can make millions of dollars selling books and diet plans.   I believe the bottom line is, for anyone eating anything approaching a "normal" diet (i.e., things like atkins may permit a greater spike up front), that you eat so much food a day that provides your body with a certain amount of energy.   You do so much work a day, for which that energy is used.   This is includes everything from simply keeping your body alive, to things we do to intentionally burn some of this extra energy.   On a given day, if you use more energy than you consume, you body will look to its energy reserved (fat).   If you consume more than you use, it will be stored as reserves.

From an energy burn perspective, it should not really matter whether you do 2 30 minute workouts a day or one 60 minute workout.   If you are doing the same work, you are using the same amount of energy.    What they're likely refering to when they say you don't burn any fat during your workout until after 30 minutes is the different ways the body stores energy.     Long term reserves are stored as fat, energy meant for more immediate use is stored in blood sugar.

It probably takes 30 minutes of cardio to deplete the stores in your blood sugar.   So, until that point, your body is not turning to fat for energy during your workout.    However, your body still needs energy to sit down in your car, drive yourself to work, breath, pump your heart, etc - while you are not "working out", you are still consuming energy, albeit likely at a lower level.    At this point your blood sugar will be low enough that your body turns to fat for these sort of functions, until you consume more energy (food).

If you do the same 30 minutes again at night, and deplete the energy stored in blood sugar, then you will go through the same cycle.   Yes, your body still needs energy to maintain itself and burns calories while you sleep.

If you do one 60 minute workout, then yes, your body will more likely need to turn to fat for energy during the workout.      However, once you eat again, your blood sugar levels will remain more constant for the remainder of the day, and your body may not need to turn to fat for any energy after this.

Your weight coach was more than likely refering to strength or performance training when he suggested periodically altering the intensity and length of your workouts.     Yes, you will tend to plateau in any performance goals unless you do this - but it should not really otherwise effect the amount of work your body does, and thus so the amount of energy it needs.     The caveat being that the more lean muscle mass you have, the more energy your body will need to maintain it.   A 200lb guy w/ 10% body fat can eat more than a 150lb guy with 10% body fat and still maintain his body fat level.

Bottom line, I'd say stop overanalyzing it - if you just want to lose some of the fat, eat less and exercise more, and it will come off.   And do it with a regimen you can maintain for the rest of your life.

Fasted AM cardio (meaning grab a glass of water and hit the treadmill or whatever you can do first thing) is a controversial topic.  BUT...all those that do fasted cardio rave about it for fat loss.  

Granted, most of these people do cardio twice/day AM and PM about 45 mins. each in addition to weight training to lean out for competitions/contests.  

You may want to try it.

Only if your do it with Intensity!!!

Quoted: How many calories per day are you taking in?  If you take in fewer calories than you burn, you'll lose weight, but make sure you eat enough. Find out what your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is (many BMR calculators on the web) and try to not eat to far below it. If you do, your body will perceive it as being starved and your fat loss will slow or stop.

I am taking in an average of 1800 calories a day.

I found one of the BMR calculators and it gave me:

Basal Metabolic Rate: 1969 calories

Active Caloric Rate: 2954 calories

Safe Weight Loss: 1469 calories

That last number looks low. My weights coach said since I weight 240 LBS I should be taking in at least 2400 calories; keeping in mind I am working out an average of 2 hours a day. She said If I don't get enough calories my body will break down muscle tissue to get what it needs, so I would have to increase my caloric intake to get the best weight loss performance. Sounds counter-intuitive to me, but she is a professional bodybuilder (with the body to proove she knows what she is talking about) maybe she's right.

Whether your body burns fat while you run is meaningless, its the claories you burn that contribute to fat loss.  You will burn more fat after the run if you doa shorter un and get depleted of carbs and glycogen.  The more you run the better.  You nutritionist knows nutrition, not training.

I am a long distance runner. I run anywhere from 20-30 miles a week. Most days during the week I run 4-6 miles depending on time. And I like to get at least 8 miles on Saturday but like to get it to somewhere around 14 as I get closer to a race. Some days I can only get out for a 30 minute run and I do and I happy with it. Id rather get a 30 minute run unstead of nothing. I just try to make it up the next day.

Quoted: Quoted: How many calories per day are you taking in?  If you take in fewer calories than you burn, you'll lose weight, but make sure you eat enough. Find out what your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is (many BMR calculators on the web) and try to not eat to far below it. If you do, your body will perceive it as being starved and your fat loss will slow or stop. I am taking in an average of 1800 calories a day. I found one of the BMR calculators and it gave me: Basal Metabolic Rate: 1969 calories Active Caloric Rate: 2954 calories Safe Weight Loss: 1469 calories That last number looks low. My weights coach said since I weight 240 LBS I should be taking in at least 2400 calories; keeping in mind I am working out an average of 2 hours a day. She said If I don't get enough calories my body will break down muscle tissue to get what it needs, so I would have to increase my caloric intake to get the best weight loss performance. Sounds counter-intuitive to me, but she is a professional bodybuilder (with the body to proove she knows what she is talking about) maybe she's right.

This is a great way to chart where you are versus where you want to go.  I was introduced to this recently and I think it really allows you to customize your goals based on where "you" are versus everyone else.  Your weight also determines how many calories "you" are actually burning given activity and duration.  It makes perfect sense that someone weighing 100 lbs. will burn fewer calories than a 200 lb. person jogging the same distance (insert any cardio activity here, for example).  So, using those two things I found it really easy to chart my daily intake and calories burned to reach my goals.  It seems like you have a good trainer.