Just need some general info...new to this stuff.

[OdiN1701]

I recently started working out more - more with the intentions of dropping excess pounds and trimming up.

I currently have my bike setup on an indoor trainer (it's winter...try biking on ice) - is it best to have it setup so that I spend more time on it, vs. less time but more exertion?

Also I am doing some basic lifting excercises.  I have some 25lb dumbells setup and I'm doing curls and such.  I'm not looking to get huge muscles or anything, just more toned.  I've never really done weight lifting before...so is there any good info you could link me to?  My main question is should I do the lifting excersises every day, or every other day or what's the best?

Also looking to get a bar and some more weights to do different types of lifting excercises.

As for my eating habbits, I've started monitoring my caloric intake.  I am limiting myself to at most 2000 calories a day.  I know I used to eat more than that because my stomach complains and I feel hungry - I'm hoping that goes away after a while.  I know too few calories is not good but I think this will be okay.

Any tips or anything would be great.  Main goal is just to drop pounds and eat healthier.

[webcake]

Ok, to give you all the info you need would take ages to write out, so ill keep it quick.

Go to bodybuilding.com and check out all the training and nutrition articles. Its a very good site and you will find plenty of good info there.

The weights you currently have (25lb dumbbells) is not enough. You need much more weight and get a barbell too, and also a bench too perhaps. Again, bodybuilding.com will have plenty of exercises that you can use, and show you how to do them.

In regards to losing weight (bodyfat) on the bike, longer at a lower intensity is probably more effective than 10-15 mins flat out. But if you prefer the quicker, high intensity type then you can do it.

In regards to calories, it depends on your weight and so forth.

[Emmortal]

Be careful about some of the articles on BB.com, some of them are actually just pimps for selling supplements so be careful about that.  Like, Put an Inch on your arms with this routine! And as you read it they tell you to buy all these different supplements in addition to the routine, heh.

But generally, there is some pretty good info there and t-nation.com has a lot of training articles as well.

I'm going to have to disagree on the longer at lower intensity for fat burning cardio.  You should look up how to do HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) which is essentially going balls out for 20 seconds, normal speed for 10 seconds, balls out for 20 seconds etc over a 4 minute period.  You have to constantly shock the body because it LOVES to become complacent will be happy staying where it is.  Over time a longer workout at lower intensity becomes very useless because the body adapts to it quickly and your cardio workouts will have to take 2 hours just to maintain.

[lilwoday09smb]

HIT is were its at. i like to get on the tread mill put it at a 2.0 incline and after a 2 minute warm up ill jog at level 3.8 for 1 minute, then sprint at 10.5 for 1 minute. i repeat for 20 minutes and do a 3 minute cool down and it melts fat away. do this after weights 4 -5 times a week.
when your lifting try to lift heavy as you can for 8-12 reps and rest no more than 60 seconds between sets. even do supersets if you can. something like . bench press - pull ups - dips. rest 60-90 seconds and repeat 3 times. then do incline bench press - a rowing movement - skull crushers / db extensions

things like that will geat your metabolism burning as well as help you build muscle. once you loose some fat you can focus on heavier weights with more break to build more mass