How do I measure up? Is this good?
You may want to check your local library for strength training resources. They may have books, DVDs, videos, etc. Or check the library in the larger town--they often have on line catelogues and will usually let out-of-towners join for a small fee.
Good luck--I'm seeing a personal trainer on Monday to get this all straight for me, so I know right where you are.
In my humble opinion, minimize the whole importance of caloric burn as it relates to exercise. What i mean is, most of us, barring marathoners or competitors of any kind, don't have time or resources to burn a meaningful amount of calories with our daily exercise.
Our routines should be more about toning, challenging as many muscles groups as is possible and amping up metabolism.
Your weight loss is far more related to how much you are eating & what types of food you are eating. Not to say exercise does not play a role, of course.
Weight training can be accomplished at home, with a weight bench or biggo balance ball and some weights - look in the paper or at garage sales for these, no need to spend bookoo bucks! Cruise the used book stores for all kinds of exercise books. One should trade out weight routines about every 8 weeks anyway. Go to the library and copy some pages to file at home. Somebody said, look on the net. I loved Body For Life - that web page is awesome. Amazon.com has many many books in used state and low price, great stuff for about 5-10 dollars a crack.
You are doing great - keep on trying new things and working hard when possible in your exercise program. But most of all, work on being consistent at moving every day. Good job!
There are tons of exercises that you can do that don't involve weights of any kind...just your body weight. One example of people who have great physiques but don't pick up dumbbells are gymnasts...they use their body weight as resistance.
There are many variations on push-ups, situps, crunches, and squats that can challenge your muscles even more than the standard exercises alone. A website that I constantly look at for new exercises is Women's Health and Men's Health (more for myself and other men). They have links for exercises that walk you through every step of the exercises so that you don't do them wrong.
You could also try increasing the intensity on the treadmill a little bit since your body has improved it's conditioning. People who study exercise and fitness have found that low intensity and longer periods of exercise burn the most fat...You could try maybe going at the same speed and increasing your time on the treadmill to 45 minutes or an hour. Just make sure that you are going at a good pace (able to hold a conversation while you're exercising).
Hope this little tidbit helps...keep it up!
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