I just started exercising at a gym which I go to every other day. I know that you have to exercise for thirty minutes before you start to burn fat, what I need to know is if I start on the recumbent bike for thirty minutes and do thirty minutes on the elliptical, is that a good thing?
The recumbent bike is very easy for me and it hardly seems like I'm working but I can keep my heart rate above 135 for thirty minutes without much difficulty. On the elliptical my heart rates goes up very fast and it's harder for me to maintain a high intensity workout for longer periods.
I also do some weight training every other day, after I get off the bikes, like leg lifts, arm presses, ab work, basically whatever machine is available when I get off one, something like circuit training. Does this sound like a good workout plan to lose weight? I seem to average burning about 3000 calories a week this way.
Another question I have is about sleeping. I work an overnight shift and have a hard time sleeping more than three to four hours at a time during the week. On the weekends I can sleep pretty much normally. Will this affect my weight loss and if so what can I do to offset the lack of sleep? I don't really feel especially tired, but I worry that this may be a problem as sleep is very important, and before I started working out I was tired all the time.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I just started exercising at a gym which I go to every other day. I know that you have to exercise for thirty minutes before you start to burn fat, what I need to know is if I start out on the recumbent bike for thirty minutes and do thirty minutes on the elliptical, is that a good thing?
The recumbent bike is very easy for me and it hardly seems like I'm working but I can keep my heart rate above 135 for thirty minutes without much difficulty. On the elliptical my heart rates goes up very fast and it's harder for me to maintain a high intensity workout for longer periods of time.
I also do some weight training every other day, after I get off the bikes, like leg lifts, arm presses, ab work, basically whatever machine is available when I get off one, something like curcuit training. Does this sound like a good workout plan to lose weight? I seem to average burning about 3000 calories a week this way.
Another question I have is about sleeping. I work an overnight shift and have a hard time sleeping more than three to four hours at a time during the week. On the weekends I can sleep pretty much normally. Will this affect my weight loss and if so what can I do to offset the lack of sleep? I don't really feel especially tired, but I worry that this may be a problem as sleep is very important, and before I started working out I was tired all the time.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
:) Sounds like you have a good program going, The recumbent bike and elliptical also good choices and it burns the same amount of calories with less effort, and stress on the joints. How about aerobics, can you work them in? Any form of exercise is good, walking the mall, as long as your moving your helping burn calories. (30-60 minutes 4-5 days a week) Sleep is necessary 3-4 hrs seems like a very short spell, and if you could up that number it would help, but I've worked nights also, and I know its extremely hard to unwind and relax, which is what you need to do before you can get restful sleep, maybe some meditation could help. Good nutrition is another key to complete the program, low fat, low sugar, low salt, if your diet is looking good - rich in grains, fruits veggies, it sounds like your on your way to success!! ;) .

To help me sleep, my doctor suggested a natural drug called Melatonin. It can be purchased at any drug store of Wal-Mart. It's cheap and it works with no side effects. Try it, the work out sounds like your on the right track.