Weight lifting, cardio or Pilates?

I'm out of shape and want to start exercising. I'm in school and working, so I've decided that I want to work out 3 days a week for 30-45 minutes at a time. If I do more, I'll burn out.

I want to lose about fifty pounds. But more important than losing weight, I want my body to be healthy and to try to reduce or reverse some of the damage I've done to my body. Meaning, I'm not going for a ripped body; I want to feel good and be healthy.

Given my time constraints and goals, should I go with cardio (like bike or elliptical), weight lifting, or Pilates? I've done them all in the past and found drawbacks and advantages to each. I'd really appreciate some of your wisdom on this one....thanks.
 
If you're out of practice, pilates is good for foundations. It's one of the better ways to start out training, in my opinion. But once you've done it for a few weeks, you know how to move properly during training, at which point I would recommend progressing to weight training and a little bit of cardio.

Based on your time constraints, I think 30 min of resistance training 3x a week would suit you well, and then do 15 min cardio at the end of the session if you have time remaining.
 
The answer to the question is.....

All of them.

Do Pilataes one day, cardio another, weights another. See how it goes, as you become better at one thing maybe you can practace at home first thing in the morning: eg Pilataes or a quick jog after breakfast (or before if your one of those emtpy stomach workers) then do your weights or whatever you missed out in the day as normal.

I'd say 3 cardio sessions minimum but try to work some weights into that. Whatever time you do have, split it 60-40 with cardio to weights. Try to get some advice on what weights are best but cardio is going to help your calorie burn more then weights in the short term.
Pilataes is good as it teaches you posture and whatever you do, posture can make or break the usefulness of an exercise.
 
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