Work-out Equipment

I would invest in a jogging stroller that will hold up to 100lbs. They have one at Target for about 150.00. It has dual purpose for exercise and long travel trips when a 3 year old is done walking and usually can easily be sold when your done with it, less electronics to go wrong with it. Put on your gym shoes and start with a walk, jog and goal to do about 60 minutes a day, with a stop at a local park on the way home, while your child plays you do pull ups, leg raises, sit ups and stretches. Gets you both out of the house(yes it is cold right now but most days have been beautiful) shows your daughter the importance of exercise and how to do it economically and the outside word offers more resistances and challenges for your muscles so they will have to adapt and build and burn extra calories. If you have your heart set on something you can do more creative things with a treadmill.

I love both, but I personally think I get more results from the treadmill. Do you rollerblade? If so, you can burn even more calories. Before you purchase a treadmill, maybe try walking outside for 3-45 mins a day. If you can stick to it, a treadmill may be a good investment. If you lose interest quick, it will be worse with a treadmill. Outside the scenery changs with every step. Inside on a treadmilll you may have a blank wall or a TV with nothing good on.

Good for you. It is a big commitment and a lot of work but after a while
you will feel so much better and look great.
You can get some really good deals at Play It Again Sports. They sell
"gently used" equipment; all kinds.
You may even want to look into Tony Horton's Power90 workout CDs.
It is the prequel to P90X.

If you're more interested in your ditching your pooch than big weight loss, I would suggest pilates. Mari Windsor has a good series of DVDs you can do at home if classes are too expensive. It'll get your belly flat.

Couple of things you could try:
Loved loved loved Tony Horton's 10 Minute Trainer program. It's easily laid out for those of us busy moms who are either new to working out or don't have oodles of time to workout. You can either do 1, 2 or 3 10-minute workouts that are all pre-planned on the guide sheet (so you don't have to figure out what you're going to do today). It's essentially the prequel to the Power90, which is a prequel to P90X. After my second child, I had quite the belly to get rid of and I ended up flattening dramatically and losing nearly 15 pounds in 2 rounds of the 10-Minute Trainer. I have now moved on to P90X, gone through it twice and lost another 10-15 pounds (still 10 pounds from my goal, but I put on a LOT of weight in my second pregnancy!) and am now training for my very first 10K! I am NOT a runner, but after all of this work, I figured I needed a new challenge. Any of the Tony Horton products are available directly from www.beachbody.com (don't buy anything "new" from eBay since it's most likely a bootleg copy that is illegal and Beachbody is actively pursuing bootleggers and prosecuting to the fullest extents of the law).

As for machinery, I love my Precor elliptical. We got it from my MIL when she moved, but it is an amazingly quality piece of machinery. I also love my treadmill. It is a Trimline. We got it almost 8 years ago after the birth of my first and both my husband and I have logged miles and miles on the thing. It's still going strong.

A great place to check out, if you're looking for either new or used machinery is 2nd Wind Exercise Equipment. They fullly recondition gently used products and also sell new. Our treadmill and the elliptical both came from Chicago Home Fitness. Not exactly the most cost-efficient, but they have both paid for themselves many times over in the amount of time logged on them. The quality has been fantastic. I don't recommend getting products from a sporting goods store or department store since, yes, they may be cheaper...but you pay for what you get.

Good luck! The first step is to just do SOMETHING. And 10 minutes of SOMETHING is better than 10 minutes of NOTHING!!

Honestly the best thing to get rid of the pooch on your belly is to examine your nutrition and be very careful with it. Tosca Reno's Eat Clean Diet is a good place to start but it can be exceptionally restrictive for the beginner. The Biggest Loser series of books are great for the beginner as they are easy to read and understand yet don't require you to make such a big shift in what you are consuming. Having the body shape you want is 80% nutrition, 15% exercise and 5% genetics, so focus on your nutrition.

Adding the cardio to help is a great idea. Personally, I believe that yoga is a good 'finisher' to cardio and strength training. Steady state cardio with a few HIIT (high intensity interval training) sessions per week do a MUCH better job at torching the calories. Pick whichever one will motivate you to workout on a regular basis. The treadmill is good because of its flexibility: run, walk, change the incline, etc. The elliptical is good because it is a non-weight bearing exercise and will be easier on your joints in the long run.

before you fork over that much money try some exercise DVDs. we have an eliptical and it just took up space. i LOVE the moms into fitness DVDs- by lindsay brinn they are form moms so target the areas of the body that get screwed up with pregnancy, even if pregnancy was a few years ago :). a year after my daughter was born and i ignored the eliptical machine, i bought these and stuck with them b/c of fast results and the good interval format-it wasn't borning and combined weights and cardio. i started my second pregnancy 20 pounds lighter than my first. if you feel like you really must have a piece of expensive equipment, join freecycle, people are getting rid of them left and right. i agree that yoga has benefits, but it's not cardio and toning by a longshot.