Am I doing too much cardio?

What are your goals?

Just to tone up. Would like to get down to 150-160ish

Changed my lifestyle and lost 83 lbs since July 2024. Started back in the gym June 2025.

And no I'm not on Ozempic or any other that other crap

I do. I also rotate between machines and free weights, cable, landmine, etc

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Are you able to do this without holding onto the machine? That's a decent elevation.

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Hell no.

Then i'd lower the incline to the point you don't have to use the handles/railing for the entirety of the use. On the low end holding onto the treadmill reduces calories burned by 20-30% and i've seen some individual exampes show upwards of a 50% reduction.

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Then i'd lower the incline to the point you don't have to use the handles/railing for the entirety of the use. On the low end holding onto the treadmill reduces calories burned by 20-30% and i've seen some individual exampes show upwards of a 50% reduction.

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If I walked slower, I wouldn't have to hold on, but I usually fluctuate between 2.5-3 speed wishe

If that works, then lower speed. If you're going to be putting the time in ont he treadmill, no use cheating yourself out of your hard work from putting the machine to a level you have to assist yourself doing it. Whatever enables you to not have to hold onto the machine to support yourself.

ETA: my cardio routine I usually will do 10 minutes or so on the elliptical before a workout and then 20-30 minutes after the workout on the treadmill. Generally I only do around 10.5 incline and 3 speed, sometimes i'll bump incline up to 11-12.

Eh yes and no. There have been studies that have shown some better muscle growth if you do it after a workout. After you do weight training, your body is still going to be burning calories recovering from it, so it kind of helps boost your calories burned as your body will be working a little harder during the cardio. Another argument made is that you won't be as fatigued when doing the weight lifting, so that workout should be better and more intesnse.

Ultimately, for the majority of people, just find the option that means you will stick to it consistently, the rest really won't matter that much. I've tried it before and after workouts and both have had times where they worked better for me. When you get into the higher end physiques, yea maximizing every little gain you can matters a lot more, but to most people, they fall short because of lack of consistency, not because the didn't do something the 100% ideal way.

Does the Eliptical do any good versus stair stepper?

40s female here as well. Make sure you’re getting in resistance training as we start losing bone and muscle mass as our estrogen drops. That’ll be more important going forward than the cardio.