Weight Lifting and LC'ing
 

Hi Everyone

I know this post is pretty much a repost, but I had some specific questions in regards to weight lifting and losing weight.

So I was at about 300 pounds in November and I'm now down to 259, I've been stuck at 257-259 for the last two weeks, and its mainly my fault (drinking to much with school starting back up!). Anyways, now that I'm starting to get used to my schedule and quitting the sauce, I should be able to fit in about an hour of working out at lunch, and I want to be as efficient as possible in my weight loss.

I've read a few things, that weight training is better for losing weight than cardio is... does anyone have any personal experiences trying both?

Ive read that your body cant be in the process of building muscle(anabolic) and burning fat at the same time(catabolic) - does this apply to low carb diets? I assume that in a normal low calorie diet you cant build mass because you dont have have enough food and calories from protein to actually sustain muscle growth?

My biggest concern is that I am going to be spinning my wheels and not moving in any direction trying to lose weight and gain muscle mass at the same time? Could you guys give me some ideas, or your struggles and what you discovered in the process?

Thanks!
Jon

It's probably more accurate to say that neither does beans for weight loss. I'm in the weight room religiously 4x a week, but losing weight is simply NOT a benefit of strength training.



Best advice is to stick to compound exercises targeting the larger muscle groups. Stick to a few basic exercises. I do most of my work with kettlebells and a pullup/dip station but if you have a weight bar and some plates I like a a heavy one-arm shoulder press then a full-body pull like a deadlift. That'll do ya! Shouldn't take more than about 20-25 minutes to start shaping up.

I really can't think of any class of people who obsess more about diet than gym-goers, whether they do weights or cardio. This right there tells me that excercise is not sufficient to keep weight down. My personal experience is that weight lifting makes weight loss difficult.

Without going into to a lot of detail: If you use weight training in an intense fashion such as heavy circuit training whereby you find yourself constantly out of breath but varying intensity then you can burn a lot of calories. It's the constant changing between intensive bursts and slowing down that is getting accepted as the ultimate calorie burner.

The ultimate cardio would be to train like a boxer. You can't beat them for all round fitness.

Also, you're body uses yet more calories when resting whilst rebuilding the muscle. But remember, you simply can't gain maximum muscle whilst losing maximum fat, there must be compromises.

You should check out the Body For Life thread in the Specific Exercise plan forum. While BFL proposes a low-fat, low calorie diet, a lot of low carbers do it as well.

I'm just now back to low-carbing, but will be continuing my workouts. Or rather, resuming them - great on my 20 min High Intensity Interval Cardio, but have been slack with weights lately. :D

The high intensity interval training (HIIT) is great for both cardio and weights. The cardio helps to put you in fat burning mode for hours, and weights build muscle, which burns calories just by existing, and sculpts you to truly change your body.

And that's as scientific as I get. You'll have to check it out for yourself!

Long story short: Yes, you can do both.

Are you just interested in losing weight or are you starting a fitness program you want to follow for the rest of your life?

Forget what is "best" and do what you enjoy. If you are a bodybuilder at heart, lift. If you are a distance runner at heart, run. If you want to beat the crap out of people, take up MMA.

If you don't love what you do, you'll never be consistent enough at your workouts for them to give you much benefit anyway.

The bottom line is that fat is lost in the kitchen. Fitness is built in the gym. Don't confuse the two goals. They are compatible, but different.

Yes. but remember: Strength training has carryover benefits to virtually all other aspects of your life. Carrying the laundry basket up the stairs, picking up a 40-pound kid, hitting a golf ball...

Strength training will change your life to a similar extent as low-carbing. Your whole world changes when you are strong.

Strength training will give you more lean mass, which in time will raise the amount of calories you burn. But it's not generally a significant fat burner in and of itself. For me, the reason to do strength training in conjunction with a low-carb fat loss plan is so that I look (and feel) lean when I hit my goal, not skinny. But I don't think it's accelerating my fat loss significantly... maybe a little.

Are you using weights and machines? My goal is the same as yours but I want to use my own body weight whilst incorporating a stretching plan. I'm trying to plan some well designed workouts to give me that all round feeling.

Found this great website: http://bodyweightculture.com

I seem to have pretty good success with lower reps....heavier weights. I typically do 5 sets of 5 reps. I seem to keep my strength and stamina even while in ketosis.

while i agree that weight loss is largely diet, i have to say that working out, be it cardio, weights, or a combinations of both, absolutely aids in weight loss.

i started losing more fat when i started lifting HEAVY weights. i started losing even MORE fat when i added in low intensity cardio. i know everyone is different, blah blah, but thats just my personal experience...theres no way i could have stepped onstage as lean as i was from just dieting.

thats an interesting conclusion you drew, but let me assure you, that is not why "we" obsess more over our diets.

my advice, do a little of both, cardio and lifting. is it hard to build mass on a lower calorie diet? yes. altho i found that since low carb diets are high in protein, i was able to build some.

dieting + putting in some quality time in the gym never equals spinning wheels, in my opinion. i found that being in the gym made me want to stick to my diet even more, since i was working so hard. valerie makes a good point, diet and fitness are compatible.

think of fat loss/body recomposition like a triangle: diet, cardio, strength training. for maximum results, its best to have all 3.

keep up the good work! :wave:

I've read in so many places that your goal should be fat loss first, then build muscle. That said, you can build **some** muscle while losing fat, just don't make the muscle building a priority over the fat loss. After all, you can have a 6 pack but if it's covered with fat, you won't see it. Since to lose fat you may be doing things that could compromise some of your muscle, it makes sense that you can't accomplish both at the same time. I guess when you are losing fat, you want to strengthen AND maintain the muscle you have.

Also...most bodybuilders, and that included Bill Phillips in Body for Life...they will tell you that fat loss is 80 to 85% diet.