Loose fat or focus on toning first?

massaoli

along with wanting to loose weight, I am not sure which I should do first; loose body fat or focus on toning. Just exercise and hope that both results will happen ?Any Advice? Thanks.

jemhh

Lose weight while doing resistance training in order to preserve muscle. I'm assuming that "toning" to you means achieving a look similar to Jennifer Aniston--in shape but not very much muscle and not lean enough for the muscle to be visible.

lorrpb

There doesn't need to be a choice. Do both. If you don't do strength training, you will lose both fat and muscle. Exercise will burn calories that will help you lose fat. Every little bit helps.

AllanMisner

Why not both? You can lose fat and maintain/gain muscle, if you manage your food and resistance training. Fat loss comes from what and how much you eat. Resistance training will help you with your overall body composition and help you build strength.

Allan Misner
NASM Certified Personal Trainer (Corrective Exercise Specialist, Fitness Nutrition Specialist)
Host of the 40+ Fitness Podcast

massaoli

Thanks

DianePK

From what I am aware, exercise is 30% of the weight loss equation, so it helps you lose weight faster but boosting your metabolism, building muscle. Muscle burns more calories than fat. So if you exercise while making healthier food choices, you will reach your goals faster.

AnvilHead

DianePK wrote: »

From what I am aware, exercise is 30% of the weight loss equation, so it helps you lose weight faster but boosting your metabolism, building muscle. Muscle burns more calories than fat. So if you exercise while making healthier food choices, you will reach your goals faster.

Truthfully, exercise is closer to about 5-10% of the equation. Muscle does burn more calories than fat, but the difference is only about 4 calories per pound of muscle (a pound of fat burns roughly 2 calories/day, a pound of muscle roughly 6/day). So even if you add 20 pounds of muscle (which is a huge addition!), it would burn about an extra 120 calories per day. On top of that, it's nearly impossible to build a significant amount of muscle while in a caloric deficit (losing weight) - maybe a couple pounds of newbie gains and a very slow recomp if the deficit is small, but nobody is going to be packing on muscle while simultaneously losing weight.

The bigger issue is that strength training helps preserve lean body mass while you're losing weight. Many people arrive at their goal weight and are disappointed to find that they still look soft and saggy. It's a condition often called "skinnyfat", the medical term being MONW (metabolically obese, normal weight). You're not overweight anymore, but you're still subject to experiencing medical/metabolic problems suffered by obese people because of a high bodyfat percentage.

It's a lot easier to preserve lean body mass than it is to build it back after you've lost it, and strength training (along with adequate protein intake) helps you do that. It's inevitable that some of the weight lost will be lean body mass, but strength training and adequate protein will make the ratio slant more toward a greater proportion of fat loss.

massaoli

Thanks, great advice.