best exercise to lose weight
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JZygmunt72
Posts: 262 Member
Hey guys,
So to start off I'd like to say I know more muscle means more calories used feeding the muscles. and i know weight loss is in the kitchen.
to have a clear idea of how I work out, I try to do about 1 hour cardio a day, walking at a fast pace on the treadmill, or a bit of running mixed in. then I go to the weight room and either do arms, legs, etc
I have problem areas with my thighs and my stomach mostly, so Im trying to figure out if you guys know if cardio would be the answer to losing weight and if so what machines would work, if not, what should I do? Im scared that if I lift weights often enough, that I will get ripped. I understand muscle weighs more than fat does but its smaller in comparison.
I have about 50 lbs to lose and I would love to hear what you think about this
So to start off I'd like to say I know more muscle means more calories used feeding the muscles. and i know weight loss is in the kitchen.
to have a clear idea of how I work out, I try to do about 1 hour cardio a day, walking at a fast pace on the treadmill, or a bit of running mixed in. then I go to the weight room and either do arms, legs, etc
I have problem areas with my thighs and my stomach mostly, so Im trying to figure out if you guys know if cardio would be the answer to losing weight and if so what machines would work, if not, what should I do? Im scared that if I lift weights often enough, that I will get ripped. I understand muscle weighs more than fat does but its smaller in comparison.
I have about 50 lbs to lose and I would love to hear what you think about this
3
Replies
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Just don't lift heavy. Weight training is always good to do though. Cardio helps with weight loss, but diet is more important. Simply walking is a good start1
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robthephotog wrote: »Just don't lift heavy. Weight training is always good to do though. Cardio helps with weight loss, but diet is more important. Simply walking is a good start
would running be better? or maybe like the stair climber, or bike or what would you recommend0 -
As you said, weight loss happens in the kitchen. Do the activities you enjoy and that challenge you to improve. You most likely will not gain muscle by lifting (and any gains that do happen will be negligible), but it's still extremely important to maintaining muscle as you lose. A progressive, full-body program will be your best bet, and you can find something that works for you here: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you4
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It doesn't matter where your problem areas are, unless you're speaking in terms of muscle. You can't spot-reduce fat. You can only reduce overall, and the fat will come off where your genes say it will.
Resistance training helps ensure that when your body burns tissue for fuel, it burns fat and not muscle. That's why it's important, not because muscle is denser than fat. (No doubt some pedant will come on and tell you that 1 lb of fat weighs exactly the same as 1 lb of muscle, and that the truth is that muscle is denser than fat, totally ignoring that this is exactly what people mean when they say that muscle weighs more than fat. Not that I'm likely to head them off either, but...)
Cardio doesn't burn fat directly. Your muscles use a polysaccharide called glycogen for fuel, not fat; when your glycogen is depleted your body restores it using either food you've digested or energy it has stored in the form of fat or muscle. What cardio does is increase your caloric deficit overall, making it easier to lose weight by allowing you to eat more and still maintain a deficit. Without doing any exercise at all you can still lose weight simply by eating fewer calories than you burn. As long as we're in a deficit, our bodies will recover at least some glycogen from tissue, and the weight comes off.
There are other benefits to exercise though, including increased muscle tone and cardiovascular health, that make it worth doing regardless. Having said that, the cardio that burns the most calories in the shortest time is interval training. That's any cardio routine where you put out bursts of intense effort, followed by a brief rest, repeated over and over for a set time. It's easy to find interval training exercises with Google.
However, walking is just fine to start out with. You can take your time to work up to more intense workouts as you're able to handle them. Don't rush. That only leads to injury or frustration.
Don't worry about getting "ripped". That takes a lot of purposeful effort to achieve. It's a rare athlete who gets ripped by accident.8 -
I'm of the opinion that cycling is best for weight loss because a bike ride can start from home, it costs less than a gym membership, and it doesn't involve all that extra fat crashing down on your knees each time you take a step. And you can't argue with results. Even though there is such a thing, you don't see many fat cyclists. Perhaps that is because cycling burns so many calories. I frequently burn 2,000 calories between the time I leave the house and when I get home. Or maybe it is because cycling specific clothing is form fitting and shows every roll of fat. Whatever the case, you see a predominance of thin people on bicycle trails and in bicycle shops.2
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Realistically, exercise will only give you at most around 200 calories more per day and it tends to make you hungrier, so counting that in your deficit might not work so well. Additionally people tend to overestimate their calories burned (and those accelerometer based apps are pretty useless).
http://www.vox.com/2016/6/29/12051520/exercise-weight-loss-myth-burn-calories-video
If you want to lose 50 lbs, you have to create a calorie deficit through diet.
That said, exercise has other health benefits. Rather than focusing on the one that lets you burn the most calories, focus on the one that gives you the maximum overall health benefits for the minimum amount of effort. I personally like Zumba, dance games like Just Dance and DDR. but otherwise I just walk my dog. For "serious" exercise, I swim laps and do Reformer Pilates. I only swim laps 1-2x per week.
If I swim too hard beyond where my body is most efficient I find I get really hungry and also get sugar cravings, which end up blowing my deficit even if I factor in the extra calories. Because there's an upper limit to how many calories you can burn from exercise per day, there's no advantage to pushing yourself beyond that. In fact, pushing yourself beyond that is disadvantageous because you're more likely to overeat to compensate.
To be fair, I injured my back during the first 3 months of my weight loss program and could barely move let alone exercise. I was still able to lose weight perfectly fine.
If you're looking for strength training, I recommend Reformer Pilates. It teaches you body awareness and focuses on isometric exercises that integrate whole body movement. I'd say it's way better than weight lifting because you learn how to move your body outside of just resistance training and it will reduce injury.2 -
Realistically, exercise will only give you at most around 200 calories more per day and it tends to make you hungrier, so counting that in your deficit might not work so well. Additionally people tend to overestimate their calories burned (and those accelerometer based apps are pretty useless).
http://www.vox.com/2016/6/29/12051520/exercise-weight-loss-myth-burn-calories-video
If you want to lose 50 lbs, you have to create a calorie deficit through diet.
That said, exercise has other health benefits. Rather than focusing on the one that lets you burn the most calories, focus on the one that gives you the maximum overall health benefits for the minimum amount of effort. I personally like Zumba, dance games like Just Dance and DDR. but otherwise I just walk my dog. For "serious" exercise, I swim laps and do Reformer Pilates.
If I swim too hard beyond where my body is most efficient I find I get really hungry and also get sugar cravings, which end up blowing my deficit even if I factor in the extra calories. Because there's an upper limit to how many calories you can burn from exercise per day, there's no advantage to pushing yourself beyond that. In fact, pushing yourself beyond that is disadvantageous because you're more likely to overeat to compensate.
To be fair, I injured my back during the first 3 months of my weight loss program and could barely move let alone exercise. I was still able to lose weight perfectly fine.
If you're looking for strength training, I recommend Reformer Pilates. It teaches you body awareness and focuses on isometric exercises that integrate whole body movement. I'd say it's way better than weight lifting because you learn how to move your body outside of just resistance training and it will reduce injury.
Even if you eat all of the additional calories you burn doing exercise, that lets you eat that much more and you're less likely to feel deprived. That alone will help with weight loss. But if you can add 200 calories to your deficit, that is significant. That's an additional 0.4 lbs of fat loss per week.
As for swimming hard giving you sugar cravings, that can be helped by consuming more carbs during your workout. The sugar cravings are your body's attempt to get you to give it what it needs to rebuild your glycogen stores. If you eat carbs during your workout then your glycogen won't be depleted as much and you won't want to eat as much after the workout.6 -
JZygmunt72 wrote: »Hey guys,
So to start off I'd like to say I know more muscle means more calories used feeding the muscles. and i know weight loss is in the kitchen.
to have a clear idea of how I work out, I try to do about 1 hour cardio a day, walking at a fast pace on the treadmill, or a bit of running mixed in. then I go to the weight room and either do arms, legs, etc
I have problem areas with my thighs and my stomach mostly, so Im trying to figure out if you guys know if cardio would be the answer to losing weight and if so what machines would work, if not, what should I do? Im scared that if I lift weights often enough, that I will get ripped. I understand muscle weighs more than fat does but its smaller in comparison.
I have about 50 lbs to lose and I would love to hear what you think about this
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TimothyFish wrote: »Even if you eat all of the additional calories you burn doing exercise, that lets you eat that much more and you're less likely to feel deprived. That alone will help with weight loss. But if you can add 200 calories to your deficit, that is significant. That's an additional 0.4 lbs of fat loss per week.
That's assuming you are doing that exercise everyday and that you are actually burning 200 calories doing that activity. The problem with counting that into your daily calorie targets is it's really easy to get wrong and blow your deficit. So it's less likely that you'd get .4 lbs of fat loss per week and more likely you'd see maybe .2. There's research on this, I'm not pulling this out of my *kitten*.
http://www.vox.com/2016/4/28/11518804/weight-loss-exercise-myth-burn-caloriesTimothyFish wrote: »As for swimming hard giving you sugar cravings, that can be helped by consuming more carbs during your workout. The sugar cravings are your body's attempt to get you to give it what it needs to rebuild your glycogen stores. If you eat carbs during your workout then your glycogen won't be depleted as much and you won't want to eat as much after the workout.
Glycogen supplementation primarily applies to extended activity like marathons. Unless someone is working out more than 90 minutes or doing a lot of training in a 24 hour period, a person's usual diet should provide them with sufficient glycogen repletion.
My post workout supplement, when I need it, is a homemade protein shake with 8 oz whole milk, 2 T homemade ovaltine mix (cocoa powder, powdered whole milk, barley malt), and a huge scoop of NOW whey protein. I pretty much know my deficit is gonna be shot that day if I have to drink it thought because it's close to 250 calories. But it does the trick. My other favorite is a Nong's Khao Man Gai (dk meat, skin on, with livers) - http://khaomangai.com/?portfolio=how-to-make-khao-man-gai.
Anyways we're all unique snowflakes so people need to find what works for them. If a lot of cardio and glycogen supplements works for your weight management program then awesome. It doesn't work for me, and I'm just suggesting to OP that 1 hour per day of cardio isn't necessary for weight loss and nowhere near as effective as calorie restriction.0 -
I think a woman would have to do some serious weightlifting plus the right nutrition (lots of calories) in order to get ripped. Why do women still think they are getting huge muscle mountains from lifting heavy weights especially when they eat at a calorie deficit?7
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JZygmunt72 wrote: »
I have problem areas with my thighs and my stomach mostly, so Im trying to figure out if you guys know if cardio would be the answer to losing weight and if so what machines would work, if not, what should I do? Im scared that if I lift weights often enough, that I will get ripped. I understand muscle weighs more than fat does but its smaller in comparison.
Lifting heavy, especially if you are eating in a deficit, will not make you bulky--most women simply don't have enough testosterone to grow muscles that quickly. (I'm not sure "ripped" is a bad thing.) Also, I think what you mean to say is that muscle is denser than fat.
Any exercise where you burn calories will help you lose weight (by increasing your deficit). Find something you enjoy doing, are willing to put the time and effort in, and you'll be good.
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Lifting weights is the best calorie burner your body continues to burn calories after lifting
Cardio you stop burning when you stop cardio
More muscle more calories your body burns you don't have to bulk out but research shows more muscle more cal burn and better body as toned
Scales sint won't show the true picture you can be 200 lbs size 14 with weights or 200 lbs size 20 without weights0 -
Being active is the best exercise:) You have a good foundation of fitness with your workout. Give yourself credit for that. Great advice above. The combination of HIIT cardio and weight lifting is transforming. Understand you will have no control of where your weight will come off as you lose weight. Does your gym have staff/trainers in your weight room? They should show you how to use the machines and advice for lifting. Best of luck to you!1
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The exercise that changed the shape of my body the most was lifting heavy weights (3 sets, 12-15 reps each)
So I do straight cardio 1 day (usually step aerobics because it's fun), cardio intervals 2 days (Tabata or Boot Camp), and lift heavy 2 days. Seems to do the trick. Good Luck!2 -
i don't think you understand how bloody difficult it is for women to get ripped, I assure you, it will not happen by accident, and without meaning it to. Do some lifting,do some cardio, mix it up, do some classes, go swimming....the best way to lose weight is to look forward to and enjoy working out, the moment it becomes a chore, or a duty, or something you feel forced to do, is when it starts going down hill0
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For a woman who is lifting weights, you will not get ripped without serious effort, you will just lose inches and "tone" up different areas.0
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JZygmunt72 wrote: »Im scared that if I lift weights often enough, that I will get ripped.
Are you also afraid that if you walk past a college you'll accidentally get a PhD?
Nobody gets ripped by accident. If it were that easy, literally every man on the planet would be ripped. It takes years of putting tremendous amounts of work into your workout and diet. You can't do 15 reps on the leg press and wake up the next morning with bulging muscles like you lived in a Spongebob Squarepants cartoon. If that's your objection to lifting weights, it's a completely irrational one.
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I think you might mean bulky rather than ripped?
Trust me, you're not going to get bulky. I've been lifting moderately heavy 2-3 times a week for a few years and am no where close to ripped or bulky. Take some measurements and you will see that as you lift weights while losing weights your biceps, etc., get smaller rather than larger.
To get ripped, you have to be at a very low body fat in addition to lifting weights, and this does not happen by accident.
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Larissa_NY wrote: »JZygmunt72 wrote: »Im scared that if I lift weights often enough, that I will get ripped.
Are you also afraid that if you walk past a college you'll accidentally get a PhD?
Nobody gets ripped by accident. If it were that easy, literally every man on the planet would be ripped. It takes years of putting tremendous amounts of work into your workout and diet. You can't do 15 reps on the leg press and wake up the next morning with bulging muscles like you lived in a Spongebob Squarepants cartoon. If that's your objection to lifting weights, it's a completely irrational one.
To be fair, getting bulky from lifting weights is not an uncommon fear for women and one I myself shared for many years. Let's not be hard on the OP for falling prey to this common myth.0 -
In the Exercise section, I selected the various exercises that I tend to do and entered the same time for each activity to compare results. I have knee problems and am not allowed to run so I was comparing the cross trainer (elliptical), a brisk walk uphill, a stationary bike and the rowing machine. The cross trainer supposedly burns more calories.1
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