Heavy vs. Light lifting

chelseayadron

Hello! I’ve been using kettlebells for the last few months since I had my baby. I use them for HIIT and tabata workouts. I’m wondering if weight loss will be accelerated if I use a heavier kettlebell instead of a lighter one?

GottaBurnEmAll

Weight lifting doesn't really burn that many calories if you're looking at it to impact weight loss in that regard. Your weight loss efforts should really be focused on creating a calorie deficit through accurate tracking of your food intake.

In terms of what strength training is supposed to do? Heavier, progressive lifting is usually better, but people can have good results with lighter weights if they're limited from lifting heavy for some reason.

pierinifitness

KB practitioner here. KB load and duration all enter into the intensity of your workout and calories expended. I personally find workouts 15 to 20 minutes with work time far exceeding recovery time to be best with a KB load taking that into account so at the end of the workout, you’ve had a very challenging workout. Spend another 30 minutes doing some brisk walking or something equivalent.

KB workouts will contribute nicely to your fitness and weight loss goals.

Good luck and be safe.

h7463

Hi! If the workouts feel less intense to you, you could probably raise the weights. I start raising weights on the HIIT exercises, that I can control best, not on all exercises at the same time. Protect yourself from injury.
While lifting by itself burns less calories than HIIT workouts, shorter (or no) rest periods and a lot of movements thrown in with the weights, makes a very efficient strategy.
Check out Ashley Conrad's Clutch Cut on Bodybuilding.com. It's one of the few workouts that they have not locked up behind a subscription. There are videos in which she explains her approach. She doesn't use fancy lifting or machines, but also a whole lot of high intensity bodyweight training.
Best of luck!