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lesstjm
lesstjm Posts: 15 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I switched from cardio to weight lifting. Everything I read says weight lifting is better for losing weight.
When doing cardio the treadmill would tell you how many calories you burn. When I enter dumbell press it says zero calories.

How do I figure out calories burned lifting weights?

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  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    edited January 2020
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    "Everything I read says weight lifting is better for losing weight. "
    Sorry but you must be reading some seriously dumb articles!
    It's a great thing to do (especially when losing weight) but no it's not better - just different and with a far lower calorie burn. And if you are using this site as designed you shouldn't be boosting your weight loss through exercise so the effect should be entirely neutral.

    "When doing cardio the treadmill would tell you how many calories you burn. When I enter dumbell press it says zero calories. "
    That's because the strength part of the diary has no calorie functionality.

    "How do I figure out calories burned lifting weights?"
    You don't really - you just get a rough estimate by logging the entire duration of your workout in the Cardiovascular part of the diary - search for "strength training".

  • lesstjm
    lesstjm Posts: 15 Member
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    Thank you for you reply sijomial. I am new to this. The articles I read said if you lift weights your metabolism burns more for many more hours then if you do cardio.

    When I do cardio I am sweating like crazy and when I weigjt lift not so much. I am confused. Any advice on the best exercise for weight loss would be welcome.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    lesstjm wrote: »
    Thank you for you reply sijomial. I am new to this. The articles I read said if you lift weights your metabolism burns more for many more hours then if you do cardio.

    When I do cardio I am sweating like crazy and when I weigjt lift not so much. I am confused. Any advice on the best exercise for weight loss would be welcome.

    Neither results in weight loss - a sustained calorie deficit does that and that is primarily from eating the right amount of food, not what exercise you do for a few hours a week.

    Yes there is an afterburn (EPOC) effect from vigourous weight lifting - but it's a small percentage of a small initial calorie burn.
    And there's also an EPOC effect from vigourous cardio - a smaller percentage but of an initially larger exercise calorie burn.

    But remember you are supposed to be eating back your exercise calories, not adding them to the deficit you have already selected. The idea of exercise isn't to lose faster - it's to be fitter, stronger, healthier and that is the same whether you are losing, gaining or maintaining weight.

    PS - sweating means you are getting hot, it's not a great indicator of calorie burns or of training effectively.

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