Should I start lifting weights?

jonb_2921

SW: 453 lbs
CW: 444 lbs
GW: 200

I've been in a caloric deficit for a week and lost 9 lbs so far, feeling good. I’m unsure if I should start weight training now since I'm still too big and don’t want to injure myself.

My goal is to have a lean body with muscle definition while losing fat, because I don’t want to look scrawny while and after dropping a load of weight.

Should I wait to lose 50 lbs before starting, or should I begin now? I know adding muscle helps burn fat faster.

tomcustombuilder

You should always be lifting weights in a deficit

jonb_2921

tomcustombuilder wrote: »

You should always be lifting weights in a deficit

Do you recommend any weight lifting exercises for someone my size?

AnnPT77

Yes, lifting weights soon is a good idea.

Do you have any physical limitations or health issues, other than your weight itself? That might color what would be good.

A thing to know is that when we're overweight/obese, we tend to have more muscle than always-slim people of similar activity level, just from moving our larger bodies through the world. Starting strength training can at minimum help keep as much of that muscle as possible, by convincing our body that it's important body tissue that we need and use, not something the body wants to shed readily during the weight loss process.

Loss of some lean mass is likely, because there are specific bits we truly won't be needing. But strength training is that reminder to our body that we need our extra muscle.

I've seen no one here on MFP say they wish they'd waited to start strength training. I've seen quite a few people say they wish they'd started sooner, ideally immediately.

If you can afford a personal trainer, and can find one with good credentials (formal education and certifications, not just someone called a trainer at a low-cost chain gym), ideally one that's worked with other people during substantial weight loss, that would be ideal. If that's not achievable for you, there are other options.

Start now, soon: As long as you avoid injury, there really is no super-wrong thing to do, while you sort out what might be most beneficial.

Best wishes!

tomcustombuilder

jbeast20630 wrote: »

tomcustombuilder wrote: »

You should always be lifting weights in a deficit

Do you recommend any weight lifting exercises for someone my size?

. Basic compound exercises starting fairly light until you learn proper form..

Compound exercises are exercises that use more than one muscle group at a time things like squats deadlifts benchpress bent over rows. I would get a competent trainer.

At your size, you’re gonna automatically have quite a bit of muscle from lugging all that weight around. So the more of that muscle, you can keep the better and you do that through weight training you can run a pretty good size deficit also with all that fat to lose, that will feed your body when you’re in a calorie deficit.

trixsterjl31

Walk to success. Do what you can handle increase as you move up from there. Weight training is good too. Str training helps maintain muscle as you decrease weight. Dont listen to the nay say'rs that will say you might gain muscle mass. Even if that happens muscle gain increases deficit. Bottom line is do something start slow and build into it.
The scale will eventually stall. Dont let that stress you out. As long as you are in deficit you are losing weight.

Retroguy2000

In general, yes. Others have mentioned why. At this point your priority should probably be diet and general increasing of movement though. Maybe this channel will help. Dude has been on a similar journey to yourself. I've seen him a few times on Greg Doucette's channel. I think he's down about 200 pounds so far.

https://www.youtube.com/@brentlyg

tomcustombuilder

As an aside, there have been comments regarding adding muscle to burn more calories unfortunately an extra pound of muscle only burns around 6-8 calories a day at rest and slightly more during exercise so not much of a help fat burning wise.

Fat burns around 2 calories per lb so trading muscle for fat will burn around 5 extra calories per day per pound.

Retroguy2000

Yes, there are many reasons to be lifting, but hoping to burn significantly more calories just from having muscle isn't one of them.

ninerbuff

Lift to keep the muscle you already have and to improve your overall fitness. Eventually you'll get to a point where you may want to do more with lifting, and then build a much more specific program to the next goal you want to achieve. But LIFT NOW.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 40 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

nossmf

Depending on how your body mechanics are put together, certain compound moves may be harder than others due to limited range of motion. This probably applies more for lower-body exercises like squats and deadlifts, which require bending at the hips to bring the knees closer to the torso, and may not be an option if your thighs and belly cannot share the same space. (Note, some overweight people have zero problems with this.)

All that to say that if you find it hard to do a certain move due to size limitations, there are almost always variations you can try which accomplish much the same thing but may be easier. For example, squats can be replaced by leg press, at least until circumstances allow squats to join your routine.

tomcustombuilder

nossmf wrote: »

Depending on how your body mechanics are put together, certain compound moves may be harder than others due to limited range of motion. This probably applies more for lower-body exercises like squats and deadlifts, which require bending at the hips to bring the knees closer to the torso, and may not be an option if your thighs and belly cannot share the same space. (Note, some overweight people have zero problems with this.)

All that to say that if you find it hard to do a certain move due to size limitations, there are almost always variations you can try which accomplish much the same thing but may be easier. For example, squats can be replaced by leg press, at least until circumstances allow squats to join your routine.

This is where a competent trainer comes in if there are questions or concerns.

trixsterjl31

tomcustombuilder wrote: »

As an aside, there have been comments regarding adding muscle to burn more calories unfortunately an extra pound of muscle only burns around 6-8 calories a day at rest and slightly more during exercise so not much of a help fat burning wise.

Fat burns around 2 calories per lb so trading muscle for fat will burn around 5 extra calories per day per pound.

However, Muscle is notoriously hard to build compared to fat and if you are lucky enough to gain muscle mass without focusing no that there is noting but upsides to that. Arnold pushing the wheel of pain and becoming MR Universe is one of my favorite cinematic moments but a little lifting without focus is just going to add a little definition and str if anything.