For me, *this* is why WEIGHTS over CARDIO is KEY!

LishLash79

To reinforce what OP said.

All you need to get into shape is an idea of your calorie intake vs the amount of cals u need to maintain your weight. You make sure you choose healthy foods and make sure not a lot of your choices are processed, and you will lose weight consistantly without cardio. The other part of the diet is if you handle only drinking water except maybe a day or two on the weekends, if will help tremendously. The amount of calores you cut out by drinking only water is actually insane. The thing is though, some people might say, 'well how come I can't drink diet soda/beverages since it has low/no cals?' Well diet drinks for some reason or another (probably the artificial sweeteners and other crap in it) it causes water retention, meaning bloating. It also is thought to cause an insulin release. Now you are probably saying why would it do that if there is no sugar in it. Well our bodies being simple yet complicated, when we taste something sweet, the body is thought to release insulin based off just that. So that's why water is the best. It's not so much the diet drink as it is what you are going to eat/drink after the insulin release.

As far as 'exercise'. Lift weights, period, no excuses. The more LBM you have (Lean Body Mass aka Muscle) the more calories you will burn during periods of inactivity. If you are a woman and your fear is that you don't want to look like a man, you won't because the transformation from going to what you look like now if you aren't lifting weights, to the extreme of looking masculine, would take a lot of time, and in a large part of the scenarios where the women you see look 'manly', they are taking steroids as well. Just like how hard it can be to do a transformation by losing weight, you won't gain muscle over night either. Actually, for someone who has been weight training for more than a year, it is impossible to put on more than 1lb of muscle a month (the figure is actually less) unless you take steroids. You make most of your gains (put on the most LBM aka Muscle) in the first year of lifting weights.

As far as cardio goes. well, cardio is a slippery slope for most people. For most people who want to get in shape, and fail along the way for no other reason then they arent satisfied with the results they got from the amount of effort they put in, they are likely switching their food sources, and eating healthier, but are doing minimal weight training, and a lot/some cardio. People think the secret to getting into shape fast is watching what you eat and doing cardio. While yes that will work for a while, you will drop weight, and look better. Most of these people didn't take the time to figure out how many calories they need to be eating in order to lose weight while preserving muscle. This is where cardio can be detrimental to your goals. Cardio is going to create a larger deficit in your calories ingested vs calories expended. But, when we are hungry, as humans, we have a tendency to eat. If you are already not tracking how much you should be eating, you are more then likely eating way too little, and then you do cardio, you are going to impulsively eat when you are done, or a few hrs later. Then should you have eaten your final meal for the day after you did cardio, but haven't eaten enough, you will more than likely end up eating again. If you eat again and it happens to be sometime late at night right before you go to bed, or wake up in the middle of the night hungry, you will probably eat a really unhealthy snack which has a lot of carbs in it. So in the end, you did the cardio for nothing as far as weight loss goes. In the long run, cardio is detrimental unless you figure out your calorie intake because you will end up burning muscle. We want to preserve as much muscle as possible, because that is the biggest part about looking in shape, and burning calories when you are inactive/sleeping. So don't make cardio your primary form of exercise unless you have to ie heart problems or understand your calorie intake and macronutrients


I guess I should add that I lost 45lbs without doing any cardio.

awesome.. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

LishLash79

I love lifting also and have seen so many amazing results.. love it.

congrats.. you look awesome.. I wish more people really and truly understood how much weight lifting could help them.. I see too many women doing cardio and more cardio only day in and day out.. with min results. ;(

StacyReneO

Way to go - you look incredible!

BeautifulScarsWECHANGED

WOW!!!!! :drinker:

TXBlonde81

Wow! I have fallen into the bad habit of cardio only to burn off the extra pounds I gained on vacation but I think I better start adding in some weights.

darkestdayz

Very nicely done! Getting close to switching from losing to recomp. Just changed my training routine to reflect that.

Graceious1

Yes, as well as 3 hours a week of martial arts I am joining you with the weights thang too girl!

dnamouse

Awesomeness!

I've been reading up on lifting and bought the NROLFW and am planning on starting at the end of October when I've got it all right in my head (and got at least some of the equipment - can't get to a gym). You've inspired me to take some 'before' shots and get started. I think lifting combined with some running should be fun

Yeller_Sensation

OP: I do believe I have a raging grrl crush on you.

Beeps2011

kramalicious, I've done all sorts of cardio, including: jogging, walking (briskly), step-aerobics, biking, etc. Now that I'm down to only 1 x scheduled weekly cardio, it is a cardio-step-group-class (I *do* miss my friends, but I get to see them once per week!).

I still do "unscheduled" cardio from time-to-time - might be swimming, or walking outside, or basketball with the kids, or whatever....

m_johannes

Very impressive! Bumping for later reference.

RobinsEgg

BUMP - I am so impressed with your stats. My personal experience - I have been just doing squats for 3 months and I have totally transformed my butt and thighs - they were gigantic - huge *kitten* and "thunder thighs" and now they are down 3 clothing sizes - I'm a believer!

Beeps2011

I'm a "thunder thighs"/pear shape, myself - morphing into an "hourglass" as best I can!

I don't do a lot of squats, because I'm very quad-dominant....but, I've inserted weighted-glute-bridges and weighted-hip-thrusts into my regimen and they seem to (finally!) be working my lazy-firing-glutes!

MyFitGrlSwag

bump

gracetillman

Excellent testimonial for the use of weights!! I do both and notice more results overall than when I was just doing cardio.

Cre8veLifeR

You look fabulous! I'm with you sister -- weights is the wtg for me as well.

proudjmmom

This is amazing! Bump for future reference! I'm going to be starting weight lifting at the end of the month. Waiting to get to my goal weight then start the weight lifting.....this is very encouraging!

amyloudonlon

absolutely amazing!! im for weights all the way! and i personally love weights better than cardio, so win win x

fgenao

Wow!!!! you look awesome

kbeardmore22

What an inspiration you are to me! I just joined a gym this past summer before starting MFP in July and I've been doing free weights 3x a week. There is always such a debate over cardio vs. weights. You are living proof to me that I am not at all wasting my time doing the weights. Great job and you look amazing!!!

SezxyStef

and this is why I lift...transformations like this made me realize it was key...nothing wrong with cardio (cough) except that I hate it...but weights...do amazing amazing things.

rieann84

Love this thread and hoping that lifting does the same for me! My thighs/hips aren't particularly big but I definitely carry all my strength in my lower body. I carry all my fat pretty much in my midsection.

Off to lift right now actually and its deadlift dayyyy. I'm 25 lbs away from DLing my bodyweight woop. Feels good to have fitness goals like THAT instead of "I must lose x amount of weight by this day" type of goals.

fullofquirks

That is some fan-freaking-tastic progress!

This is why I'm sticking to my lifting routine even when I have to deload, even when I feel like I'm getting no where. I know it will get me to where I ultimately want to be.

CONGRATS!!!!!!!! You have worked hard and it shows!

Beeps2011

Thank you....the 'after' photo is actually coming off a 6-week (forced) lifting break. I was 4 sessions back into lifting when I snapped that puppy!

I do enjoy my 3 x weekly weight-lifting. I don't set PR's very often and I'm not lifting my bodyweight on ANY lifts, except the weighted glute bridges.

I'm hoping that I've finished bodyfat loss by end of 2013 and can start working on some other goals, in 2014, like unassisted pull-ups/chin-ups and the like.

It's good to have "goals"!

Kennesaw24

Awesome results! I'm 49, lifted weights in my 20s, stopped at some point, picked it up again three years ago (literally, haha), and again, have never felt better. Lately I have worked a lot of CrossFit exercises in and body weight exercises. The only cardio I do is hiking up Kennesaw Mountain here in the 'burbs of Atl a few times a week.

Everyone feels better when mama feels good, huh?!

prat27

Could not agree more. Every time I post my weight training exercise sessions on here I get "260 calories" vs. 520 (for 20 minutes less work) on the few days I do cardio. The reality is yes during that hour I burned 260 hours, but the recovery process of the body is what speeds the metab and burns more calories while you are not actually working out that don't get posted. Hidden advantage!

I only do cardio to give my heart some exercise and to stay in shape for 5K's and mud runs.

Great work!!

Lkkiser3

You look amazing!

For someone like me that has 100 lbs to lose, is it still best to focus mainly on weights? Or is it 50/50 until I lose most of my extra body fat?

Beeps2011

prat - yep, I keep up with SOME cardio because I have severe asthma and every little bit of "lung expansion" helps!

Lkkiser - the losing bodyfat thing is ALL related to "calories in v. calories out", imho - doesn't have anything to do with "exercise". Soooooo, to lose bodyfat, make sure you are eating to maintain (over the week, say....) a calorie-deficit. For me, "exercise" does 2 things:

1. relieves stress (manages stress); and
2. changes body shape - because I choose to do heavy-lifting to accomplish a change in body shape.

As a (former) cardio queen, I exercised ALL THE TIME and it didn't help my pear-shape AT ALL. And, I was "fluffy". Boooooo.

ayankeefan51

Wow. I wasn't sure how much progress I could have only using free weights but this is just the proof I needed. Thank you!

claireplum

A massive well done from me...this is a great success story! x