How often/how much to weight train if I still have fat to lo

hello77kitty

I am still far from my weight goal, but I hear its good to weight train while losing. I have mostly been doing cardio so far. I decided to take a Les Mills Body Pump class last week and also lift heavier weights in the weight room. I gained 2 or 3lbs!!
It went back down now though. It just scared me for a moment. Anyway, so should I be going heavy? How often?

For example, last week I used 10lbs for bicep curls, tricep kickbacks. 25-30 plates for side dips(idk the name)For squats in body pump they give us 17.5 per side on the barbell for squats..then lighten for over head stuff. I am not sure how hard it should be for me, but I definitely felt like I should have added more weight for the body pump class. I am worried that I will add too much and have to stop lol

My usual week is around 1200 cals/day. I eat my exercise cals back if I am hungry. I usually go over on weekends..I do cardio 4-6 days a week. Usually for like an hour.

EricMurano

I'm doing the Stronglifts 5x5 programme which is for beginners. You do three compound exercises per workout and you workout three times a week. The strength training, I think, is essential to rebuild the lean tissue (muscle, bone etc) that the body chews up while you're losing fat.

Also the muscle you're going to gain in a week is going to weigh less than the fat you can lose in the same week (at this stage, anyway). You're not going to put on 3 pounds in a week

UponThisRock

"Lifting heavy" is typically defined as using a weight in which you cannot complete 8 reps. This doesn't sound like what you're doing, especially since you're pretty sure you could have done more.

A beginner usually benefits from at least 2x per week strength training, 3x is better. <---This is assuming you're on a program that's tailored toward getting the most results out of beginners, and I don't know anything about body pump, but it doesn't sound like you are.

hello77kitty

Uponthisrock, Body Pump is high reps/lighter weights. They also have a class called 24Lift I am thinking of trying. It sounds like heavier weights from the description. Which do you think is more beneficial?

UponThisRock

Uponthisrock, Body Pump is high reps/lighter weights. They also have a class called 24Lift I am thinking of trying. It sounds like heavier weights from the description. Which do you think is more beneficial?

High reps/light weight burns more calories, heavier weights maintains or improves strength and maintains lean mass, so more of what you lose is fat instead of muscle.

Which is more beneficial depends on your goals. Personally, I would rather lift heavy and hold on to more muscle mass. The difference in calorie burn (which isn't that big anyway) can be made up by simply eating a little less.

carrie_eggo

2-3 times per week is great. You will learn what you like as you go. I would recommend eating a little more than 1200 calories a day if you are training (strength + cardio) that much.

mystiedragonfly

I go to the gym 5 days a week. I lift on 3 of those days (yes, I lift heavy) and cardio on all of them. I then do some form of low cardio outside the gym one my "days off".

If you still have a lot of fat to burn (like me), but are wanting to start lifting, ONLY weigh yourself ONCE A MONTH!. Also, buy a measuring tape used for sewing and measure yourself when you weigh yourself.The reason being, if you burn a pound of fat, but build a pound of muscle, the scale will not show a changed number where the measuring tape will.

I have only lost about 30 pounds since I have started working out (years ago), BUT, have lost 10 pant sizes.

mideon_696

lift now. weight lifting can be better for fat loss than any form of cardio.