Best Combination of Cardio & Weight Lifting

Raddichio

I am 60 years old and recently started trying to introduce exercise into my week. I've been making slow progress, but can see some improvement. I've been trying to lift weights twice a week and do cardio (45-60 minutes) three times a week. When I can, I add a short burst of cardio (20-30 minutes) after the weight lifting. It's a challenge to fit it into my schedule, but I think I'm doing fairly well.

My main concern at this time is lowering my body fat percentage. I recently bought the Omron fat monitor and am appalled by how high a percentage of body fat I have. I've lost about 3/4 of my initial weight goal of 40 pounds (set by my doctor/insurance company), although I'm thinking of seeing how the next 10 pounds go and then maybe try to lose an additional 10 pounds.

Is this schedule (3 days cardio/2 days weight lifting) reasonable for my goals? Or should I have a different ratio of cardio and weight lifting. Right now, my weight lifting is going very slowly, as I've never lifted weights before and I'm trying to go slow and steady to make sure I get the lifts correct and don't injure myself. I'm only using 5 lb. dumbells, but I should be able to move up to 8 lbs. on many of the moves shortly, I believe.

Any advice you might have would be appreciated, keeping in mind that I'm trying to focus on lowering my total body fat at this time---althought weight loss is good, too.

Raddichio

Any ideas/suggestions?

kdiamond

Best way to lower body fat is through diet...I think the amount of exercise and what you are doing is great. Keep at it, but mainly, watch your diet!!

wookiemouse

I agree - diet is 75% of getting lean. You can lift all you want but you won't see those beautiful toned muscles until your diet cleans up.

Honestly - test out the 3x cardio/2x weights and see how your body responds. You should be able to tell in a month. I know people who see results with an hour of weights 3x a week and short cardios, but I saw my most results with your routine. High reps with low weights also produces different results than with lifting heavy with fewer reps. There really is no set rule - try a few variations and see what works best for you. You'll be developing muscle regardless.

Raddichio

Thanks for the responses. I'll keep with this schedule for now and see how it goes. I am watching my diet and eating at a deficit. I've lost weight every week, except for 2 when I maintained. Do your comments about the importance refer primarily to continuing to eat at a deficit? Or to WHAT I eat?

I'm not a 100% clean eater, but I do prepare most food from scratch and try to eat healthy foods that fulfill my nutritional needs. I have my macros for carbs, protein, and fat set at 40-30-30 respectively. I am almost always beneath 30% on the fats and often a bit over on the carbs and under on the protein. I don't eat a lot of sugar, but I do eat some. If I do have sugar, I eat real sugar, honey, or agave---don't care for sugar substitutes. Should that be sufficient to encourage loss of body fat as I continue to lose weight?