Whoa whoa whoa!! You can't burn fat via exercise????

mmapags

Those of us with limited time in order to create and maintain caloric deficit to lose weight will do so much quicker with cardio.

Sure that is true.

However, one has to ask themselves where is that weight coming from: fat or lean body mass? Many people say they want to lose weight but in reality they are actually looking to improve body composition (the ratio of fat to muscle) so they can look good (and get some functional day to day benefits such as increased strength but that is less common.)

The most efficient way of preserving LBM is resistance training. In fact if your calorie deficit becomes too steep which lots of cardio can contribute to then you will lose a much greater % of LBM to fat, particularly if protein intake is low.

That is why traditional fat loss routines are structured in the following order:

1) good diet (to create a suitable calorie deficit to strip fat)
2) resistance training / HIIT (to preserve muscle mass and maybe even increase it)
3) cardio (to ensure negative calorie balance but still allow you to eat more thereby increasing dietary adherence)

Cardio is usually treated as the wild card therefore in a fat loss routine generally.

Totally this! Very well put!

WendyTerry420

ACTUALLY...Eating at a deficit doesnt help you lose fat..it helps you lose weight. You can actually INCREASE your body fat while losing weight (not realistic but it is possible). Exercise is VITAL to building muscle. A healthy combo of weights and cardio will make sure you are building the muscle you need.

Exactly this ^^^^