Whats better?

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  • love4fitnesslove4food_wechange
    love4fitnesslove4food_wechange Posts: 6,897 Member
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    No, you are skinny fat and don't look good if you are skinny fat and don't look good. Statistically doing nothing but cardio will lead to being skinny fat and not looking good.

    I know. I've heard that here before. And no one likes a skinny fat person who has lost 150 lbs and feels great about themselves. They're still not good enough.

    It doesn't matter what other people think, but it is common for people to end up skinny fat and not be happy with themselves, so people try to prevent that for them by telling them the best way to look their best when the fat is gone.

    exactly. so many posts about being "at goal" but having so much extra fat and what to do about it. That's why lifting should be implemented early on.
  • Big_Daddy6
    Big_Daddy6 Posts: 188
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    If you want to be a skinny fat person don't lift. If you want a lean muscular body then lift and eat at a deficit........just sayin.
  • Mummyadams
    Mummyadams Posts: 1,125 Member
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    DO NOT WAIT TO START STRENGTH TRAINING!!! Do it now!!
    Yep!
  • Tiff050709
    Tiff050709 Posts: 497 Member
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    I'm glad you asked because I wondered this to.

    I have a lot of weight to lose and I have been told that strength training right now wouldn't even be noticeable. So I have been eating between 1200-1400 calories a day and doing cardio every day. Still don't know if I should to strength or wait until I have lost a lot more.
  • Flixie00
    Flixie00 Posts: 1,195 Member
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    Do both, but give higher priority to the strength training, i.e. do it first. I started out doing just cardio and added strength training 7 months in, but I wish I had added it from the off.
  • gmallan
    gmallan Posts: 2,099 Member
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    It isn't about whether it's noticable now, it's about what you ultimately want. Say for example your goal weight is 150lbs. You can be 150lbs and 25% bf or 15% bf and will look and feel remarkably different (google some examples). If your goal is to be fit, healthy ANS strong (and why wouldn't it be?) then start lifting now. The numbers on the scale will probably go down slower so make sure you are not just relying on the scale. Take measurments and get an accurate measure of your body fat %. These numbers will go down much faster if you are lifting weights.

    At very least and perhaps as a starting point you should be doing body weight resistence exercises (push ups, pull ups, dips, squats, lunges, ab work...) 3 times a week. As previous posters have said, you could incorprate this into a circuit type workout. 1minute stength, 1 minute cardio so you feel you are still getting enough cardio and burning calories. At some point you should move on from this and start lifting weights.

    I'm a fairly recent convert to heavy lifting (1 month now) and the changes you see and feel in your body are incredible and so much more than what you get out of just cardio.

    Challange: try lifting heavy (for you) 3-4 times/week for a month and see how you feel. I guarantee if after a month of doing this everything will start to feel firmer and you will feel stronger and healthier
  • DesireeLovesOrganic
    DesireeLovesOrganic Posts: 456 Member
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    I am a cardio first fan because it comes off faster (for me) but I don't care if I am skinny fat. LOL I just want to look like I am from the 50s pre-processed food and laziness, not like I hung out at a gym all day. Okay, maybe yoga instructor-ish but not more muscles than that. LOL Do what YOUR preference is for yourself, who cares what everyone else does.
  • ixap
    ixap Posts: 675 Member
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    Is it better to lose weight first by doing tons of cardio and then strengh train when u reach your goal OR should you cardio/strengh at the same time to lose weight (even though the strengh training might slow weight loss down). YOUR input is highly IMPORTATNT! :)

    I think do cardio alone until you reach your goal, or are really close to it.... then do the strength training, lightly.... and when you have reached ur goal do heavy strength training....... thats just my opinion... :)

    As someone who followed this exact path, I'll be perfectly honest and say this was a very poor choice on my part, and I'd discourage this approach.

    I lost a lot more muscle than I thought possible, and it's been a real struggle trying to restart building muscle that I should have been retaining in the first place. I'm a lot lighter, but my body fat percentage (which is thankfully only a little bit high) didn't budge a bit.

    If I could turn time back a year, I'd have shoved myself off the elliptical and on the weight bench.

    Cardio is beautiful, but not generally as important as a good solid and proper-form weight regimen.

    Learn this the easy way by reading about what I did, or learn it the hard way by doing what I did.
    Same here -- I shed the 65 pregnancy pounds in 6 months with diet/cardio only (as it seemed to be the fastest) only to find that I was a size bigger than the last time I was at that weight and looked a whole lot worse. Strength training has been like a fountain of youth - I would have not wasted my first 6 months waiting to start strength training had I known!

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