Forgoing strength for a while?

I have read that strength training helps burn more fat then just cardio. I think you want to mix it up and have both but what i have read (recently on bodybuilding.com) that more muscles burn more fat. I personally do both with High Intensity Ciruit Training. I definitely wouldn't stop it completely.

No.

/thread

Leave the strength training alone and adjust your calorie deficit in your diet. I just don't see the logic of doing less of something that is SO beneficial.

I do best when I mix my strength and running, and I'm eating healthily and well.

Sadly, I don't think there is an quick way.

Maybe I should explain my logic a little more. First, I know that over the long term, being more muscular improves metabolism. That's why I'm not talking about cutting out strength training completely. It's too important.

BUT, conventional wisdom says that fat loss is about calorie deficit doesn't it? If that is the case, then doesn't it make more sense at this earlier stage when I have the most fat to lose, to periodically have periods of exercise that burn more calories (balanced carefully by my diet..ie. not starving myself, making sure I have adequate energy and so on.) and creating a larger deficit? I'm just working through this myself, trying to figure it out, so I could be completely bass-ackwards with it. Where is the logic flawed?

Honestly, you can just build the deficit into your diet. When you're talking purely about weight loss it isn't necessary to exercise at all...you just build the deficit into your diet. I think this is where a lot of people go wrong on this site...they have a 500 calorie per day deficit built into their diet and then they do a gazillion hours of cardio and create another 500-1000 calorie deficit and don't eat it back and ultimately end up netting well below their BMR.

My personal take is keep on keepin' on with the strength training...build the deficit into your diet....do at least 30 minutes of cardio (doesn't have to be all intense) 3-5 times per week for heart health and overall fitness.

You don't have to do huge volumes of strength training to maintain. I don't think stopping completely is a good idea. Resistance training enhances fat loss. You could do a few basic exercises, 3 heavy sets twice a week (or even 2) and still keep that part of your routine going without stopping completely.

I am a firm believer in the importance of strength training during weight loss, but I'm wondering if I should skip it, in favor of more cardio for a few months? I had lost about 60 pounds last year, hitting both the cardio and weights pretty hard, but then I quit altogether because I started to get overwhelmed and wasn't willing to make the adjustments. So I've put about 40 lbs back on, and have an excess of about 200 lbs. to lose. So I'm thinking about pulling back on the weights and hitting some extra cardio for the first month or two of getting back on track. Good idea? Bad idea?

I am thinking it will lower your RHR or metabolism, not a good idea if you are wanting to lose weight.

When you dropped 60 pounds, on average how much time per gym session were you spending on weights? On cardio?

What is your current diet like? Your TDEE? Do you have a specific deficit and macro split in mind and if so how often do you reach your daily calorie and macro goals?

How active are you during the day? Have you taken any steps to increase baseline activity levels (i.e. parking further away from the office, walking to the far bathroom, adjusting desk so you're standing rather than sitting, taking conference calls while pacing, etc)?

Losing weight and getting fit is simple (not easy, mind you, but simple) but it's never as simple as 'should I just do less X and more Y' if you don't have background information.

Edit to add: What is your current fitness level? Have you tested 1RMs at all, and if so what are they? What's your mile pace? Etc.

I am an older guy. I find that when I lift hard I am spent, somewhat, for the next few days and it impacts my cardio workouts. Cardio burns bunches more calories than strength training. Bunches and bunches. You're gonna try to tell me that muscling around a big body doing cardio isn't going to maintain muscle mass, and maybe even result in strengthening? You're gonna tell me that by lifting, while trying to lose weight and eat at a calorie deficit, you are going to gain muscle, enough to ramp up your resting metabolism appreciably?
Sounds like a stretch.
When I lift for an hour, MFP tells me I burn about 200 calories (less usually). When I run for an hour, MFP tells me I burn about 800 calories. The running burn adds up to about a pound of weight in four days, versus 15 days.

Well, I've been unemployed for the last year and a half. When I lost the 60 pounds I was eating Paleo, and did between an hour to an hour and a half of cardio 4 days a week, and between an hour and a half to 2 hours of weight training 2 days a week. I kept very close watch on my macros, 1rms, tdee, etc. Then we were thrown into a bit of a turmoil as the house we were living in was sold out from under us, and we were forced to quickly adjust our situation, and I let life in general knock me off my stride. That's been about 6 months now. Since then, I've started going back to school, most of which is done online, so I've been ridiculously sedentary. I don't have access to the weights and other equipment that I did before so I don't know what my maxes are. I'm equipped for body-weight, and up to 30 lb. dumbbell workouts as far as strength goes. My walking lap time is about 16 minutes/mile according to Endomondo. Once I can get back in the habit of exercising regularly, I'm going to start with Couch to 5 K. It was a big part of my cardio regimen before.

For resistance training:

Push - Pushups, Dips (if you can, Bench dips if you can't), Overhead Press (the 30s will get light quick, but you can fashion other things to use fairly easily), Flyes

Pull - Inverted Rows, DB Rows (again the 30s will get light quick, this one's harder to mock weight for, so think about going for volume), Reverse Flyes, Pullups (work up to them if you can't do them yet)

Legs - Air Squats, Bodyweight Calf Raises, Walk/Run Hills

I don't think you need to be doing 2+ hours of exercise to see results. Your diet is far more important to the scale and your waistline than how much you jog or lift. What I'd suggest doing is committing to 1 hour and 25 minutes per day of exercise, six days a week.
5 minute cardio warmum, 50 minutes resistance training, 30 minutes cardio.

For resistance training, do legs one day, then push, then pull, wash and repeat. 3-5 exercises each time and shoot to do more weight (if you're using weight) or more repetitions (if you can't increase weight) every time. Track your progress. As you get in better shape, the resistance portion should take less and less time as you'll have the gas tank to get through the workout without taking as much rest.

Long workouts are great, but especially if you're just starting out (or starting over) keeping it simple and fundamental is more useful in my opinion.

Start tracking calories and macros again, it's important.