Do you need to lift weights when you are very overweight?

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  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
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    Is your doctor the family doctor or a weight loss specialist?

    A medical professional who knows what shape your body is in will probably give you better advice than opinionated strangers.

    If you want generalities, studies show that a mix of both is best for weight loss. Other studies have shown that whatever you will stick with is best for you.

    Right now, if you do a squat, your legs are pushing around an extra 200lbs. After you lose 50lbs, you will only be able to squat with 50lbs if you have been working at it. Once you have lost 200lbs, most people would be pretty impressed if you were squatting with 200lbs.
  • darwinforyou
    darwinforyou Posts: 988 Member
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    LIFT!!!!!!! I'm an overweight girl and at the weight I am at right now - when I was this weight previously, I was a size 18, same weight now I am a size 12-14. Weight lifting has done more for my body than cardio has....though I also do cardio 3x a week! But my goals are around lifting more than they are cardio -

    Just pay attention to what you eat - I don't focus on low carb but I make sure I eat enough protein for my lean body mass.

    As an overweight girl too, lifting has done more for my own self esteem than actual cardio has.....
  • serenapitala
    serenapitala Posts: 441 Member
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    calorie deficit leads to weight loss. You can do that with diet alone, or diet and exercise. If you chose exercise, cadio and strength training affect the body differently, but both burn cals and will help you get into a deficit if that's your goal.

    ↑↑This↑↑
    I've lost 50+ lbs with no weight training (unless you count doing workouts while carrying a 20 month old :wink: ), but I'm planning on starting next week (I'm healing from an injury). I have another 40-50 lbs to go.
  • nikki_zav
    nikki_zav Posts: 320 Member
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    Absolutely!! If you have not worked out or done other cardio in general for a while, your muscles are used to doing what you have done to get to the weight you are. Like it's often said, start slow and build up so you do not risk injuring yourself. Lifting weights or doing other 'muscle building' exercises will get your muscles conditioned to being active, building strength all around your body, and supporting you to be more effective at cardio. Plus, the more muscle you have, the more energy it takes for you to basically function every day. This essentially equals an auto-boost in metabolism.
  • fishgutzy
    fishgutzy Posts: 2,807 Member
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    Combine cardio and lifting by not resting between sets while lifting. I rotate through 2 to 4 different lifts at a time with at most a 10 second stop between. Get my heart rate up nicely.
  • Guamybear
    Guamybear Posts: 1,061 Member
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    Weights are definitely needed... some say more than cardio.. I think they go hand in hand in the beginning when you want to lose weight.

    Building muscle helps burn more calories even after your done lifting. Start with light weights and when those are no longer a challenge next weight up..You won't get bulky, just stronger.
  • Imasummerbug
    Imasummerbug Posts: 6 Member
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    One of my trainers told me that at first if you are very overweight, your own body weight while doing the cardio works as your weight exercise. But later you need to add weights as your body slims down, since you are not carrying around as much.
  • FullOfWin
    FullOfWin Posts: 1,414 Member
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    One of my trainers told me that at first if you are very overweight, your own body weight while doing the cardio works as your weight exercise. But later you need to add weights as your body slims down, since you are not carrying around as much.

    Laughably incorrect
  • fastfoodietofitcutie
    fastfoodietofitcutie Posts: 523 Member
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    All good comments, thanks! I know I definitely need the cardio so I'm going to start with that 3x a week and maybe more if I can commit to that. Then maybe I'll get a trainer just for a few sessions so he/she can show me what weights to use.
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
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    One of my trainers told me that at first if you are very overweight, your own body weight while doing the cardio works as your weight exercise. But later you need to add weights as your body slims down, since you are not carrying around as much.

    To get the benefits of strength training, you need progressive overload resistance. Since your body already supports itself moving around, your cardio will not give you that with bodyweight alone. You would have to do bodyweight strenght training exercises like pushups, squats, dips, etc to get strength training from your own bodyweight.
  • ohmyheck
    ohmyheck Posts: 13
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    I think you need a little resistance training with weights. Why? To build muscles which will help you burn fat! I say some weight training is definitely needed!! Cardio is great, but remember to mix it up & don't do the same thing over & over again!
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
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    One of my trainers told me that at first if you are very overweight, your own body weight while doing the cardio works as your weight exercise. But later you need to add weights as your body slims down, since you are not carrying around as much.

    Laughably incorrect

    More than weight, it is about what shape you are in. My shoulders got really weak while I did nothing the last few months, so cardio exercises that involve my arms at shoulder height or higher are building my strength in that area. No matter how many times you pump your arms up and down, I don't think cardio is ever going to build more arm strength.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,326 Member
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    yes. if only to preserve as much lean body mass as you can while you lose.

    also the body weight exercises can be great depending on your strength levels. but once you can do those things you need to make them harder. IMO that's more efficient to do with free weights
  • RLDeShazo
    RLDeShazo Posts: 356 Member
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    All good comments, thanks! I know I definitely need the cardio so I'm going to start with that 3x a week and maybe more if I can commit to that. Then maybe I'll get a trainer just for a few sessions so he/she can show me what weights to use.

    I have about 200 pounds to lose as well. I include a little bit of strength training with my cardio, when I have time. I've noticed an improvement in my posture and how I carry myself. Plus, it gives you another non-scale goal to work towards. So, when the scale is being mean to me, I can focus on my inches lost, or on my increased distance on the treadmill, or that I can now move the weight setting down another notch on the machines. :)
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
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    I didn't read every comment in this thread so forgive me if I'm being repetitive, but there's fat-burning hormonal advantages to weight lifting that you don't get nearly as much of doing cardio. For that reason, and preserving muscle mass, it's highly advantageous to start now.
  • Yogi_Carl
    Yogi_Carl Posts: 1,906 Member
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    Would you get the same fat-burning hormonal advantages doing bodyweight resistance movements if the intensity of each exercise was such that you are working to strength reps; i.e. 5 - 12 repetitions?

    Bodyweight routines are my choice for strength work and I feel the right level of soreness after a workout and would like to think I am generating a similar metabolic effect on my musculature as I would lifting. I have certainly seen strength gains and a steady drop in body fat.
  • notthatthis
    notthatthis Posts: 218
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    Alactic system of burning fuel in the body
    Anaerobic system of burning fuel in the body
    Aerobic system of burning fuel in the body

    Exercises that match the way to burn fuel

    Muscle fibers contained in the body and how they are best exercised and fuelled - Type 1 and Type II (argue over a and b later)

    So, if you research those factors you will only conclude that to aid your weight loss you must do not just aerobic and weight lifting you must make sure that the weight lifted is HEAVY/low reps, Medium/Medium Reps and Light/high reps and cardio should be done at at least 65%-75% of your maximum heart rate.

    Or as a trainer, who has been in the business for 40 years, said to their new client looking for weight loss. Cardio burns fat (in lay terms, plus all the other benefits for heart, lungs etc.) and weight training burns inches (body recomposition)

    So, cardio burns fat, weights burn inches.
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
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    Would you get the same fat-burning hormonal advantages doing bodyweight resistance movements if the intensity of each exercise was such that you are working to strength reps; i.e. 5 - 12 repetitions?

    Bodyweight routines are my choice for strength work and I feel the right level of soreness after a workout and would like to think I am generating a similar metabolic effect on my musculature as I would lifting. I have certainly seen strength gains and a steady drop in body fat.

    Yeah, for sure. It doesn't matter if your resistance comes from iron or your own body, but it's going to be hard to get a 12-rep max set for very long on, for example, your quads and glutes without weight, and those are big groups to neglect. Pushups have almost endless variations to make it harder but there's a limit to what you can do with bodyweight squats.

    If you are starting out very unfit or very overweight, however, you will get some good mileage out of them.

    Edit: I take back what I said about bodyweight squats. I just remembered pistol squats.
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
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    Nobody NEEDS to lift weights, or brush their teeth, or bathe for that matter.
    But it's very, very good for you to do so.
    There's no reason to delay. Start last Thursday.
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
    Options
    Alactic system of burning fuel in the body
    Anaerobic system of burning fuel in the body
    Aerobic system of burning fuel in the body

    Exercises that match the way to burn fuel

    Muscle fibers contained in the body and how they are best exercised and fuelled - Type 1 and Type II (argue over a and b later)

    So, if you research those factors you will only conclude that to aid your weight loss you must do not just aerobic and weight lifting you must make sure that the weight lifted is HEAVY/low reps, Medium/Medium Reps and Light/high reps and cardio should be done at at least 65%-75% of your maximum heart rate.

    Or as a trainer, who has been in the business for 40 years, said to their new client looking for weight loss. Cardio burns fat (in lay terms, plus all the other benefits for heart, lungs etc.) and weight training burns inches (body recomposition)

    So, cardio burns fat, weights burn inches.

    What?

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