Losing Weight and Lifting...Lot's of Questions...

cricket_77
cricket_77 Posts: 165 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I’ll be finishing up Insanity in about a month and I want to move on to lifting. I’m not new to lifting..I know correct form, lift heavy, etc. It’s just been a while since I have done it. Anyway, I have a lot of questions….

Can someone please explain to me the concept of losing weight with lifting? I’m eating in a deficit, so I “shouldn’t” be putting on muscle. Or am I wrong and would I still be considered a newbie since I haven’t lifted in a while? I have been watching my diet and doing cardio since January (running and started Insanity in Feb).

When you lift, do you burn more calories than doing high intensity cardio? I’m assuming the toning comes from losing fat and being able to see the muscles beneath rather than actually building muscle.

I have been looking at Strong Lifts or possibly NROL4W. If I am eating in a deficit and not gaining muscle, how do I get stronger? Don’t the muscles have to grow to get stronger?

Replies

  • DostThouEven
    DostThouEven Posts: 148
    You may gain a very small amount of size. It will mostly be from fluid and nutrient retention.

    I doubt you burn more calories lifting vs HIIT, but you preserve muscle.

    Yes "toning" is really growing muscle and losing fat.

    You will gain some strength from training your Central Nervous System. Eventually your strength gain will stall until you can eat more.
  • cricket_77
    cricket_77 Posts: 165 Member
    So wouldn't it be better for losing weight if I ate enough protein to retain my muscle and did more high intensity cardio to burn more calories? I guess I don't get why everyone says lift heavy to lose weight. Which way will get me there faster? Or is it more of time spent doing cardio versus time spent lifting?
  • toffee2013
    toffee2013 Posts: 344 Member
    bump
  • Will_Thrust_For_Candy
    Will_Thrust_For_Candy Posts: 6,109 Member
    There is a difference between building strength and building muscle. When you build strength your body is capable of say, lifting more next month than you can today, for example. By building muscle, you would literally be training to actually increase your muscle mass. To do this you need to eat at a caloric surplus in addition to weight training. Because it's been a while since you have lifted you *might* see some "newbie gains" but it is honestly quite short lived.

    You will not burn more calories lifting weights than you will HIIT, however the weight training will increase your metabolism which leads to burning more calories over the course of a day, or when you are resting. You can still most certainly lose fat with programs like Stronglifts or NROLW however it is a much slower process than what you are used to with something like Insanity. It's possible you will see the scale go up and measurements go down which if you have consistently been losing every week can be a tough wall to hit. Recomp is a very slow process that takes a lot of patience but it's so worth it :)

    To be honest it really depends on what your goals are in relation to what sort of workout you want to do!

    I am currently in my second cycle of SL and I love it! I do light cardio and yoga on non-lifting days and I really haven't felt better about my body!
  • cricket_77
    cricket_77 Posts: 165 Member
    My goal is definately weight loss. I would like to lose about 15 lbs (currently I'm 5'7" and weigh 151).

    So maybe I should just stick with the high intensity cardio. Or do you guys think it would be better to maybe incorporate 3 days of lifting and maybe 3 days of cardio? And yes, I'm looking for which way would get me there faster!
  • Mads1997
    Mads1997 Posts: 1,494 Member
    So wouldn't it be better for losing weight if I ate enough protein to retain my muscle and did more high intensity cardio to burn more calories? I guess I don't get why everyone says lift heavy to lose weight. Which way will get me there faster? Or is it more of time spent doing cardio versus time spent lifting?

    I can tell you what happened to me.

    cardio only: Lost fat and muscle.
    Lifting only: Lost fat preserved all muscle.

    I am now incorporating both to see what happens over the next month.

    I saw better results doing just lifting, both on the scale and in inches.
  • mryak750
    mryak750 Posts: 198 Member
    Its good to think of what to do in the future..but I suggest you focus on what your doing now....put %100 effort into insanity and once you see your results, then move on to the next program

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