Lifting weights or counting calories?

These are not mutually exclusive ideas OP.

Honestly, for someone with a little bit to lose or who is in a healthy weight range, probably lifting weights and body sculpting, along with diet improvements to increase protein and general nutrition is all they would need to get fit versus eating at a calorie deficit.

However, for someone with a lot to lose, both counting calories to maintain a deficit and exercising to help build lean body mass are valuable. When a person is very heavy, any exercise can help them build more lean body mass because moving their body IS weight lifting. I count calories and do cardio. I do not 'weight lift' on purpose unless you count my t'ai chi ball, which I don't because it's not very heavy.

However, in the past three months, I've dropped 24 lbs, but gained (based on my weight & measurements and the fat2fit military body fat calculator) 5 lbs of lean body mass. So, I'd argue that for clinically obese people, who maintain a calorie deficit and increase their activity, lifting weights is not necessary.

Although, I will not dispute that it may make the increase of lean body mass faster.

I mean, seriously, do you people not realize that the, "Eat at a deficit and then eat back your exercise calories" thing you advise is another way of saying what I'm saying? The numbers are the same either way, it's just that your way of phrasing it allows you to claim that weight loss has "nothing to do with exercise". The MFP gospel is so bizarre to me sometimes.

In your weight loss journey what helped you lose your weight counting calories or lifting ?

Weight loss - counting calories.

Except for many, if not most, the weight loss journey expands and includes health and fitness, at least to some degree.. For weight loss, calorie deficit remains the only thing that matters. For satiation, what you eat matters. For general health, what you eat matters. For creating a calorie deficit, aerobic exercise matters. For body composition, weight lifting matters.

Based on many accounts related here on the MFP fora, the key for success is finding a sustainable lifestyle that maintains a calorie deficit (or balance, if you're maintaining) which is accomplished by refining the individual set of choices of what we eat and how much, and if we exercise and how much.

Another observation - no matter how much useful information one will find in the fora (and books and articles), it takes time to find that balance. There may be false starts and failures. But if one stays focused, understands the underlying principles, and listens to one's own body, gradually one will find the balance that works for her.

Agreed!