Weightlifting for Weightloss

Gaining muscle is not all that it is about . I was pretty sceptical about it myself when I started in december but just after a month I got comments like, hey , lookin better. Which was really surprizing since I havent lost any weight, or barely 2 pounds if that. On comparing some photos I concluded that lifting DOES improve your general posture and fixes a few aestethics here and there although dont expect a lot until well down the line. Your muscles ARE going to get trained and shaped even if you dont loose/gain which is going to show either way, needless to say you will feel a lot more energetic along the day than you would do just by dieting. Along that many people prefer lifting to cardio because its more manly or whatever.

A more complicated answer would be to do lifting to prevent muscle loss in case you have a lot of fat to drop (60+ pounds? totally pulled out of nowhere number). I am not really qualified to get into specifics but from personal observation my bench press went from 45 to 120 pounds in 4 months and I lost about 20 during that time. Feeling and looking a lot better now. I find it hard to believe that it has been for nothing, or I lost a lot of muscle and other nonsense the internet keeps spreading.

You will have some lean body mass increase with resistance training of any type and specific neuromuscular adaptation even in a deficit but it will be a lot less than LBM gain than when bulking. The larger the deficit the smaller the possible gain.

However, the real reason to carry out resistance training in weight loss has various positive aspects -

1) minimize LBM loss - if you lose a little muscle then your metabolism goes down a little (at about 21 cals / lb lost / day more or less based on activity). It isn't much, but it can add up. You want to maintain LBM during weight loss.

2) non-linear loss - weight loss is, in general, in consistent. You'll have weeks that you don't follow well, you'll actually be in calorie excess. Small gains in muscle then will be a benefit.

3) hormonal and physiological balance - physical activity has other pluses such as bone retention, strength development, hormonal pluses that will help stay the course during weight loss and balance some of the hunger signaling and stress hormones.

4) fitness and capability - aside from weight loss, your goals might include the ability to do things. Resistance training is about that.

5) calorie burns - resistance training, while not as significant as other activities does provide some calorie burns. This can help slightly in weight loss.

If weight loss is your only concern, it isn't needed. If being healthy and active and being able to do stuff for a long time is a personal goal, resistance training of some sort should be part of your plan.

In short: resistance training isn't about losing weight, but in losing weight, resistance training helps retain muscle and provides other benefits.

Evgeni, that is one of the most helpful and concise explanations I have read for the benefits of weight-lifting whilst eating at a calorie deficit. Thank you.

The goal of lifting while in a deficit is not to build muscle but to maintain the muscle you currently have. Yes, if you are new to weight training, and you are using an intelligently designed program focusing on progression it is possible to see some "newbie gains" for a short time but those gains are short lived and before long you will be in the same boat as everyone else, only being able to lose fat while in a deficit. Your body doesn't care where it gets its energy, be it food, stored fat, or muscle. Lifting heavy, and eating plenty of protein, gives your body a reason to hold on to the muscle you have and use stored fat for energy. In the end the ratio of muscle to fat will be more because you are maintaining muscle and losing fat which will aid in fat loss because muscle requires an energy source to maintain itself where as fat does not, it's just there.