30 days to lose…Cardio or Strength?

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ashleeei
ashleeei Posts: 35
in Fitness and Exercise
Hello All: Long story short I have been losing weight for the past year… I have 30 days before an important event in my life and I want to make this next month the best/healthiest month yet! 3 days ago I started Jillian Michaels: 30 Day Shred. After talking with a friend I decided maybe I should wait a month before starting 30DS so I can focus more on weight loss vs. strength…?? Any suggestions and what will help me burn the most fat/weight? Cardio or Strength? A mixture? I have an elliptical so I am wondering if I need to be using that a lot more… HELP!

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  • zericaaaaa
    zericaaaaa Posts: 313 Member
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    im not a weight loss guru, but I feel that cardio comes first when trying to lose weight. strength will help you tone so there will be minimal loose skin, so I'd say hit the elliptical and track and measure all your food and you should be good to go!
  • Timshel_
    Timshel_ Posts: 22,834 Member
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    To burn calories to add to your caloric deficit for weight loss, cardio is good for the short term. Long term you want to do both cardio and strength training.

    Just watch how low you go on calories, least you start feeling tired and crappy.
  • navyrigger46
    navyrigger46 Posts: 1,301 Member
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    I do almost no cardio, strength training is great for weight loss, cardio is great for cardio-vascular health, and unnecessary for weight loss.

    Rigger
  • jugar
    jugar Posts: 10,213 Member
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    I have to agree that strength training will cover everything - when you do your sets without too much time in between (or do super sets, or otherwise get your heart rate up), you get it all. Strength building burns calories and makes you feel fabulous! You will feel and look toned and strong in 30 days. Lift it up!
  • criticaltodd
    criticaltodd Posts: 86
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    Strength training, I think.
  • Stage14
    Stage14 Posts: 1,046 Member
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    If this big event is something like a weight loss competition at work, go with cardio. If it is something you want to look good for, start a heavy lifting program. It's much more effective for body recomposition, so while you lose more slowly, you get more visible change.

    By the way, 30DS is cardio. It has a strength component, but it isn't really a strength program.
  • SKME2013
    SKME2013 Posts: 704 Member
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    I do almost no cardio, strength training is great for weight loss, cardio is great for cardio-vascular health, and unnecessary for weight loss.

    Rigger

    Why is cardio not good for losing weight? I thought you burn quite a few calories doing cardio which can only help if your goal is weightloss. (Obviously you should not eat them all back)

    Stef.
  • breakonthrough65
    breakonthrough65 Posts: 19 Member
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    "Why is cardio not good for losing weight? I thought you burn quite a few calories doing cardio which can only help if your goal is weightloss. (Obviously you should not eat them all back)

    Stef."

    Cardio is definitely good for weight loss. Strength training is good as well, if you have little to no rest in between sets, as someone already mentioned.
  • zzaped
    zzaped Posts: 17 Member
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    The more lean muscle you build the higher your metabolism becomes, abling you to burn more calories at rest.
    Strength training also has the benefit of 'toning' (I hate that terminology) as someone else mentioned, making you look better and "see" results quicker than a cardio-only program.

    In my experiance cardio leaves you looking skinny fat.
  • kdeaux1959
    kdeaux1959 Posts: 2,675 Member
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    IMHO, a mixture will do you the best.

    Cardio will help burn fat and increase caloric burn while weight training does burn at a level beyond the actual exercise and does have some caloric burn involved in it; also, by pushing protein and lifting heavy, you should help preserve your muscle mass and hence lose a higher percentage of the body weight loss from fat stores rather than muscle stores. The scale may not necessarily move as much but the inches should move better this way. Best wishes and I hope your significant event goes very well...
  • AshleyAnn9
    AshleyAnn9 Posts: 56
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    When I first started losing weight, I focused on cardio and then slowly I started to add strength training to my workouts. I then started to do an even amount of time for both. And now I love strength training. I do more of it than cardio.
  • kinmad4it
    kinmad4it Posts: 185 Member
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    It doesn't matter!
    The loss will come from a caloric deficit.

    Now if you want to know which is best for burning calories(not fat alone) I'd say a good mixture of both. Steady state cardio is obviously the easiest to actually log/track whereas strength training is extremely hard if not impossible as only you know how much effort you're putting in, how long your rest periods are, etc etc.

    Anyone saying cardio is pointless has obviously been a victim of the strength training guru brainwashing I see on here a lot. Lifting weights aint gonna dramatically improve your 5k time, no matter how many times that ridiculous mantra is repeated.

    30 days, a realistic goal is probably only 8 to 10 pounds at the very best anyway.
  • TiberiusClaudis
    TiberiusClaudis Posts: 423 Member
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    It doesn't matter!
    The loss will come from a caloric deficit.

    Now if you want to know which is best for burning calories(not fat alone) I'd say a good mixture of both. Steady state cardio is obviously the easiest to actually log/track whereas strength training is extremely hard if not impossible as only you know how much effort you're putting in, how long your rest periods are, etc etc.

    Anyone saying cardio is pointless has obviously been a victim of the strength training guru brainwashing I see on here a lot. Lifting weights aint gonna dramatically improve your 5k time, no matter how many times that ridiculous mantra is repeated.

    30 days, a realistic goal is probably only 8 to 10 pounds at the very best anyway.

    ^^^This. Mix it up. But diet is by far the most important thing when it comes to getting leaner.

    So pushing away from the table is by far the best exercise you can do to lose the tum tum. :tongue:
  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
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    Setting a time limit goal for weight loss is usually not a good thing. Personally I would recommend strength training with some "finisher" conditioning. You get strength and cardio and lots of bang for your buck.
  • ashleeei
    ashleeei Posts: 35
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    Thank you everyone, your feedback is very helpful!! I think I will just switch off and do a combination of both.. I have my diet pretty much on point and probably better then it ever has been this past 2 weeks and since changing to Strength for the first time ever I have seen the least weight loss I've had in a while and since my diet is on point I assumed it was the strength preventing me from seeing a loss on the scale. I do notice my clothes fitting looser still so it must be as you all say! Thank again everyone!!
  • lili61
    lili61 Posts: 231 Member
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    30DS is pretty much just cardio anyway. Personally I would focus on strength training.

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