Is weight lifting 4 weight loss becoming the new Myth?

I don't know where to start. And I hope I don't get a ton of hate because these are just my thoughts and I feel so strongly about them because it comes just from common sense. But if you ever google weight training and fat loss or cardio and weight loss... You will see an over abundance of articles telling you that if you just lift weights & build muscle, you're going to magically watch fat fall off your body! Your metabolism will be so much better that you won't have to do anything else (except diet).

I'm not a biochemist but let's start with some common sense here. I think that this is very bad information. Cardio used to be the choice of exercise, weight lifting used to be bashed into the ground. Athletes were advised not to become too ''muscle bound'' or it would slow them down. Women were told to stay away from weights as far as possible. Now it's the exact opposite. If you do any search on google regarding cardio, you're going to run into a bunch of crap articles that basically hold up a CARDIO DANGER sign on ever page. What is up with this? Realistically people, who is doing too much cardio? Who even has time to do TOO much cardio? In 2014 aren't we supposed to be a little bit smarter than this? Who is perpetuating all these myths?

One thing you hear trainers say online is ''Cardio, Cardio, and more Cardio is not the answer to fat loss! It's a myth!'' Really? It's a myth? Since like 1980? I think it's more of the truth and that every single person on this planet is now getting brainwashed that they should do less cardio and move less in order to lose weight. It probably makes them feel better too, because they don't want to put in the time or they don't have the time.

Then we have all these gurus talking about how if you lift weights, it's the holy grail of weight loss. Really? Every single person is saying that in this day and age, just the same way that people used to sell you eating lots of carbs and NOW they sell you on eating nothing but protein! Well the protein myth I'm afraid to say is the same thing as this new weight lifting craze.

Let's talk about weight lifting. Many experts have established that a pound of muscle will not burn an extra 50 calories a day. It will burn 6 calories a day at rest! Even if it is burning more than 6 calories at rest, you have to realize that gaining any substantial muscle is not as easy as you think, no matter how hard you are lifting. And to make matters more interesting, it's even that much more difficult to build muscles while you're at a caloric deficit. And to make matters even MORE interesting, when you lose a lot of weight, your metabolism is going to slow considerably ANYWAYS regardless of how much weights you are lifting. So at best, you might be earning yourself a few extra calories a day from your hard earned muscle. This is why those few trainers will suggest to lose fat before building muscle. It's twice as hard to do two things at once.

I mean realistically how much better do you think your metabolism is running with your weight lifting? Unless you're burning hundreds and hundreds of more calories, then the only way weight lifting is going to work for getting results is if it is accompanied with diet/ and or exercise. And trainers already know this. So what makes weight lifting special metabolically if you're going to have to diet anyways, especially if you aren't exercising? Not to mention it's gonna be quite harder to put on substantial muscle mass while you're dieting, plus women can't put on pounds and pounds of muscle, maybe a few pounds at best.

Plus it's been established that weight lifting does not burns tons and tons of calories after you work out. Your body burns a certain amount of calories while it's repairing itself. There is nothing miraculous about the metabolic effects of weight lifting. I mean come on, let it go. For years weight lifting was thrown into the mud and now it's the holy grail of fat loss and cardio is thrown into the mud. Who is behind all of this?

And this may shock you, but people who claim to do tons of cardio and not lose weight, might not actually be doing ENOUGH cardio. Yea, 60 minutes of easy walking on the treadmill is not going to do very much, unless you are just starting!! How are they doing too much cardio when you have athletes training 5 hours a day at a high intensity? It just doesn't make any sense! You're not going to die from high cortisol if you run to your mailbox or walk around your block either! You think walking along the beach is actually going to harm you and make you fatter? That's what trainers are trying to tell you and we have to be smarter than that. This bad information is coming from somewhere.

All these myths that trainers are trying to expose (first of all are not hardly myths anymore since noone even believes them or follows) may actually be what you should be doing more of! The problem is people that need cardio will shy away because they think cardio is a myth and since it's not that realistic to put on a ton of muscle while n a caloric deficit, and even if you did, it's not going to burn many more calories, why are people falling for this? You think people with 30, 40, or even 100 pounds to lose need to put on tons of muscle mass in order for their metabolism to destroy the fat? Not going to happen. Someone who weighs 400 pounds already has a ton of muscle mass just from being alive and their metabolism is high just from being alive! Who made this up?

Is weight lifting severely overrated? I think it gets WAAYYY more credit than it deserves. This was not meant to bash weight lifting. I think that weight lifting has certain benefits but it's more of an accessory and humans are not UNHEALTHY because they don't pump iron enough, think about that. It's the same thing as you NEED MORE protein! No, you don't. Not really.