Is weight lifting 4 weight loss becoming the new Myth?

If weight lifting is the magic answer, I'm totally screwed and will be fat forever. I absolutely loathe the idea of lifting weights. Oh, well.

No.

All that is need to lose weight is a caloric deficit.

You have been a member a month and suddenly your the expert. My advice is to get ofvthe internet and hit the road doing your cardio. Leave others to their own methods.:flowerforyou:

Um. Read his profile. He's lost more than 100lb. You... ?

That doesn't mean he did it the best/most efficient way. It means he found something that he could stick to, which is great, but maybe he could have been a lower BF% at this weight had he lifted the whole time.

Whenever one of the "regulars" gives advice to a newbie, you often hear "look at my ticker" or "it worked for me," with the implication being that their wisdom is self-evident.

When a poster mentions something counter to the "community," and someone else discusses his achievement, you get "oh, well he probably didn't lose it the right way."

I love this place.

I think a few people are being unnecessarily defensive and assuming the OP made an across the board assault on weight lifting. Especially some who said they didn't even read it.

I think the question the OP asked is a legitimate one. Is lifting for loss the new 'myth'? You don't need to be a fitness expert or a long time lifter or have a lot of weight loss to have your ear to the ground on this. In fact, those new to changes to diet and exercise may hear it more often as people are constantly trying to give them advice. And as somebody said the other day, come January all the beliefs will come flooding in.

And if there's one thing nearly everyone on MFP can agree on, its that there is a LOT of bad advice out there.

So as I read the question, and a few of the sentences, I heard your question. Is this the new rage in diet advice: lift and you'll be skinny? Fair question, allowing people to chime in whether or not they keep hearing this. But, OP, you lost me, and clearly many others, through the rest. Your question got lost and muddied in a long statement that lifting is not good for weight loss. Why ask one question if you're only going to answer a different question?

The problem with that analysis is that I don't know anyone saying "lift and you'll be skinny" or even "lift weight because it burns all teh caloriez!" For the OP to have a point that such a statement is a myth, people would have to actually be making such statements in the first place. I know a lot of people that advocate lifting weights as part of weight loss; I don't know anyone who distills it down to such a basic level as "lift and you'll be skinny" or "lift and you will lose weight." Rather, in pretty much every place I've seen people give advice to lift weights, they explain that weight lifting aids in achieving a favorable body composition while dieting (this is well known and not a myth) and some mention that it's nice to be strong and confident (two other nice side-effects of weight lifting). There's no myth present when the advice to lift weights is qualified in this fashion.

Not to mention, some of the strongest men on this planet are also pretty fat.

I know plenty of people who do tons of cardio, they are skinny, look like they are malnourished, most complain of joint pain, and you flat out would not even associated them with health and fitness passing them on the street. If I wanted to look like I don't exercise or was health minded I would do tons of cardio, fact of the matter is I did minimal cardio dropping 115 pounds in a year, because I weight train. But do whatever you want to do, I choose to be the strongest version of myself, not the lightest weakest version of myself.

I think a few people are being unnecessarily defensive and assuming the OP made an across the board assault on weight lifting. Especially some who said they didn't even read it.

I think the question the OP asked is a legitimate one. Is lifting for loss the new 'myth'? You don't need to be a fitness expert or a long time lifter or have a lot of weight loss to have your ear to the ground on this. In fact, those new to changes to diet and exercise may hear it more often as people are constantly trying to give them advice. And as somebody said the other day, come January all the beliefs will come flooding in.

And if there's one thing nearly everyone on MFP can agree on, its that there is a LOT of bad advice out there.

So as I read the question, and a few of the sentences, I heard your question. Is this the new rage in diet advice: lift and you'll be skinny? Fair question, allowing people to chime in whether or not they keep hearing this. But, OP, you lost me, and clearly many others, through the rest. Your question got lost and muddied in a long statement that lifting is not good for weight loss. Why ask one question if you're only going to answer a different question?

The problem with that analysis is that I don't know anyone saying "lift and you'll be skinny" or even "lift weight because it burns all teh caloriez!" For the OP to have a point that such a statement is a myth, people would have to actually be making such statements in the first place. I know a lot of people that advocate lifting weights as part of weight loss; I don't know anyone who distills it down to such a basic level as "lift and you'll be skinny" or "lift and you will lose weight." Rather, in pretty much every place I've seen people give advice to lift weights, they explain that weight lifting aids in achieving a favorable body composition while dieting (this is well known and not a myth) and some mention that it's nice to be strong and confident (two other nice side-effects of weight lifting). There's no myth present when the advice to lift weights is qualified in this fashion.

Not to mention, some of the strongest men on this planet are also pretty fat.

I think you're proving my point. If the OP stayed on target with his question, we could figure out if such advice is a/the new myth. You've just provided a valuable data point. You don't know anyone advocating that kind of result. If you've never heard anyone advocating that lifting alone will be the key to weight loss, then there are likely also others who have never heard such things. And so your answer could have been, "hardly the myth, I've never heard anyone say such a ridiculous thing; rather, I've heard people give qualified advice as to the specific benefits of lifting for other reasons." Or at least that could have been the question and answer. Until the OP went all kinds of school teacher in the rest of his ramble....

I personally have heard it, and with some frequency. "All you need to do is lift really heavy- get your muscles warmed up and they will burn massive (!!) calories all day long well after you are done, more than anybody could eat."

When you start a lifestyle change and others know about it, there can be so much bad advice given. Many of us have received a lot of it. I have seen the advice given out in forums as well, though I've also seen it quickly dismantled by people with a better understanding of caloric effect. And so I could have contributed, "I think the myth exists, some people believe it and they spread it. But I don't know how prevalent it is. It is certainly not the most common myth I've heard, so I wouldn't call it the new big Myth."

My point is that if the OP had framed it better, it was a straight-forward question and could have been a poll or discussion about how many people have heard others advising such a thing. Instead, his lengthy post didn't really focus on that as a question, but rather went on about other things.

You have seen someone say lifting burns more cals than anyone could eat? Was it on this site? Do you have a link, because that need so be refuted with great conviction!

I think a few people are being unnecessarily defensive and assuming the OP made an across the board assault on weight lifting. Especially some who said they didn't even read it.

I think the question the OP asked is a legitimate one. Is lifting for loss the new 'myth'? You don't need to be a fitness expert or a long time lifter or have a lot of weight loss to have your ear to the ground on this. In fact, those new to changes to diet and exercise may hear it more often as people are constantly trying to give them advice. And as somebody said the other day, come January all the beliefs will come flooding in.

And if there's one thing nearly everyone on MFP can agree on, its that there is a LOT of bad advice out there.

So as I read the question, and a few of the sentences, I heard your question. Is this the new rage in diet advice: lift and you'll be skinny? Fair question, allowing people to chime in whether or not they keep hearing this. But, OP, you lost me, and clearly many others, through the rest. Your question got lost and muddied in a long statement that lifting is not good for weight loss. Why ask one question if you're only going to answer a different question?

The problem with that analysis is that I don't know anyone saying "lift and you'll be skinny" or even "lift weight because it burns all teh caloriez!" For the OP to have a point that such a statement is a myth, people would have to actually be making such statements in the first place. I know a lot of people that advocate lifting weights as part of weight loss; I don't know anyone who distills it down to such a basic level as "lift and you'll be skinny" or "lift and you will lose weight." Rather, in pretty much every place I've seen people give advice to lift weights, they explain that weight lifting aids in achieving a favorable body composition while dieting (this is well known and not a myth) and some mention that it's nice to be strong and confident (two other nice side-effects of weight lifting). There's no myth present when the advice to lift weights is qualified in this fashion.

Not to mention, some of the strongest men on this planet are also pretty fat.

I think you're proving my point. If the OP stayed on target with his question, we could figure out if such advice is a/the new myth. You've just provided a valuable data point. You don't know anyone advocating that kind of result. If you've never heard anyone advocating that lifting alone will be the key to weight loss, then there are likely also others who have never heard such things. And so your answer could have been, "hardly the myth, I've never heard anyone say such a ridiculous thing; rather, I've heard people give qualified advice as to the specific benefits of lifting for other reasons." Or at least that could have been the question and answer. Until the OP went all kinds of school teacher in the rest of his ramble....

I personally have heard it, and with some frequency. "All you need to do is lift really heavy- get your muscles warmed up and they will burn massive (!!) calories all day long well after you are done, more than anybody could eat."

When you start a lifestyle change and others know about it, there can be so much bad advice given. Many of us have received a lot of it. I have seen the advice given out in forums as well, though I've also seen it quickly dismantled by people with a better understanding of caloric effect. And so I could have contributed, "I think the myth exists, some people believe it and they spread it. But I don't know how prevalent it is. It is certainly not the most common myth I've heard, so I wouldn't call it the new big Myth."

My point is that if the OP had framed it better, it was a straight-forward question and could have been a poll or discussion about how many people have heard others advising such a thing. Instead, his lengthy post didn't really focus on that as a question, but rather went on about other things.

You have seen someone say lifting burns more cals than anyone could eat? Was it on this site? Do you have a link, because that need so be refuted with great conviction!

I have definitely seen people say that all you need to do is lift weights to lose weight. There are people in this thread already that have said it, but they also said you need a deficit, which is the part I think a lot of people gloss over, because it's a given. Of course you need to eat in a deficit to lose weight! Many, many people, though, say you don't need any cardio, but you absolutely need to lift, if you want to lose fat. And this is pretty much regarded as correct, right?