encouragement versus discouragement and some venting

oh and also -- congrats on your loss so far! you deserve encouragement not discouragement!!

I watch my calories and carbs and do only cardio. I've lost 39 lbs in 3 months (its not all water)

He sounds like a complete idiot! Listen to your trainer and do what has been advised for you.
Sure, weights are good for you but that doesn't mean that cardio isn't. If you are setting out to lose weight, then getting moving any way you possibly can will help your body get stronger and will burn calories.

Keep up the good work and don't listen to random idiots!! (You can listen to me though, I'm random, but I don't think I'm an idiot!).

Yes it's better to build muscle first. Your body will burn fat more efficiently with more muscle. That being said, I'm not saying build a whole lot then do cardio a month from now. I'm talking more like, lift weight, do push ups for 30 min, then do the cardio afterwards.

Well, your trainer went through certification to do her job... and he didn't. So listen to your trainer!!

Weights are important, because they will help build muscle. Muscle will help increase your metabolism. But do as your trainer instructs, he/she will know what is right for you and your body type.

Myself personally, I really focus on cardio when I want to loose weight. I can lift weightst all I want, but I don't loose any weight. Right now, I am especially working on cardio. I started lifting weights recently and my arms got so big (I was only curling 15lbs) that my suit jackets weren't fitting properly! I was gaining muscle, but not loosing any of the fat on my arms.

10.6lbs is a lot to loose in one week, so SOME of it may be water weight, but he is a jerk.

I'm with your trainer on this one. For every trainer there is a different approach, but if you haven't worked out for a while and your trying to get yourself motivated cardio will give you good results and it is probably a good idea to get your heart in good shape before starting the weights so you are more prepared for the increased stress on the body. Sounds liek the guys a jerk and needs to rain on someones parade to feel better. We started with cardio and within a couple of weeks added the weight training as weights are my first love in excersize, but the cardio helped me be ready to handle the weights and the extra effort they take. Enjoy your success and don't let anyone rain on it. If you need support my wife (hootsmamma) and I are good cheerleaders. Stay focused and great job!

http://hubpages.com/hub/CardiovsStrengthTrainingWhichburnsmorefat
The problem is, strength training has been vastly oversold as a metabolism-boosting calorie burner. It's time for a reality check.


Metabolism 101
Our metabolism is the key to burning fat. To lose weight we need to increase our total calorie burn. To increase our total calorie burn we need to increase one (or more) of the following:

Your basal metabolic rate, or BMR, which is essentially the calories you burn at rest. Your BMR is important because it makes up a large percentage of total calorie burn, but unfortunately you can't do much to increase (or decrease) it. Your BMR is mostly determined by your genetic makeup and body weight. The only way to really boost your BMR is to gain a large amount of weight (quite counter productive for our reasons).

Your physical-activity energy expenditure, which is all the activity you do in a day. This not only includes all of your workouts, but also walking your dog, doing the dishes, climbing the stairs, even brushing your teeth- any time your body is active it is adding to your physical-activity energy expenditure. Your physical-activity energy expenditure is the most important part of your total calorie burn because it is the part you can do the most about, all you have to do to increase it is to get up and move!

Your thermic effect of feeding, which is the energy your body expends while digesting food. Your thermis effect of feeding is generally about 10 percent of your daily calorie burn. However this number can be increased by eating small meals several times a day rather than just a few large meals. Stimulating foods such as green tea and chili peppers can also speed your thermic effect of feeding.

Your excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, which is the extra calories you burn after exercise. Your excess post-exercise oxygen consumption is also known as the "afterburn". The amount of calories you burn post-workout will depend on the type of your workout, if you heart rate is increased during your workout and stay increased your will burn more.

Why Strength Training doesn't burn

The theory behind strength training burning more than cardio comes from the idea that one pound of muscle uses more calories per day than one pound fat does, while this is true, it is not enough to trim you down. Take a look at the numbers:

182 calories are burned per day for each pound of kidney your body houses.
110 calories are burned per day for each pound of brain that your body houses.
6 calories are burned per day for each pound of muscle that your body houses.
2 calories are burned per day for each pound of fat that your body houses.
During strength training you burn less calories, and the additional calories you burn due to the gain in muscle in your body is barely enough to make a difference, your time would be much better spend doing cardio where you would burn more calories during the workout (and less after).

Why Cardio does burn

If you're interested in boosting your metabolism to lose weight, aerobic training such as running and walking is a better investment than strength training. All you need to do is look at the numbers to see why:

40 minutes of moderate cardio (running 8:30 pace) vs. 40 minutes of moderate strength training-

Cardio: 522 calories burned during the activity, 30 calories burned in afterburn, 0 calories burned from gained muscle

Strength Training: approximately 136 calories burned during the activity, 20 calories burned in afterburn, 30 calories burned from gained muscle

Cardio leads by 366 calories.
So there it is, if you want to burn more fat do more cardio, the numbers are simple. However, I won't necessarily replace all strength training with cardio, it is good to have a mix of both-this way you will burn fat and build muscle which will keep you strong and healthy and prevent against injury, not to mention provide you with sleek and sexy muscles. It is also important to keep diet in mind, exercise alone won't do it (and neither will diet alone). You need to focus on creating a diet and exercise plan and sticking to it!

Listen to your trainer....you and her have come up with a game plan. This guy is no one to you so don't let him get to you.

I'm all about weight training but establishing an exercise routine is most important

different strokes for different folks... whatever works for you.

as long as you are getting off your butt, and doing something active, it's going in the right direction...

congratulations on your loss, and hell if i could lose 10 pounds in a week, i know who i'd be listening to... the person who helped me lose it, not some "know it all".

you will get to weights, but cardio has a massive impact on weight loss as well. if you are going hard and sweating, you are doing the right thing. some people run, some people just can't. some people do push ups, some people can't... you just have to find your thing that you can do, and that you enjoy doing and that you get results from.

I have lost 44.4 pounds since Jan 31st. Only small healthy meals (lap-band assistance), water, and cardio/Treadmill and walking outside. Some dumbbells but only up to 3# each hand, because of three abdominal surgeries in three months! Tell me it is all water, yeah, right! This guy is all negative and is not a nice guy, Stay away from him! You are doing great! Listen to YOUR trainer, and keep up the GREAT job you are doing! Don't let negative people bring you down! You have awesome support right here!

I am a similar weight and height as you, and every time I've lost weight, it's been through just cardio at first. The guy on the porch sounds like a ridiculous person!

last input on how long you burn calories after working out

Q: Is it true that your body continues to burn extra calories for 12 hours after you've worked out?

A: Yes. "After vigorous exercise, we've seen caloric expenditure increase for up to 48 hours," says exercise physiologist Tom R. Thomas, Ph.D., director of the exercise physiology program at the University of Missouri in Columbia. The longer and harder you work out, the greater the post-workout metabolism increase and the longer it lasts. Subjects in Thomas' research burned 600-700 calories during one hour of running at about 80 percent of their maximum heart rate. During the next 48 hours, they burned about 15 percent more calories -- 90-105 extra -- than they otherwise would have. About 75 percent of the post-workout metabolism increase occurs in the first 1 2 hours after exercise, according to Thomas.

Weight training does not appear to offer as significant a post-workout metabolism increase as intense aerobic exercise, Thomas says, probably because of the rest between sets. A number of studies suggest that, after a 45-minute weight-training session -- three sets of 10 reps per exercise -- resting metabolic rate is increased for 60-90 minutes, burning an extra 20-50 calories. However, keep in mind that strength training is an excellent way to boost your resting metabolic rate (the number of calories your body burns at rest). While aerobics appears to offer more of a post-workout spike in metabolism, strength training enables you to develop muscle mass, which, in turn, increases metabolism overall.

Do it how ever you feel comfortable and listen to your trainer and most importantly your body!

K so I am a person who has to be encouraged cuz i get easily discouraged. now i dont mean that in a way of being pansy cuz if Im doing something wrong then i will pull up my big girl panties and take the criticizm. But here is what happened, please read and then tell me the asnwer to my question after.. thx ahead of time!

i was told today that even though i lost 10.6 lbs this past week... that I am working out wrong and need to do weights first. Now my trainer told me weights would come into the equation later on and that first we needed to do cardio in order to get the weight started coming off faster... This guy was a jerk about it and was like your trainer is a loser, and shes wrong. You have to do weights first cuz when you do weights the calories burn stays with you for like 39 hours after. yes he did say that, he was like, all that weight you lost is water weight and you wont lose anymore since youve dropped that already unless you do weights. Yes i know some of it is water weight but some of it is actually weight weight and I am massively upset and discouraged. he is in fact sitting outside (I live in family housing at a university) and talking crap about my "water weight" right now. This from a guy who allowed his 8 year old son to kick his 3 year old daughter face first into the dirt and then just laugh about it.

So my question is this, am i wrong and will I not lose any weight if i dont do the weights til later, is he right? Should I continue doing the way I am or what do I do?

considering his parenting skills, I wouldn't trust him to tell me my shoes were untied!
DO NOT LISTEN TO HIM IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR MANNER!!! You have a PROFESSIONAL who knows all the details about your, your diet, your activities, etc.!!! If your trainer leads you astray, then you have the law on your side but this guy? if he knows so much why isn't he a trainer himself? And guys and girls need to train differently. Everyone is out for muscle. Yes, the more muscle you have to more you will burn at rest but come on. If you have trouble carrying around your own body weight, why would you make it worse and add weights to what you're already doing? Get your body used to MOVING first then when that's easy, challenge it by adding weight slowly...

You're making an effort to change YOURSELF which is more than this guy will ever have a chance of understanding let alone doing. I'm sorry you have to be so close to him and listen to him mouth off about something that's not even his business. Hold your head high because one day soon you'll be able to kick HIM face first into the dirt and laugh about it


ETA: Oh, BTW, that 20lbs that I lost.... the only WEIGHT I lifted was myself!