cardio or weight training for fat loss not muscle

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pieshin118
pieshin118 Posts: 41 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
If I'm trying to lose/burn fat not my muscle do i focus on weight training or cardio?

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  • dobberduck
    dobberduck Posts: 2 Member
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    You need a balanced combination. Cardio encourages Calorie burning, but adding in some weight resistance can really kick up your game. For example, if your focus is to lose fat around your mid-section, than a combination of jogging for your cardio, and planks/sit ups for your muscle building, would accelerate your progress. If you are trying to reduce the chances of bulking up your muscles, than just use less weight resistance but more reps per set.
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
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    1. A calorie deficit is what helps you lose weight.
    2. Part of that will be fat and part muscle.
    3. To preserve LBM and ensure the % of fat is higher, then you need to do resistance training.
    4. You can burn calories at a higher rate if you do cardio.
    5. The answer is in addition to your deficit from food, then do a combines prog of cardio and weights.
  • Samm471
    Samm471 Posts: 432 Member
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    I think a bit of both should be done ... I thought doing cardio was the waybto go when I started but with help and expertise from other people I was told to incorporate weights into my regime .. Cardio = skinny , weights = strong and fit .. Don't forget to get hit your protein goal .. I sometimes go over mine but I think that's okay
  • pieshin118
    pieshin118 Posts: 41 Member
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    dobberduck wrote: »
    You need a balanced combination. Cardio encourages Calorie burning, but adding in some weight resistance can really kick up your game. For example, if your focus is to lose fat around your mid-section, than a combination of jogging for your cardio, and planks/sit ups for your muscle building, would accelerate your progress. If you are trying to reduce the chances of bulking up your muscles, than just use less weight resistance but more reps per set.

    Thank you
  • Mycophilia
    Mycophilia Posts: 1,225 Member
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    dobberduck wrote: »
    You need a balanced combination. Cardio encourages Calorie burning, but adding in some weight resistance can really kick up your game. For example, if your focus is to lose fat around your mid-section, than a combination of jogging for your cardio, and planks/sit ups for your muscle building, would accelerate your progress. If you are trying to reduce the chances of bulking up your muscles, than just use less weight resistance but more reps per set.

    This makes no sense at all.
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  • pieshin118
    pieshin118 Posts: 41 Member
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    999tigger wrote: »
    1. A calorie deficit is what helps you lose weight.
    2. Part of that will be fat and part muscle.
    3. To preserve LBM and ensure the % of fat is higher, then you need to do resistance training.
    4. You can burn calories at a higher rate if you do cardio.
    5. The answer is in addition to your deficit from food, then do a combines prog of cardio and weights.

    See I lost 10 lbs from calorie deficit but I don't want to lose any muscle I just want to lose fat and get toned and ripped
  • brandiuntz
    brandiuntz Posts: 2,717 Member
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    999tigger wrote: »
    1. A calorie deficit is what helps you lose weight.
    2. Part of that will be fat and part muscle.
    3. To preserve LBM and ensure the % of fat is higher, then you need to do resistance training.
    4. You can burn calories at a higher rate if you do cardio.
    5. The answer is in addition to your deficit from food, then do a combines prog of cardio and weights.

    ^^This. A calorie deficit will cause the loss of both fat and muscle. Strength training will help you retain as much muscle as possible during that loss. You will not gain muscle on a deficit. You will get stronger, though.

    Cardio will burn some extra calories and is very good for endurance.

  • VeryKatie
    VeryKatie Posts: 5,953 Member
    edited June 2015
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    pieshin118 wrote: »
    999tigger wrote: »
    1. A calorie deficit is what helps you lose weight.
    2. Part of that will be fat and part muscle.
    3. To preserve LBM and ensure the % of fat is higher, then you need to do resistance training.
    4. You can burn calories at a higher rate if you do cardio.
    5. The answer is in addition to your deficit from food, then do a combines prog of cardio and weights.

    See I lost 10 lbs from calorie deficit but I don't want to lose any muscle I just want to lose fat and get toned and ripped

    Yep! So do weights so keep your muscles. Cardio to help you maintain your calorie deficit. If you have no trouble maintaining the calorie deficit by eating and don't want to eat more, the cardio wouldn't be necessary (unless another goal is to improve your cardiovascular system).

    In other words, you could ex. eat a deficit of 500 calories a day OR you could eat a deficit of 250 calories and day and burn off 250 calories by doing cardio. Which mean you can have a nice little snack or meal extra. Or save the calories for the weekend. It sometimes just makes it easier. Especially since weight training can really make a person excessively hungry. I know it does for me. Much more than the extra calories it burns.
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
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    I dont think you can eleiminate muscle loss, just limit the ratio of muscle to fat. Just lift heavy and skup the cardio.
  • PhilP0wer
    PhilP0wer Posts: 76 Member
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    What you need to be doing are dead lifts and squats. Those two lifts will raise your testosterone levels which will cause you to burn calories quicker as well as cause you to put on more muscle. More muscle = more calories burned. Of course this advise only applies to males
  • s2mikey
    s2mikey Posts: 146 Member
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    Samm471 wrote: »
    I think a bit of both should be done ... I thought doing cardio was the waybto go when I started but with help and expertise from other people I was told to incorporate weights into my regime .. Cardio = skinny , weights = strong and fit .. Don't forget to get hit your protein goal .. I sometimes go over mine but I think that's okay

    Ditto to this. I lost a ton of weight but also lost too much muscle in the proces and I had the dreaded "marathon-runner-sickly" look. Hated it. Ive been lifting weights regularly for a while now and have added a good 10-12 lbs of mostly muscle back. I look and feel much better. The key is to NOT overdo the cardio! The strength training does wonders for your body composition. Trust me. been there ;)
  • pieshin118
    pieshin118 Posts: 41 Member
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    s2mikey wrote: »
    Samm471 wrote: »
    I think a bit of both should be done ... I thought doing cardio was the waybto go when I started but with help and expertise from other people I was told to incorporate weights into my regime .. Cardio = skinny , weights = strong and fit .. Don't forget to get hit your protein goal .. I sometimes go over mine but I think that's okay

    Ditto to this. I lost a ton of weight but also lost too much muscle in the proces and I had the dreaded "marathon-runner-sickly" look. Hated it. Ive been lifting weights regularly for a while now and have added a good 10-12 lbs of mostly muscle back. I look and feel much better. The key is to NOT overdo the cardio! The strength training does wonders for your body composition. Trust me. been there ;)

    So focus more on weight training right ?
  • sjdoman
    sjdoman Posts: 81 Member
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    PhilP0wer wrote: »
    What you need to be doing are dead lifts and squats. Those two lifts will raise your testosterone levels which will cause you to burn calories quicker as well as cause you to put on more muscle. More muscle = more calories burned. Of course this advise only applies to males

    So doing deadlifts and squats raises testosterone in men--what does it do if a woman does them. How does the exercise differentiate whether a man or woman is performing it? Lol

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