Wightlift only for weight loss??

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enemyger
enemyger Posts: 84 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So a friend is telling me that he lost 20 pounds in 1 month
By eating 2500 kcal which include a lot of protein, and by lifting weights only.... No cardio no *kitten*....
He says that the calories that the body needs to repair itself is the reason why he is losing weight.

This all makes no sense to me...
All these calories and no cardio....
Is this possible?

Replies

  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
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    If that amount of calories is under maintenance for him, then yes.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    If your friend lost weight on 2,500, it is because it put him at a calorie deficit. Lifting weights burns some calories and this may have helped contribute to the deficit -- but at the end of the day, it was the deficit that resulted in weight loss. Cardio isn't necessary to lose weight -- it's just something that some people will use to help them burn additional calories.
  • Equus5374
    Equus5374 Posts: 462 Member
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    He must have been ginormous...20 lbs. in a month is a huge loss (or perhaps he hacked off a leg?). I'll bet he also caught a 40 inch, 110 lb. large mouth bass in the local swimming hole.
  • girlviernes
    girlviernes Posts: 2,402 Member
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    Well he might have reduced his carbs, which will mean losing water weight, so part of the 20 lbs could be that.

    People are usually pretty bad at estimating their calories, so unless I saw the food logs I would be skeptical that he's actually eating 2500 kcals (most people underestimate, but some people overestimate).

    He's not correct about WHY he's losing weight.

    All that being said, if you are heavy and active (which does not need to be cardio) you can certainly burn more than 2500 kcals/day, in which case if you ate that amount you'd lose weight.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    How big was your friend to start?

    The first few weeks of weight loss generally give you bigger losses than what you expect it to be based on calories eaten. The bigger you are, the more you lose in the beginning. If your friend is in the mid to high 200s he could easily have lost 20 pounds the first month, most of which would be due to water weight loss.
  • enemyger
    enemyger Posts: 84 Member
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    jemhh wrote: »
    How big was your friend to start?

    The first few weeks of weight loss generally give you bigger losses than what you expect it to be based on calories eaten. The bigger you are, the more you lose in the beginning. If your friend is in the mid to high 200s he could easily have lost 20 pounds the first month, most of which would be due to water weight loss.

    It was 200 something you might be right
  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
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    Not going to speculate on your friend's particular case.

    However, I've been losing about a pound per week eating 2,000 calories a day and lifting weights (zero cardio).
  • pinggolfer96
    pinggolfer96 Posts: 2,248 Member
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    Cardio isn't necessary at all for weight loss. An energy deficit is

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