Cardio vs weight training

Weight loss is largely about your diet. You can do all of the exercise (either/or) and not lose a single pound if your diet isn't in check. I do both...I'm not trying to lose weight...I'm maintaining because I eat at a level commensurate with my activity.

They are both really important to the overall fitness picture and they both will increase you energy expenditure which always makes weight management easier than if you did nothing...I recommend a combination of both...3x weekly full body program in the weight room and cardio of your choice on non-lifting days...and give yourself a day off each week.

Both, but no for weight loss. Cardio for heart health and weight lifting for body composition, being strong, having more lean mass means metabolism boost and more over maintaining muscle mass when trying to loose weight.

I'll take a bit of a different approach than the previous posters to answering your question.

Let's say that a person has calculated that, based on their normal daily activities, he or she needs to consume 2,500 calories just to maintain their current weight. In order to lose weight, that person needs to create a calorie deficit of about 500 calories per day to lose about 1 pound a week, or 1,000 calories per day to lose about 2 pounds a week. The person can create this deficit by reducing their caloric intake (CI), by increasing their caloric expenditure (CO), or through a combination of both.

It is generally considered easiest to reduce your caloric intake. Most people are able to cut out 250-500 calories relatively painlessly, and some people, especially those who have higher caloric needs, are even able to cut up to 1,000 calories out of their daily intake. It seems to be the method that is easiest to measure and apply consistently, although you need to keep in mind that the less you weigh, the fewer calories your body requires, so expect weight loss to slow down as you progress toward your goal.

You can also increase your activity to create a deficit. If you are taking this route, you want to focus on cardio for your caloric expenditure. Weight training is important to include for the health benefits, but it doesn't contribute as much to your daily expenditure. The downside to this approach is that it is more time consuming, so might be more challenging for some people to do on a daily basis. And your calorie expenditure will decrease as you lose more weight and your body becomes more efficient at doing the exercise you perform. The plus side to this approach is that, especially for people who require relatively few calories to maintain their weight, there is no reduction needed in calorie consumption.

That is why a lot of people on MFP seem to take the approach of creating their calorie deficit by consuming less. They exercise for fitness and make decisions regarding how much of their exercise calories to "eat back" based on their average weight loss and individual needs.

Personally, I made a modest reduction in my intake and increased both cardio and weight training. I generally don't eat back the calories I've burned through exercise.

stevenlayne74 wrote: »

Just wondered what you guys think about cardio vs weightlifting for weight loss

It's not what I think it's the science behind them that makes it an easy decision. Do some research on both and figure out what you want to do, because asking people on here you're just going to agree with the person that is already aligned with your current opinion to justify what you want to do.

Go learn something Brother

Muscle, Smoke and mirrors are great series of books.