How should I lose weight?
xNausicaa
Posts: 61 Member
I went to my doctor and she told me that I should do 30 minutes of cardio and little to no strength training because that won't help me right now. She said to do this 6 days a week and that it is the best way to lose weight at my weight. I feel like that's not enough and I know she's a doctor, but I would just like a second opinion. I'm currently 260. I would like to drop about 70 pounds for many reasons. I wanted to do an hour of cardio and 30 minutes of strength training 3-4 days a week, but I was shot down and told that would be ineffective and that I shouldnt focus on strength training until I lost enough weight. Should I carry on with my workout plan or listen to her? I have no health conditions that limit me from doing anything.
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Replies
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You should lose weight by working out your calorie goal for weight loss, logging all your food and sticking to the calorie goal.
The exercise you do on top of that will be a bonus - do something you enjoy, that you'll keep doing. I love strength training, and it's a bonus that it helps maintain muscle whilst in a deficit.2 -
1) Weight loss comes from the calorie deficit. Set up the app/website here and see what calorie goal it gives you for each day, and aim to be around that number (a little higher or a little lower is fine)
2) Exercise is great for fitness, but when it comes to weight loss, it is (for most people) much easier to not consume the 500 calories than it is to try to burn it off in the gym. There are many great reasons to workout, weight loss can be supported with exercise, but weight loss should not be your primary goal with exercise.
3) There are some advantages of strength training as you lose. The main one being that while you are eating in a calorie deficit, your body will break down both fat and muscle, strength training will help protect the existing muscle mass that you have. It is easier to keep existing muscle than it is to lose it and then try to rebuild it. That being said, strength training typically causes some water retention in the muscle for repair, which makes the scale not move a lot initially, so you need to be prepared that your efforts may not show as immediately, but the magic is still happening.
ETA: (These are based on my experiences and opinions, others may feel differently. Find what resonates with you.)7 -
I'd do what makes you happy! You're much more likely to have success if you're doing something you enjoy!3
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You lose weight through being in a calorie deficit which you can create through diet, exercise or both. You should lift weights now though as this will help you retain as much muscle as possible/.4
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I already know about having a good diet, I just want to know about my exercise regimen.0
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Thank you very much!SoxyKitten wrote: »I'd do what makes you happy! You're much more likely to have success if you're doing something you enjoy!
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Losing weight is 80% diet 20% exercise, maybe even higher.
Eat less calories than you burn and do whatever exercise you enjoy. Muscle burns more calories than fat, so it is kind of important to build up muscle.0 -
3rdof7sisters wrote: »Losing weight is 80% diet 20% exercise, maybe even higher.
Eat less calories than you burn and do whatever exercise you enjoy. Muscle burns more calories than fat, so it is kind of important to build up muscle.
You loose weight through diet alone. Exercise is for overall health. You can use exercise to offset calories, but I don't believe it's reliable enough.0 -
I went to my doctor and she told me that I should do 30 minutes of cardio and little to no strength training because that won't help me right now. She said to do this 6 days a week and that it is the best way to lose weight at my weight. I feel like that's not enough and I know she's a doctor, but I would just like a second opinion. I'm currently 260. I would like to drop about 70 pounds for many reasons. I wanted to do an hour of cardio and 30 minutes of strength training 3-4 days a week, but I was shot down and told that would be ineffective and that I shouldnt focus on strength training until I lost enough weight. Should I carry on with my workout plan or listen to her? I have no health conditions that limit me from doing anything.
So, it's unfortunate your Dr is trying to steer you away from strength training as that is very important to retaining as much of your current muscle mass as possible as you lose weight. Your plan and her plan both theoretically could be effective...but that is entirely based on you're ability to eat at a reasonable deficit.
One thing I like about her plan (shorter but more often) is that 1 you'll get into a better daily routine. 2 usually people can find a little bit of time every day 3 being a beginner jumping straight to an hour of cardio could be a bit much and lead to injury.
My suggestion-Follow a basic progressive overload, full body strength training plan, 2-3x per week, doesn't have to be too extensive as long as it hits everything. Then add in 20-30 minutes of cardio the rest of the days. Follow that for a month, see how you feel and increase either the length or intensity of your cardio as you get more fit. (or a combo of both)5 -
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I would suggest treamil in walking on incline or do stairs at home. That's what i did. The treamil slowly increasing inclined until I was able to do highest of 45 minutes. Builds up your endurance and shed pounds. I last 60 lb last year. Just few days ago I beat my record of 531 floors on fit bit. Get step tracker like charge 2. Tells you how much you walked and how many floors you climbed and your heart rate and its a great thing. Trust me. Money well spent. You will not regret it.2
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I was told a similar thing back then when I had much weight to lose, I still did the strength training cos I enjoyed it so much. If eating is the key to lose weight, exercise is key to preserve muscle and shape things to look good. For me at least it is like that.1
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Do both cardio & strength. Start strength training now! It will help you retain muscle while you're losing so you'll be stronger, feel better, and look better when you get to goal.0
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Do what you enjoy. Your food intake will be most important. Don't count the calories burned, as you'll most likely overestimate unless you are doing a serious amount of work every day. Start small so you aren't super sore and less likely to do it. If you feel like you can do 1.5 hours of cardio and strength, absolutely go for it. Strength training is for strong bones, general health, etc, not weight loss.2
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As far as I'm aware, the actual weight loss/nutrition/etc training that regular doctors actually have is shockingly low, so I wouldn't take the doctor's word on a topic like this as gospel, unfortunately. As others have said, the best exercise to do is the one that you're going to enjoy and stick with. And yes, there is definitely a benefit to strength training, in that it will hopefully help you preserve muscle mass as you lose weight2
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The way I'm taking what you wrote (and maybe I'm wrong) is that you're asking if what the dr recommended is enough. Between watching calories and the cardio, sure...it's enough.
But if you're genuinely interested in strength training, then definitely go for it! It won't hurt anything and but certainly help (despite her thinking otherwise). She's making it sound like nothing is worth doing if it won't lead to weight loss, which is kinda stoooopid....
Lift those weights and have fun.3 -
Okay thank you everyone for the responses! They were all very helpful and I appreciate it!0
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From experience the most weight I ever lost was from implementing weights 4 days a week for 10 mins. I lost weight quicker and changed shape quicker than when I just did cardio.0
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There's a paradox to exercising. Exercising more may not significantly increase your weight loss as your body requires fuel for the exercise and people who tend to exercise more also tend to eat more (after a long Sunday run I'm ravenous and will easily eat a 1,000 cal breakfast).
From a fitness point of view exercising for longer periods will improve your endurance and certainly I would never try to talk someone out of strength training unless there was a specific medical reason that contraindicated it.
I wonder if your doctor is recommending the 6 day a week approach from the point of view of injury prevention (if you're going from zero to an hour there is an increased chance of overuse injury depending on the type of cardio you're doing) and the 6 day approach is more consistent, making it easier to internalize daily activity.
I'd probably do a bit of a blend......start off with the 30 min cardio 6 times weekly (and feel free to gradually buildup from that if you're exercising injury free and not feeling unduly fatigued) and incorporate strength training several times a week. I'm not a doctor but IMO it's never too early to start strength training (again, tailoring it to your current fitness levels and goals) as it helps with injury prevention on the cardio side)0 -
You've got alot of great advice already. Personally strength training has been the greatest decision I've ever made. Done it for 3 years now at my heaviest and from the very start of my weight loss. There are so many benefits. It has changed my life. I'm surprised your Doc suggested to wait. It really makes no since to me.
I shared my story on Success Stories.
120lbs down, 37 lbs to go. You might find some encouragement in it.
Whatever you do. Rock it!0 -
I'd have to agree at least 50% with your doctor. 30 minutes of cardio a day six days a week is going to help you more than strength training at this point. But, there's nothing wrong with strength training, but there's a catch to it. It's difficult, beyond newbie gains, to gain muscle and/or strength when eating at a calorie deficit. Your body needs a surplus to build muscle and get stronger. Since you are dieting (I assume) to lose weight, strength training will be not much more use than some extra cardio at this point. But, it's still beneficial. Go with lower weight higher reps and get the heart rate up, and it's fine to do weight training. I found, while dieting, that body weight training was the best for me, because trying to lift heavy only led me to injury and no real strength gains beyond the first month or two. I found I liked the body weight training so much, I kept it up, even into maintenance, and I rarely lift weights now. I never wanted to look like a body builder anyway, I simply wanted to look toned and have less body fat and be a normal BMI. So, for me, regular cardio and body weight training was the perfect mix. Hope that helps!0
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cut off a limb-1
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I often hear the argument that you cannot gain muscle while at a calorie deficit. I am not disputing that.. but I don't totally understand it. Yes I understand you need extra calories to build muscle. But why would your body not consume the fat to get the calories it needed to build the muscle? It consumes the fat for other energy needs.. why not for muscle building as well? I can see this as a fact if you are a body builder and have 7% body fat.. but if you are 20%, 30%, obese... why would it not use this fat to build muscle?
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I often hear the argument that you cannot gain muscle while at a calorie deficit. I am not disputing that.. but I don't totally understand it. Yes I understand you need extra calories to build muscle. But why would your body not consume the fat to get the calories it needed to build the muscle? It consumes the fat for other energy needs.. why not for muscle building as well? I can see this as a fact if you are a body builder and have 7% body fat.. but if you are 20%, 30%, obese... why would it not use this fat to build muscle?
You can gain some muscle while at a calorie deficit. It will be less than at maintenance or above and will be affected by nutrition (e.g., getting enough protein and using a reasonable deficit) and absolutely by the amount of body fat you have. Your thoughts about it are correct.1 -
I often hear the argument that you cannot gain muscle while at a calorie deficit. I am not disputing that.. but I don't totally understand it. Yes I understand you need extra calories to build muscle. But why would your body not consume the fat to get the calories it needed to build the muscle? It consumes the fat for other energy needs.. why not for muscle building as well? I can see this as a fact if you are a body builder and have 7% body fat.. but if you are 20%, 30%, obese... why would it not use this fat to build muscle?
I think it does, to an extent. They call it newbie gains. That's why I always argued (it does no good to argue lol) the very same thing. I was able to build muscle while at a deficit, but it was much much slower than it should have been, and strength gains were fast at first (as in the first month or two) then tapered off and I got nowhere. For me anyway it seemed that at first, my body was used to the influx of extra calories (before I started dieting) and easily shifted those calories over to building muscle. But over time in a deficit my body stopped doing that and although I burned fat at the same rate it seemed like the strength gains stopped. As we lose more fat it becomes harder to burn fat (and even our bodies require less calories at lower weights) so it starts to work against you gaining strength and muscle. At least that's how I perceived it.
Once I hit a plateau in strength gains I continued to try and increase weight to push past it and ended up injured several times. Granted, I was over-exercising too, so there's no telling if any one thing caused the injuries, but you see my point. After healing I switched to body weight training and loved it. I was able to progress with it likely because I was developing more muscles that were not being used before (not targeted) with weight training. Body weight training is more of a complex/compound muscle movement. I, personally, think women are better off with body weight training unless they are intending to look like a body builder. With fat loss, and the muscle built with body weight training I think the end result would be more appealing. My opinion is admittedly biased, because I have some permanent damage to my spine which precludes me from ever 'lifting heavy', so body weight training works double well for me. If I did not have the spinal damage, after I hit my goal weight I certainly would not stop body weight training but I would transition into lifting heavy up to a point.
Before the female lifters flame me into oblivion, it's not a sexist remark, lifting heavy is great if it works for you and is what you want to do. I simply know a lot of women who don't want to be a body builder, but simply want to lose weight and 'tone' and by 'tone' they mean lose fat and be slightly more muscular. My opinion is that they can achieve that without a gym, without expensive equipment, by eating at a deficit and using their own body as their gym. It may take slightly longer but the end result may be exactly what they want. They'll be more fit, 'toned', and weigh what they want to weigh. Mixing in cardio will also allow them to eat more calories while achieving the look they want. I'm all for heavy lifting if you can do it and you want to do it.1 -
Spliner1969 wrote: »I'd have to agree at least 50% with your doctor. 30 minutes of cardio a day six days a week is going to help you more than strength training at this point. But, there's nothing wrong with strength training, but there's a catch to it. It's difficult, beyond newbie gains, to gain muscle and/or strength when eating at a calorie deficit. Your body needs a surplus to build muscle and get stronger. Since you are dieting (I assume) to lose weight, strength training will be not much more use than some extra cardio at this point. But, it's still beneficial. Go with lower weight higher reps and get the heart rate up, and it's fine to do weight training. I found, while dieting, that body weight training was the best for me, because trying to lift heavy only led me to injury and no real strength gains beyond the first month or two. I found I liked the body weight training so much, I kept it up, even into maintenance, and I rarely lift weights now. I never wanted to look like a body builder anyway, I simply wanted to look toned and have less body fat and be a normal BMI. So, for me, regular cardio and body weight training was the perfect mix. Hope that helps!
Your body DOES NOT need a calorie surplus to get stronger. Adding muscle mass does not equate to strength gains (please see neuroadaptation)
OP. When we eat in a calories deficit we lose water, fat, and muscle, that is why strength training is extremely important at this point. To combat that muscle loss we strive to hit our daily protein goals while being on a good full body heavy lifting program. Heavy lifting equates to progressive overload. Heavy lifting doesn't need to be done with weights, heavy lifting can be done with body weight as well. As long as you are taxing the muscle in a low rep range and progressing, that's heavy lifting. Low weight, high reps is just more cardio.
Diet for weight control + Cardio for cardiovascular health + Strength Training to preserve muscle (remember the heart is a muscle) and gain strength = winning on the scale and in the mirror.
One thing to remember is that with strength training the scale may not move as quickly as you like (noob gains, water weight, muscle preservation, etc...) but you will be more efficiently lowering your BF% than with just diet or just diet and cardio alone. The other thing to think of is: It's a lot harder to come back around and put muscle back on after you've lost it than to preserve what you have now. Why do 2x the work?0 -
Your body DOES NOT need a calorie surplus to get stronger. Adding muscle mass does not equate to strength gains (please see neuroadaptation)
OP. When we eat in a calories deficit we lose water, fat, and muscle, that is why strength training is extremely important at this point. To combat that muscle loss we strive to hit our daily protein goals while being on a good full body heavy lifting program. Heavy lifting equates to progressive overload. This can be done through weights.....or wait for it....body weight exercises. As long as you are taxing the muscle in a low rep range and progressing, that's heavy lifting. Low weight, high reps is just more cardio.
Diet for weight control + Cardio for cardiovascular health + Strength Training to preserve muscle (remember the heart is a muscle) and gain strength = winning on the scale and in the mirror.
One thing to remember is that with strength training the scale may not move as quickly as you like (noob gains, water weight, muscle preservation, etc...) but you will be more efficiently lowering your BF% than with just diet or just diet and cardio alone. The other thing to think of is: It's a lot harder to come back around and put muscle back on after you've lost it than to preserve what you have now. Why do 2x the work?
I don't disagree with any one point. What I read from the OP was that she needed to lose weight, and even her doctor felt it was good to lose the weight faster than to try and gain muscle. To me, cardio would be more efficient at that goal. Cardio by itself is boring, I suggest body weight training because it can be used as cardio, or, as you said, as a way to gain strength (it can be used for both). I agree though, the more muscle you build, the faster you'll drop body fat, it's simply going to take more time to build that muscle so the end result is you lose the weight slower (at least it seems that way to me). Once you manage to build the muscle, yea you'll be better off. And I'd agree also that you can build muscle in a deficit. It is simply much slower, and some progressive lifting programs may not be right for some people in a deficit. Myself included.0 -
Spliner1969 wrote: »Your body DOES NOT need a calorie surplus to get stronger. Adding muscle mass does not equate to strength gains (please see neuroadaptation)
OP. When we eat in a calories deficit we lose water, fat, and muscle, that is why strength training is extremely important at this point. To combat that muscle loss we strive to hit our daily protein goals while being on a good full body heavy lifting program. Heavy lifting equates to progressive overload. This can be done through weights.....or wait for it....body weight exercises. As long as you are taxing the muscle in a low rep range and progressing, that's heavy lifting. Low weight, high reps is just more cardio.
Diet for weight control + Cardio for cardiovascular health + Strength Training to preserve muscle (remember the heart is a muscle) and gain strength = winning on the scale and in the mirror.
One thing to remember is that with strength training the scale may not move as quickly as you like (noob gains, water weight, muscle preservation, etc...) but you will be more efficiently lowering your BF% than with just diet or just diet and cardio alone. The other thing to think of is: It's a lot harder to come back around and put muscle back on after you've lost it than to preserve what you have now. Why do 2x the work?
I don't disagree with any one point. What I read from the OP was that she needed to lose weight, and even her doctor felt it was good to lose the weight faster than to try and gain muscle. To me, cardio would be more efficient at that goal. Cardio by itself is boring, I suggest body weight training because it can be used as cardio, or, as you said, as a way to gain strength (it can be used for both). I agree though, the more muscle you build, the faster you'll drop body fat, it's simply going to take more time to build that muscle so the end result is you lose the weight slower (at least it seems that way to me). Once you manage to build the muscle, yea you'll be better off. And I'd agree also that you can build muscle in a deficit. It is simply much slower, and some progressive lifting programs may not be right for some people in a deficit. Myself included.
Who's talking about gaining muscle? I'm surely not, I'm talking about maintaining it.
Bodyweight training can be used as a progressive lifting program too......you are your own gym and convict conditioning come to mind.0 -
I'm assuming your doctor is coming from the POV that doing cardio is going to increase your energy more so than strength training...which is true and I certainly understand that perspective.
I personally think a combination of cardiovascular work and resistance training (not necessarily strength training) is optimal for weight loss. I've worked with a coach for a bit over three years now who is very good and I've learned a lot from him both in regards to my own personal journey, but also how he trains others at various weights and fitness levels.
From what I've seen and discussed with him, for most of his overweight clients that need to drop quite a bit of weight, he does one of two things where resistance training is concerned...A) he has them do circuit training with little rest or
if they want to do more traditional lifting, he has them do moderate weight and reps with a lot of super sets and short rests. His goal is to get them some resistance training while simultaneously maximizing energy expenditure. On top of that, he has them do at least 30 minutes of dedicated cardiovascular work at least 4x per week. I've never seen him put one of his clients with a substantial amount of weight to lose on a true strength program...i.e. low rep, heavy weight, lots of rest.
So, something to consider maybe...0 -
Who's talking about gaining muscle? I'm surely not, I'm talking about maintaining it.
Bodyweight training can be used as a progressive lifting program too......you are your own gym and convict conditioning come to mind.
I think the part I misunderstood was when you said "Heavy lifting equates to progressive overload. Heavy lifting doesn't need to be done with weights, heavy lifting can be done with body weight as well." To me, heavy lifting equates to strength/muscle gain as well as progressive overload. It's the first time I'd seen someone say heavy lifting could be done with body weight. It makes sense though, there are alterations you can do with body weight training to increase the resistance/weight being trained (body positions during push ups, pull ups, etc.). Regardless, all good points.
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