Beginner advice on strength training

I downloaded the new rules of lifting for women.
The guy states it the book to stay away from the treadmill but it was okay to have some cardio on the off days.
He suggests no more than 3 days with lifting. Anything more is a waste.
His routing is Mondays/Wednesday/Fridays. I cannot just sit on Tuesday and Thursday so I will continue to walk on them. (I just started yesterday)
You can log your lifting burns under the cardio section for strength training.
As for cals, I have mine as .5 a week as I do not have a huge amount to lose and my main job is pretty sedementary.

I did strong lifts 5x5 for two months. I actually enjoyed it. I also modified it a few different ways (I know, I know....I bastardized the program....yes, I did). Mehdi suggests no cardio and no accessory lifts. Furthermore, he suggests just to the five exercises involved (Squats, Dead Lifts, Bench Press, OHP and Rows).

I am clearly not the right person to be suggesting to anyone that is following a set plan to modify it. I always suggest that people find and follow a set plan and not to modify it. And, to stick with that plan for three months, if not six months, before deciding if it works for you or not. I just don't always follow what I preach (and that is too bad sometimes).

What are your goals? You stated that you are shifting from cardio to resistance training to loose weight better.

Now, forgive me - we have never spoken before - but what does "better" mean? I am maybe being pedantic, but "better" might not mean one thing to me and an entirely different thing to you! Do you mean "faster"? Do you mean "healthier"? Do you mean "adding tone"? :-)

CJsf1t wrote: »

Hi , I started with stronglifts last week. I am a total novice and need a lot of advice. I'm 34 y/o female . Weight 227 lbs. I am basically shifting from cardio to lifting so I can lose weight better. Weight loss is about your calorie intake, not your exercise. Exercise is good, but you won't lose weight if you are still eating in a caloric surplus.

1. What should be my cal intake ? I have been eating at around 1400 Cal's so far. Should I set my goal as 1lb loss ? That would be around 1600 Cal's for me. - Eat 1600. Use a food scale to make sure you are actually eating the amount of calories you think you are. Most of us suck at eyeballing portion sizes.
2.
3. Is it okay to do cardio on off days? Like walking or jogging? Or are rest days meant to be complete rest days. - Cardio is fine. If it's intense, I would probably insure I had one real rest day.
4.
5. Is there any way to know calories burned during lifting? Log "strength training" under the cardio entries. It won't give you much.
Thanks in advance.

I did Stronglifts for about 14 months when I started. Loved it! Good luck!

Any exercise should be viewed as for heart health and body improvement - it can assist weight loss being fat only, or encourage muscle too if done wrong.

Diet is for weight loss - done right fat only, done wrong include muscle.

Exercise actually increases water weight for several reasons.
Only thing exercise helps with for weight loss is allowing you to eat more compared to not doing it.
And yes to your reason wanting to do lifting while you lose. Not sure about "good" way to lose - that's by eating less than you burn.

Since correctly logging it as Weight Lifting as commented above doesn't add many calories (which is true) compared to cardio - your eating level will be lower compared to cardio only (but higher than no workouts).
Of course log the walking between days, or on same day if time allows, that increases calories - for the walking only log about 1/2 of the given calories. Walking is great recovery cardio, aids healing, non-stressful. At some point it really won't be a workout for the heart for aerobic benefits, but can deal with that later.

Will that level of eating be sustainable?

If over 50 lbs to lose - 2 lb weekly could be reasonable until down to that point - but you may not be able to adhere to it - so you decide if reasonable is possible.
30-50 would have 1.5 lb weekly as reasonable.
15-30 1lb.
up to 15 - 1/2 lb weekly.

You can always lose slower and have the lifting transform the body more making it appear you are losing faster.

But - there is something to be said for taking the bigger deficit at the start of lifting - where you could actually gain very small muscle mass while losing the fat.
That won't really be an option when you have less fat and after lifting for awhile - only at the start - might as well take advantage of it if you can adhere.

Oh, regarding your #1 - you don't give enough info for informed advice, no height, no weight to lose until healthy weight, ect. But use info above to figure it out, and when you should change.

And if 10K steps is without purposeful exercise walking - a deskjob in this case does NOT mean you are Sedentary - that is Active level in MFP.

But if you are syncing an activity tracker - log the lifting on it's site, not on MFP. And the tracker will capture the walking for exercise you do - no need to log at all or mess with numbers.
You can make a wall post on MFP to inform your friend's list about workouts - check out my wall for example.

When MFP corrects the eating goal because of tracker adjustment - merely eat to your new goal amount.
If you set MFP to Active level it appears you are, you'll likely be able to get that full 1000 cal deficit if that is indeed reasonable.
Your adjustments from moving will be smaller, and you'll have better idea of what the daily goal is without big adjustments up.

CJsf1t wrote: »

Hmm. I posted a long reply but mfp seems to have eaten it all up.

If you use an emoji from your phone, it will cut off all text after the emoji.