Weight training - the most effective way to lose fat?
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HBMairi
Posts: 84 Member
HI, Quick question.. Im weight training a few times a week now, while eating clean and staying within my macros. Is weight training the most effective way to lose fat (combined with eating clean)? or should I be doing cardio?
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Replies
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Losing fat comes down to being in a calorie deficit (and has nothing to do with eating 'clean' - I'm literally eating some chocolate right now, lose weight just fine). Strength training will help minimise loss of muscle mass whilst dieting, resulting in better body composition once you reach your target weight. Exercise, both strength training and cardio are for health and fitness, and the way MFP is set up you eat any exercise calories burned back anyway. You do therefore obviously get to eat a bit more if you're exercising than if you're not, which is always a good thing!
If you're going to choose one over the other, choose training. No reason not to do both though, just ensure you're adequately fuelling your workouts and allowing for proper recovery (ie, don't overdo it!).23 -
Nony_Mouse wrote: »Losing fat comes down to being in a calorie deficit (and has nothing to do with eating 'clean' - I'm literally eating some chocolate right now, lose weight just fine). Strength training will help minimise loss of muscle mass whilst dieting, resulting in better body composition once you reach your target weight. Exercise, both strength training and cardio are for health and fitness, and the way MFP is set up you eat any exercise calories burned back anyway. You do therefore obviously get to eat a bit more if you're exercising than if you're not, which is always a good thing!
If you're going to choose one over the other, choose training. No reason not to do both though, just ensure you're adequately fuelling your workouts and allowing for proper recovery (ie, don't overdo it!).
Yes, im eating a calorie deficit, while making sure that the food is healthy and fulelling my workouts
Thanks for your reply
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The most effective way to lose fat is to be consistent with your diet over time. Your choice of exercise depends on what other goals you have, which could be diet related or not.
Here is how I evaluated my exercise choices for my goals:
- Goal: to eat more while dieting
Cardio
- Goal: manage anxiety
Cardio
- Goal: do something I enjoy
Cardio
- Goal: health and wellbeing
Cardio, strength, balance
- Goal: be less injury prone while running
Strength, balance
From the above, you can see I do both (in addition to balance), but my main focus is cardio because it supports my goals.
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Is weight training the most effective way to lose weight - no!
Is weight training the most effective way to lose fat while maintaining your weight - yes!
Eating clean - double no!
The only effective way to lose weight is with a sustained calorie deficit.
Weight lifting is a small calorie burner (and you are supposed to eat back exercise calories anyway if using MFP as designed). Cardio should be done for the right reasons - CV health, fitness, enjoyment for example.
Lifting and cardio are great things to do whatever your weight management goals though. Just do them for the right reasons and you might maintain those good habits when you get to goal weight.
(Before the ignorant chime in no there isn't a massive afterburn from doing weights, no adding a few pounds of muscle won't make a significant difference to your daily calorie burn, no you can't trust a HRM to estimate your calorie burn from lifting.....)
Clean eating is a meaningless phrase with many and varied interpretations many of which are plain daft. Is a "good diet" a sensible idea - of course, but that can take many forms.
Your macros are of far less importance than your calories but prioritising a decent protein level may well be a good move while losing weight and exercising.
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OK, i take back the clean eating description. Im on a calorie deficit, while eating high protein and cut out junk and sugar.7
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OK, i take back the clean eating description. Im on a calorie deficit, while eating high protein and cut out junk and sugar.
Neither of which are necessary for weight loss. That's what we're getting at. Obviously eating mostly nutritious foods is good for health, but it's perfectly fine to fit in some treat foods in moderation too.9 -
Nony_Mouse wrote: »OK, i take back the clean eating description. Im on a calorie deficit, while eating high protein and cut out junk and sugar.
Neither of which are necessary for weight loss. That's what we're getting at. Obviously eating mostly nutritious foods is good for health, but it's perfectly fine to fit in some treat foods in moderation too.
Fair enough, i find it easier to stay off the chocolate altogether, or it ends up my calorie deficit doesnt happen
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Nony_Mouse wrote: »OK, i take back the clean eating description. Im on a calorie deficit, while eating high protein and cut out junk and sugar.
Neither of which are necessary for weight loss. That's what we're getting at. Obviously eating mostly nutritious foods is good for health, but it's perfectly fine to fit in some treat foods in moderation too.
Fair enough, i find it easier to stay off the chocolate altogether, or it ends up my calorie deficit doesnt happen
And that is reasonable if it is a trigger food for you. To echo nony and sijomial though a healthy, varied diet with some treats is fine as long as you stay in calorie deficit.
I rarely bring home ice cream or potato chips as they are both trigger foods for me and I have trouble controlling my intake. Chocolate I like but can stop at a reasonable portion.
Weight training in and of itself doesn't burn fat but, combined with a calorie deficit, it preserves muscle mass resulting in most of you weight loss being fat loss.2 -
If you don't care about physical strength and being able to move heavy stuff in your house, then LISS cardio will give a great bump to your cals out. Resistance training will mitigate that, and I speak from experience when I recommend not skipping it. My last 10lbs took a bunch of my muscle because I was just so focussed on getting to the goal line and I was demonstrably weaker in a fairly short time frame.5
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Nony_Mouse wrote: »OK, i take back the clean eating description. Im on a calorie deficit, while eating high protein and cut out junk and sugar.
Neither of which are necessary for weight loss. That's what we're getting at. Obviously eating mostly nutritious foods is good for health, but it's perfectly fine to fit in some treat foods in moderation too.
Fair enough, i find it easier to stay off the chocolate altogether, or it ends up my calorie deficit doesnt happen
That makes more sense. People usually fall into one of two catagories for a calorie deficit:
Abstainers: need to avoid certain foods or food groups because of overindulgence habits.
Moderators: those who can simply reduce portion sizes.
Both work. Some people find that simply reducing portions leaves them hungry and cannot sustain smaller portions. Others find that eliminating foods leaves them feeling deprived and cannot sustain giving up foods. Do what works for you.
So long as you're in a reasonable (too low is also bad) calorie deficit while getting your nutrients your body needs, you will lose weight. Exercise can help, for me it doesn't simply for the fact that I truly want to eat everything after a great workout so my deficit is much smaller. I exercise for health.
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Nony_Mouse wrote: »OK, i take back the clean eating description. Im on a calorie deficit, while eating high protein and cut out junk and sugar.
Neither of which are necessary for weight loss. That's what we're getting at. Obviously eating mostly nutritious foods is good for health, but it's perfectly fine to fit in some treat foods in moderation too.
Fair enough, i find it easier to stay off the chocolate altogether, or it ends up my calorie deficit doesnt happen
That makes more sense. People usually fall into one of two catagories for a calorie deficit:
Abstainers: need to avoid certain foods or food groups because of overindulgence habits.
Moderators: those who can simply reduce portion sizes.
Both work. Some people find that simply reducing portions leaves them hungry and cannot sustain smaller portions. Others find that eliminating foods leaves them feeling deprived and cannot sustain giving up foods. Do what works for you.
So long as you're in a reasonable (too low is also bad) calorie deficit while getting your nutrients your body needs, you will lose weight. Exercise can help, for me it doesn't simply for the fact that I truly want to eat everything after a great workout so my deficit is much smaller. I exercise for health.
Or some are a little of both. I can moderate most foods. A few I cant. Overall though, I think you hit the nail on the head.4
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