So many myths it’s exhausting.

You need to get rid of your trainer immediately and find one who understands your goals.

Losing weight is about calorie deficit. If you want to maintain muscle lift weights and reach your protein goals.

Losing weight starts in the kitchen. Log and be honest.

I actually learned a lot from these forums, as well as reading lifting books, like Strong Curves and New Rules of Lifting for Women.

If you want to lose weight, you want to eat in a deficit #1, so less than you burn. Lifting (progressive over time) will help you maintain muscle as you lose fat (also good for health and strength), along with adequate protein. If you do not lift, you will lose fat and way more muscle than you would otherwise and have a softer appearance/higher bodyfat when you get to goal. I've done it both ways and my results from lifting vs not lifting were quite different.

You can add some cardio to that to help burn more calories add to that deficit (it is also good for health and fitness). But keep in mind too much cardio can start to affect lifting performance and recovery in many so you don't want to overdo it.

While some people can gain a bit of muscle in a deficit under certain circumstances, you will mostly be retaining what you have right now. So once you get closer to goal, and you feel like you don't have the muscle base you are happy with you can either eat at maintenance to recomp, or you can run bulk (surplus) cycles to put on weight to gain muscle.

They're overcomplicating this for you by giving you a set of things that look like they should be done rigidly as prescribed. Don't think of it as a set of rules, think of it as separate modular blocks that you get to arrange any way you want to fit your goals.

Here are the blocks they mentioned and what they do, by knowing what they do and how they synergize you get to decide how much of a focus you need to put on one vs another:

1) Food:
Calorie deficit is how fat is lost. It's mainly achieved by controlling your food intake, but you can support it through cardio/activity/NEAT (non-exercise activity).
How it synergizes: eating enough calories and protein helps support your lifting performance. Having too high of a calorie deficit (eating too little) may affect your performance and muscle retention.

2) Cardio:
Helps you burn more calories so you get to eat more food which makes the diet part easier. The basic rule is that the more you move the more you get to eat.
How it synergizes: finding how much cardio you are willing to do sustainably is key. Too much and you may not have enough time/energy/appropriate recovery for lifting if that's your focus. Too little cardio (activity in general, actually) may make it harder for you to stick to your calories if the dieting part is hard for you (this is personal, some people stick to their calories just fine without cardio).

3) Lifting:
That's how you gain strength and retain (or gain) muscle. It appears to be your main focus, so that should be your priority.
How it synergizes: since this is your main focus, you need enough protein, enough calories, and enough time for it. It will influence the other two blocks.

From the above, the most logical course of action for you would be: don't try to lose weight too fast (pick an appropriate calorie deficit), eat enough protein, focus on lifting, and decide if you want to do some cardio if you want to eat more and improve your cardiovascular fitness. I'm personally for cardio because I like the extra calories and the health benefits (both physical and mental), but how you go about it depends on your goals and preferences.

How the advice you got translates?
- The trainer is focusing on weight loss, so they want you to increase your deficit by focusing on cardio because lifting may take time and energy and doesn't burn that many calories. They're not doing their job well because they're not taking into account your goals and they may even be setting you up for dangerously fast weight loss.
- "Others" are focusing on your goal of muscle retention, but they're arbitrarily throwing in "a bit of cardio" as a set formula without explaining why. It's possible to do more than just a bit of cardio or none at all and still achieve your goal of fat loss + muscle retention.

elisa123gal wrote: »

For me, lifting weights while trying to lose fat goes very slowly. I lost my weight through improving how I ate and cardio. I'm now at goal weight and will proceed with lifting weights to tone and shape. You'll get all sorts of opinions here.

Fat loss went more slowly because weigh lifting doesn't burn much compared to cardio - you increased your calorie deficit when you added cardio which speeded up the loss.


OP, you've been given some great feedback already.

Losing at a healthy rate is what helps to preserve muscle mass. If you lift weights while eating at calorie deficit that will help you retain muscle. Do a mix of cardio and lifting. The cardio increases the calorie burn which aids weight loss.

To lose weight its a matter of eating less than you burn - i.e eating at calorie deficit.
IMO its never too soon to do resistance training/weights along with cardio.

p.s you need another trainer!

sardelsa wrote: »

I actually learned a lot from these forums, as well as reading lifting books, like Strong Curves and New Rules of Lifting for Women.

If you want to lose weight, you want to eat in a deficit #1, so less than you burn. Lifting (progressive over time) will help you maintain muscle as you lose fat (also good for health and strength), along with adequate protein. If you do not lift, you will lose fat and way more muscle than you would otherwise and have a softer appearance/higher bodyfat when you get to goal. I've done it both ways and my results from lifting vs not lifting were quite different.

You can add some cardio to that to help burn more calories add to that deficit (it is also good for health and fitness). But keep in mind too much cardio can start to affect lifting performance and recovery in many so you don't want to overdo it.

While some people can gain a bit of muscle in a deficit under certain circumstances, you will mostly be retaining what you have right now. So once you get closer to goal, and you feel like you don't have the muscle base you are happy with you can either eat at maintenance to recomp, or you can run bulk (surplus) cycles to put on weight to gain muscle.

Always so much good advice and knowledge.

Your trainer is an idiot. Cardio is great because you get to eat more while still losing weight... but you'll need some sort of strength training to maintain your muscle mass.

I think the emphasis on "retaining" muscle mass is important, but sometimes we tend to forget what that actually does in relation to the goals.

Now.....when talking about goals, we state that we want to lose weight/fat. Let's unpack that even more. Why do we want to lose weight/fat? For most, it's about 2 things:

1. We want to lose fat to look better and have a better body shape.
2. We want to be healthier.

To lose fat, you need a calorie deficit. Unfortunately, it's almost impossible (except for the obese untrained novice) to maintain muscle in a deficit, meaning that a good portion of weight lost in a deficit will be lean body mass. An excessive deficit will help the weight leave quicker, but it will also help muscle to do the same.

What provides a body with a desired shape? Muscle. So when we embark on a program to "lose weight as quickly as possible", what happens? We lose both and end up with smaller version of our previous self with a higher percentage of body fat than we thought we would have. We also have a slower metabolism because we've reduced our muscle mass. Use any TDEE calculator that has an optional body fat % input and you'll see a difference in TDEE based on body fat percentages with the same weight inputs. The lower the body fat % (the more muscle the body has), the higher the TDEE.

What do most people do when they want to have a better shape? Increase cardio. What does cardio do? Burn more calories. Where does the body pull those calories in a deficit? Yep - fat and muscle. How do we prevent that annoying loss of muscle? Lift enough to provide a stress/recovery/adaptation cycle - meaning heavy (enough to provide intensity) and progressive. Eat enough protein to provide adequate recovery/adaptation. Limit cardio so that it doesn't prevent the recovery/adaptation.

TL/DR:

If your goal is to just be smaller (without regard to body fat % or shape), then just create a deficit and go to your goal.

Most people's goals, although unstated, are not just to lose a bunch of fat. Their goal is to create a certain shape. To do that:

1. Create a deficit to lose fat. To retain muscle, make the deficit smaller and accept the fact that your path to get to your ultimate goal will be longer than you might want.
2. Lift progressively to change your shape.
3. Do cardio enough to be fit or support your sporting activity and/or allow you to eat more.

Finding that balance can be tricky. It's easy to create a deficit. It's easy to find a lifting program that suits you. It's easy to do some amount of cardio. It's hard to combine them in such a way as they work together efficiently to help you reach your goal.

Don't limit yourself to cardio. Cardio can really help. But it can also be a trap. Don't trust your trainer.