How to lift to increase weight loss
starrlight23
Posts: 105 Member
I’ve been told that to lose weight it’s better to lift weights vs just cardio. I know I need to have a deficit. I want to slim down and tone up not build up muscle. I already do cardio but looking to add more. Do I lift heavy with low reps or lift light with more reps? I hope this makes sense. It’s all confusing to me but really hoping to achieve what I’m looking to do vs waste my time.
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Replies
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If you want to lift, use a proven lifting program. Don't wing it. Strong Curves or Stronglifts 5X5 are popular beginner programs. You can find all kinds of programs in this thread.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1
As for getting "bulky", women can't do that accidentally. Don't even worry about it. Check out this thread. It's old and some of the picture links don't work anymore, but you'll get the idea.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/977538/halp-heavy-lifting-made-me-supah-bulky/p18 -
Really there's no one exercise that is universally "better" for weight loss. Any additional movement on your part can add to your calorie deficit, and that's a good thing. But IMHO your best bet is to think of eating as how you are losing weight, exercise as how you are staying fit and healthy. And lifting weights really isn't going to "increase" weight loss, at least not to a noticeable degree.
Strength training while losing weight IS important to protect your muscle mass. When you lose weight, you lose a combo of fat and muscle. Strength training while eating in a deficit helps to minimize the amount of muscle you lose. Also, people who strength train while losing weight are typically happier with how they look when they get to goal (that's not universal, but it's pretty common).
Building muscle is difficult for women, especially in a deficit, so not really something you need to factor in. Any strength training that you enjoy and will do regularly is a good idea.
The links in @quiksylver296 should clear everything else up
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Really there's no one exercise that is universally "better" for weight loss. Any additional movement on your part can add to your calorie deficit, and that's a good thing. But IMHO your best bet is to think of eating as how you are losing weight, exercise as how you are staying fit and healthy.
I couldn't agree with this more.
Manage your eating to manage your weight.
Manage your exercise to manage your fitness, strength, etc.
Do both to manage your overall health and appearance.7 -
the benefits of strength training is not to increase weight loss, but rather ensure that a larger % of your loss comes from fat and less from muscle. Your deficit will dictate how fast you lose, what you lose (fat or lbm) comes down to lifting program, size of deficit, adequate protein, genetics, etc.8
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"How to lift to increase weight loss"
Convert your kitchen into a gym.
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Weight lifting does not burn a lot of calories so I wouldn't count on that to create a bigger calorie deficit5
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Weight lifting does infact add a great benefit to dropping fat and still achieving a slim and toned look.
Chasing fat loss with a barbell (strength training) is more about the methods used rather than the tools itself.
Use big exercises that disrupt the balance in the body the most. Exercises like rows, deadlift, squat, press.
Eat a higher amount of protein while chasing this goal.
Strength training may not necessarily burn as many calories as traditional cardio does in the gym but remember if you break down your body enough in a sufficient manner the body spends a lot more time trying to rebuild everything you broke down and in place will do more to add muscle and use fat for fuel.8 -
What's the confusion?
Increased intensity = More Lactate
More lactate = More growth hormone
More growth hormone = Faster fat loss
In theory.
Obviously there are other factors that play into it but that's the idea.5 -
Weight loss will occur as long as you're in a calorie deficit. You can run, lift, swim, walk, whatever. But there are other benefits to weight training such as increased strength, muscle development and bone density. These are all important for good physical health as you age. You won't get big and muscly, even if you lift everyday. It takes a lot of work to look like a bodybuilder, man or woman.5
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Weight loss will occur as long as you're in a calorie deficit. You can run, lift, swim, walk, whatever. But there are other benefits to weight training such as increased strength, muscle development and bone density. These are all important for good physical health as you age. You won't get big and muscly, even if you lift everyday. It takes a lot of work to look like a bodybuilder, man or woman.
I am 42 and love lifting. I really wish I had started younger. I find that it's easier to stay thin with weight lifting. I only need to lift weights 3x/week for 30min to stay as trim as I did with ceaseless cardio back in the day.2 -
I am about to start weights again because I have found that although it doesn’t burn too many calories doing it, the muscle I would built seemed to make my metabolism more efficient. It took quite a bit of time and consistency but it worked for me. Getting back at it tomorrow.0
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While others have given some great info, and I'd also say give the strong lifts program a look. As far as calories and monitoring it, what I do is wear my HR monitor while lifting. You can have an idea of what your total calories expended will be with that. Plus I use this to gauge my rest time between sets. So when I HR lowers back to a certain number, I start again. This way it's more of a interval type workout as well as weights.
Best of luck
Gary3 -
While others have given some great info, and I'd also say give the strong lifts program a look. As far as calories and monitoring it, what I do is wear my HR monitor while lifting. You can have an idea of what your total calories expended will be with that. Plus I use this to gauge my rest time between sets. So when I HR lowers back to a certain number, I start again. This way it's more of a interval type workout as well as weights.
Best of luck
Gary
Not really - heart rate monitors are terrible at estimating calories burned for anything other than steady-state aerobic activity.6 -
While others have given some great info, and I'd also say give the strong lifts program a look. As far as calories and monitoring it, what I do is wear my HR monitor while lifting. You can have an idea of what your total calories expended will be with that. Plus I use this to gauge my rest time between sets. So when I HR lowers back to a certain number, I start again. This way it's more of a interval type workout as well as weights.
Best of luck
Gary
Not really - heart rate monitors are terrible at estimating calories burned for anything other than steady-state aerobic activity.
This ^, though the HR part to gauge recovery between sets does have some merit.
HRMs only track HR, the calculation embedded for cals burned assumes steady state cardio and as such cals will be off for anything other than that, esp. lifting as your HR is elevated due to different physiological response than oxygen update to the muscles like it is for cardio.3 -
While others have given some great info, and I'd also say give the strong lifts program a look. As far as calories and monitoring it, what I do is wear my HR monitor while lifting. You can have an idea of what your total calories expended will be with that. Plus I use this to gauge my rest time between sets. So when I HR lowers back to a certain number, I start again. This way it's more of a interval type workout as well as weights.
Best of luck
Gary
The problem with this is that there isn't a direct correlation between heart rate and calories expended even during steady state cardio, and estimate you get lifting will be useless. Using to gauge recovery is not a bad idea though (I'm lazy and just use the timer in the SL app and perceived effort)1
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