Cardio Vs strength training

You need to be using more energy than you're taking in to lose weight, you don't necessarily need ANY exercise to do that. Strength training has many benefits, "burning calories" isnt realy one of them

eringrace95_ wrote: »

Has anyone had success with weight loss with a heavier lean on cardio and minimal to no strength training?

I think it's highly beneficial to start thinking about these things outside of the weight loss box and start thinking in terms of overall health. Ideally, one would want to meet the minimum criteria for general health and well-being set forth by the AHA and other health bodies of 150 minutes of light to moderate cardiovascular exercise for cardiovascular health and 2x per week full body resistance training to preserve muscle mass and bone density and maintain functional strength. Beyond that, more specific fitness goals would be your guide.

People lose weight with only cardio or only resistance training or a combination of the two or neither. To lose weight you just have to be in a calorie deficit. Regular exercise can add to that and/or allow you to eat more while still accomplishing your same weight loss goals, but in general, for most people, the energy expenditure required for regular exercise is a pretty small piece of one's calorie requirement pie. There are numerous health benefits for both cardiovascular exercise and resistance training beyond the scale. One major downside to losing weight without doing some form of resistance training is loss of muscle mass. Muscle is energy expensive and a use it or lose it kind of thing. When you restricting energy, your body is going to do things to also conserve energy...and if you're not using something energy expensive like muscle mass there isn't any reason for your body to hold onto it in a catabolic state.

My exercise is variable throughout the year. I spent a good 5-6 years pretty heavy into endurance cycling and participating in endurance cycling events which required me to spend a significant amount of time training my cardiovascular system. During cycling season, most of my exercise was cardiovascular with typically 1x per week strength training, due in large part to time constraints as well as recovery time. During the offseason that would change to spending significantly more time strength training and less time on the bike. I'm slated for my first triathlon in August and currently training for that, which again there is a big emphasis on cardiovascular exercise with swim, bike, run and I'm only strength training once per week to be able to fit all of my other training into my schedule. Come September my cardio work will drop to about 3x per week and strength training will go up to 3x per week which will continue through until my next training season starts.

I barely exercised at all when I lost from obese to healthy weight.

I've always primarily lost weight through modifying my eating, not by doing more exercise than I enjoy.

Myself personally have become and continue to work on a healthier me by leaning more towards cardio to complement my caloric choices and overall intake. As some have stated it’s a matter of adjustment of how much you take in that you’ll benefit over time as weight loss is one of your goals, but you should not let a # on the scale dictate success. Health and being healthy to exercise should be a big part of your lifestyle. Especially as you’ll sometimes loose weight in form of water, fat and yes a certain amount of muscle that with some strength training will help minimize it and have the additional associated benefits. Sure we all can over indulge and gain some, but it’s all part of life. You can’t toss out all your efforts because you gained. Just do better to find/continue what works. Remember muscle has weight and while the scale may not move down all the time, fast enough, or even go up even with cardio you may add some lean muscle. I do plan on adding some more weight muscle with strength training, but cardio in particular running is my thing. I loved it throughout my 20s and now over 50 I realize how much I miss it and all the time I let go by. So I get the benefit and the high of getting on occasion a PB on a run. Just take it easy find your rhythm and make it common place like brushing your teeth to keep working on your health lifestyle.