Should I start lifting weights?

You should always be lifting weights in a deficit

Yes, lifting weights soon is a good idea.

Do you have any physical limitations or health issues, other than your weight itself? That might color what would be good.

A thing to know is that when we're overweight/obese, we tend to have more muscle than always-slim people of similar activity level, just from moving our larger bodies through the world. Starting strength training can at minimum help keep as much of that muscle as possible, by convincing our body that it's important body tissue that we need and use, not something the body wants to shed readily during the weight loss process.

Loss of some lean mass is likely, because there are specific bits we truly won't be needing. But strength training is that reminder to our body that we need our extra muscle.

I've seen no one here on MFP say they wish they'd waited to start strength training. I've seen quite a few people say they wish they'd started sooner, ideally immediately.

If you can afford a personal trainer, and can find one with good credentials (formal education and certifications, not just someone called a trainer at a low-cost chain gym), ideally one that's worked with other people during substantial weight loss, that would be ideal. If that's not achievable for you, there are other options.

Start now, soon: As long as you avoid injury, there really is no super-wrong thing to do, while you sort out what might be most beneficial.

Best wishes!

Walk to success. Do what you can handle increase as you move up from there. Weight training is good too. Str training helps maintain muscle as you decrease weight. Dont listen to the nay say'rs that will say you might gain muscle mass. Even if that happens muscle gain increases deficit. Bottom line is do something start slow and build into it.
The scale will eventually stall. Dont let that stress you out. As long as you are in deficit you are losing weight.

As an aside, there have been comments regarding adding muscle to burn more calories unfortunately an extra pound of muscle only burns around 6-8 calories a day at rest and slightly more during exercise so not much of a help fat burning wise.

Fat burns around 2 calories per lb so trading muscle for fat will burn around 5 extra calories per day per pound.

Lift to keep the muscle you already have and to improve your overall fitness. Eventually you'll get to a point where you may want to do more with lifting, and then build a much more specific program to the next goal you want to achieve. But LIFT NOW.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 40 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

nossmf wrote: »

Depending on how your body mechanics are put together, certain compound moves may be harder than others due to limited range of motion. This probably applies more for lower-body exercises like squats and deadlifts, which require bending at the hips to bring the knees closer to the torso, and may not be an option if your thighs and belly cannot share the same space. (Note, some overweight people have zero problems with this.)

All that to say that if you find it hard to do a certain move due to size limitations, there are almost always variations you can try which accomplish much the same thing but may be easier. For example, squats can be replaced by leg press, at least until circumstances allow squats to join your routine.

This is where a competent trainer comes in if there are questions or concerns.