Should I be doing weight training? Protein?

so muscle burns more calories then fat does. also the calories you burn from cardio is short lived. where as your body will continue to burn calories after your strength training session.

Weight training = increasing strength and preserving muscle for weight loss. It does not burn many calories compared to cardio but it is EXCELLENT for you and sets up a nice base for when you're skinnier and start eating more to build muscle. You will also look less "skinnyfat" when you reach your goal weight.

While weight lifting (3x5 or 5x5 compound lifts 3-4 times weekly) you should have a very high protein intake - usually 1g/lb of bodyweight or more. 1.5g/lb is recommended during weight loss because you are both stressing muscle, and trying to preserve it during mass loss.

Whey shakes are not necessary when you are weight training, they are just a quick and easy way to get a lot of protein in your body, so a lot of people on high protein diets opt for them. For example, after lifting weights, I could come home and eat 2 whole chicken breasts, or a 2 scoop shake. Both give me protein my body needs, but I really do not feel like eating 2 chicken breasts after working out. It is a supplement, not a necessity.

So, I'm a 21-year old man hovering around 260-270 lbs, and my number one priority is losing weight. I've always been told that the best way to do this is (besides eating healthy) doing lots of cardio.

But all the time, I now see everyone recommending that guys should be doing weight training and taking in lots of protein (and whey? I don't know what any of this is). I definitely want to turn a lot of the fat on my body into muscle, so should I be doing significant amount of weight training even though I'm still at such a high weight? Less than cardio? More? Whey powder?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I was 271lbs at 5'8" but your way younger so your body could respond better. Took top 10 out of 215 competitors when all said and done. Food ideas and musculature updates on my thread here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/403233-lost-96lbs-and-made-top-10-in-physique-contest

Allright big guy here we go!

-Weight training is the holy grail of fat loss. I lost 100 lbs myself with 0 cardio and all weight training and diet.

-Your diet if weight training should consist of 1g protein per lb of lean body mass (this ensures that you are taking in enough protein to repair the muscle that you are tearing down with weight training and also requires the most energy from your body to metabolize aka more weight loss from eating), .45g fat per lb lean mass (fat is responsible for hormone regulation in the body and lowering your fat content drastically as many folks do can lead to a DECREASE IN TESTOSTERONE wich works directly against your weight lifting) and finally you fill up whatever calories you have remaining with carbs. (Carbs are the only macronutrient not NEEDED BY THE BODY TO FUNCTION though they do give you energy and help with muscle preservation and this reason alone is enough to keep them in someones diet.

-You cannot turn your fat into muscle ( though i wish you could you must eat at a caloric deficit to drop bodyfat then once you reach your goal you either switch to maintain that weight and bodyfat or you eat a surplus to build muscle)

- Your postworkout protein doesnt need to be anything really. (Optimally yes you would eat a bit of protein after a workout 20-50g but in all honesty MEAL TIMEING IS POINTLESS AND OVERHYPED) As long as your getting your cals and your protein and such in by the end of the day you could eat 1 meal or you could eat 8 its all up to you.

-Whey protein is derived from dairy (I only suggest you usea it if you need to hit your protein macro for the day and cant do it through whole foods) Usually a post workout shake is where people use them

-I personally recomend a 5x5 compound structure to a lifting schedule. (look up strong lifts or starting strength) both of these are amazing for begining untill your advanced enough to move to another routine

-There are no CLEAN AND DIRTY FOODS (there are only calories and macro nutrients its all about eating the right amounts of them) weather this be from pizza and hotdogs or chicken and rice. It really is about getting the right amount of calories protein and fat. But obviously you want to keep veggies and such in your diet for vitamins and such)

I think i covered it all and then some if you have any other questions message me.

Ken McGill (ISSA C.F.T)

Hey buddy sorry I took so long to get back with you, Im planning a trip cross country and things are busy! But to answer your questions.

- Your calories are gona be something you have to play around with for a few weeks. I personally believe that everyone is SO different that a simple online calculator or app like myfitnesspal (while i love everything it does i feel it gives people a much to low calorie intake) I would tell you to do the most simple method i know. Your current bodyweight x10 should be pretty close to where you wana be in terms of cals for cutting ex- if you were 200 lbs you would 200x10=2000 cals a day.

Eat this way for about 2 weeks then weigh yourself you should have lost between 3-4 lbs if you lost more add 100-200/day cals if you lost less cut off 100-200/day. Then check it again 2 weeks later.

- 1500 with cardio would be way to severe a deficit. (I personally eat around 2500 a day and do no cardio but i lift 6 days a week) remember this is a marathon not a sprint do things nice and slow give the body time to adapt.

- 5x5 training is refering to the amount of reps and sets of each excersise you do. So 5 sets of 5 reps per excersise. And someone earlier said 3x5 wich is 3 sets of 5 reps per excersise. (its most commonly used in beginning routines to build strength where higher rep ranges 10-15 are usually used in more intermediate routines to build muscle size and less focus on strength.)

Well time for church! I'll check back soon to see if you have any other questions!

Strength training is an important part of a workout routine--not just for weight loss, but for general health.

Strength training helps to conserve lean mass, although its primarily role in enhancing fat loss is likely more due to increased protein turnover than increased muscle mass (at your weight, you already have plenty of muscle). Don't get caught up in a lot of the cliches being thrown about.

If you are already following a weight loss program, you should be eating 1.0 to 1.5 grams of protein per kg of body weight anyway. Adding resistance training will not significantly add to those requirements. If you want to increase your protein intake, it won't be counterproductive, but it's probably not necessary either.

If you have not been lifting regularly, there is no need to beat yourself up right from the start. Your body will respond just as well to a lighter program as to a heavier one, so give yourself time to adapt. Tendons, ligaments, etc take longer to adapt to heavy lifting than muscles do. You are better off starting off with lighter weights (i.e. the 10-15 RM range). This allows your body to adapt to the demands of the new activity and also allows you to learn proper form and lifting mechanics. Lifting too heavy too soon often leads to poor technique that can take forever to correct. I see it every day. In addition, for someone significantly overweight, lifting a higher volume at lower weight can enhance fat loss--again, without beating yourself up.

It should not take long at your age to progress to heavier weights and higher volumes. 4-6 sessions at lighter weights and another 4-6 to increase to the 5-8 RM range.

^^^Agreed :bigsmile: