Calorie deficit vs strength training

You will still get stronger and reap metabolic benefit, even if you don't pack on muscle mass. DO it.

From what I understand, if you do strength training while on a calorie deficit you won't add muscles but you can reduce the potential for muscle loss.

Is it more effective to lose the fat and then work on developing muscle our to work on the muscle and then worry about the fat (calorie deficit) our should you do a bit of both. I do mostly cardio with a calorie deficit because I want to lose fat, but I also want to be toned but you aren't supposed to do the calorie deficit thing to get muscle...ugh.

There is really quite a bit of biochemical and physiological nuance from person to person. For instance, some obese people and untrained people have shown an ability to both gain muscle and lose fat at the same time.

After doing a statistical analysis on myself, I found that I lost the most weight when I did lots of cardio, but too much of that weight loss was coming from muscle. By comparison, when I did strength training only and skipped the cardio, I lost slightly less weight but nearly all of it came from fat.

Funny you posted this because I hadn't seen "the question" before but wondered. In the material I have read my opinion now is it is better to minimize the chance of ever losing lean, muscle mass. I do see that most sources say if a person is heavier, they can eat way less(under recommended minimum of 1200 some say) and lose mostly fat for a time. One source said that the more fat on a persons body the more chance that it will be used as fuel before the lean muscle. I don't know any of this to be actual truth, I'm just reading "stuff" like others. So I guess they are saying the less fat you have the easier it becomes for the body to sort of "protect" itself by consuming lean muscle as well as fat(when the body doesn't get the nutrition it needs to build muscle or at least maintain it). Again though, I am not scientist or doctor.

denise:drinker: :drinker:

Is it more effective to lose the fat and then work on developing muscle our to work on the muscle and then worry about the fat (calorie deficit) our should you do a bit of both. I do mostly cardio with a calorie deficit because I want to lose fat, but I also want to be toned but you aren't supposed to do the calorie deficit thing to get muscle...ugh.

Doing a bunch of pushups all at once(not sets of 3 for example)does get your heart rate up. I use an HRM so I know. Going from one machine to the next without breaks I think is what circuit training means. This would get your heart rate up I believe, so yes, cardio as well as strength.

denise:drinker: :drinker:

Why can't your strength training also be your cardio?

CIRCUIT TRAINING

I know that's a term most people understand, but I don't. I'll have to google it. Lol. I've been going to the gym for four months and haven't learned everything. They don't really have people there to instruct your workouts and I can't afford someone who does. LOL

Strictly speaking it is better to have a goal body fay percentage vs a goal weight. You can estimate what weight that would put you at, but it's just an estimate.

If you only have 12 pounds to lose, then I would suggest both. Maybe a 50/50 split.

Is it more effective to lose the fat and then work on developing muscle our to work on the muscle and then worry about the fat (calorie deficit) our should you do a bit of both. I do mostly cardio with a calorie deficit because I want to lose fat, but I also want to be toned but you aren't supposed to do the calorie deficit thing to get muscle...ugh.

There is really quite a bit of biochemical and physiological nuance from person to person. For instance, some obese people and untrained people have shown an ability to both gain muscle and lose fat at the same time.

After doing a statistical analysis on myself, I found that I lost the most weight when I did lots of cardio, but too much of that weight loss was coming from muscle. By comparison, when I did strength training only and skipped the cardio, I lost slightly less weight but nearly all of it came from fat.

First of all, go green!

I agree with this though, I also lost some weight doing mostly cardio and I think I lost too much muscle. Now I mainly just strength train, and I feel like I look better but find it more difficult to lose weight, but mainly just because of my diet. Some days it's actually easier for me to burn 500 calories than to eat 500 less calories.

My theory (and it's just a theory) is that if you strength train and your weight says about the same (meaning eating about what you would to maintain) you should still burn some fat and build muscle. Mainly because you're not always eating EXACTLY your maintenance calories, so some days you are bulking a little, and some days you are cutting a little. Doesn't seem to be working very well though, because I haven't lost any inches off my gut, even though my chest is bigger and my weight is the same.