Heavy Lifting and Fat Loss

DustinWed
DustinWed Posts: 12 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
To give a little background, I've been dieting for around four years now. I've lost close to 150 lbs and I'm currently at around 198 lbs. I track my body fat percentage using an Omron monitor (i know this isn't exactly accurate) and it has me at around 21% BF. The point where my body is at, I still have a bit of a gut and man boobs that still have not come off. The rest of my body is adjusting well but the core seems to be the last to go.

I believe my current diet to be in a good place: high protein, low to moderate carbs, low fat. I stick to leaner meats, vegetables, nuts, whey powder, fruit, complex carbs. I eat back the calories I burn and eat on average around 2400 calories a day on the days I work out and/or do cardio, around 1800 on rest days. My cardio routine is doing a walk/jog/sprint routine around 3-4 days a week. What I mean by this is I walk about a distance, then jog a bit, and sprint about 30 yards out from the end of my jog. Its around a 3-4 mile total trek that I split up.

I haven't put much emphasis on weight training until recently(up to this point I'd been using a light to moderate weight routine that I had planned out myself), but what I am curious about is whether I should step into a heavier lifting program such as Starting Strength or 5/3/1 and still be able to be in a calorie deficit and lose fat while building muscle, and would it be a good idea? I know how to do the main lifts, and took a session with a trainer a couple weeks ago just to have him observe my form and correct what I might be doing wrong. Overall, he said I was doing everything fine and gave me pointers to help me better my form. I just need to know if I'm going in the wrong direction or if I still need to focus on an all out fat loss routine.

Replies

  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
    Absolutely start heavy lifting NOW! You could have been doing it all along :) I have made the worst mistake of not taking many pictures during this process, but I started lifting heavy in December and have only lost 2 pounds since then, but have gone down from a size 10 to a size 6 that is now getting loose. Body recomposition is your friend :)
  • rkr22401
    rkr22401 Posts: 216 Member
    Heavy lifting should be part of your "all out fat loss routine." This will maximize the fraction of your WEIGHT loss that is FAT loss.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    Yes, lift heavy. lifting heavy while in a caloric deficit will help retain the muscle you already have. Most likely if you didn't incorporate heavy lifting a large % of your loss came from lean muscle. With muscle you use it or lose it. In other words if you have been lifting heavy the whole time you would have probably been in the 15-18% body fat % at your current weight.

    It is much easier to retain the lean muscle you have, then it is to build new muscle. You may build a very small amount of muscle at first, but what lifting will do is retain what you already have (not have you lose more muscle).

    Those programs are good, I would also suggest looking into Stronglifts 5x5, you cannot go wrong with any of those programs. Good luck.
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
    Absolutely! I've been doing Stronglift 5x5 but it got pretty rough being on a deficit so I switched it to 3x5 after a while.
  • Lindaalthea
    Lindaalthea Posts: 4 Member
    I would first recommend looking into a whole foods plant based diet (not the store). Second, the weights are the right way to go! Third, extra skin...with that amount of weight lost you may never fully achieve the look you want unless you really bulk with muscle. I have skin that isn't going anywhere and my goal is a 75 lb total loss. (41lbs lost so far)
  • stina0t2
    stina0t2 Posts: 62 Member
    Lifting really helps to transform your body. It's just as essential as cardio - if not, more so.
    Look into starting strength or 5x5 (i do the stripped 5x5 because of time commitments).
    You'll get results not only with how you feel but also how you look.
  • blonde71
    blonde71 Posts: 955 Member
    Okay, I've been lifting for almost a year now. And the one thing that I've discovered is the heavier I've lifted, the smaller I've gotten. I'm the leanest I've ever been.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    I would first recommend looking into a whole foods plant based diet (not the store).

    Although this is healthy and one way to go, it is not necessary to be healthy or lose weight.
  • jayb0ne
    jayb0ne Posts: 644 Member
    Yep. Lifting heavy is your friend!

    If I'm reading you right, you're in the enviable position of being a beginner at heavy lifting - which isn't a slur on your form or experience but rather an opportunity to enjoy the best muscle/strength gains you'll ever get (colloquially known as newbie gains). Going from none to light weight to a heavy routine for the first time is also the only time you can hope to gain muscle while in a calorie deficit. It's like the exception to the rule.

    Plus, think of it like this:

    You lose 5 pounds through diet and cardio only.
    Maybe that's half fat and half lean mass - which is optimistic
    You've lost 2.5lb of fat (yay!) and 2.5klb of precious hard gained muscle (boo!)

    You lose 5 pound through diet and cardio while maintaining your lean weight with heavy lifting
    Maybe that's about 75-80% fat and 20-25% lean weight.
    You've lost 4lb of fat (double yay!) and only around a pound of muscle (triple yay!)

    Make sense?
  • DustinWed
    DustinWed Posts: 12 Member
    Thanks for the replies everyone, I had been lifting weights up to this point, just not a serious heavy lifting routine. I realize it was a mistake, but there's no turning back time. I am on my first week of 5/3/1, I was thinking of running this through one cycle and switching to Starting Strength since I've heard you can make faster gains on that program as a beginner. I'm not concerned with losing more weight, just trying to get my body fat down, tone, and build muscle. This has all been good information so far, thank you.
  • wellbert
    wellbert Posts: 3,924 Member
    5/3/1 is more for intermediate lifters, so going with Starting Strength until you can't make linear gains anymore THEN switching to 5/3/1 is the most effective.
  • hongruss
    hongruss Posts: 389 Member
    Dustin it seems that you are on the right track & are preparing well. The only advice I can give is surrounding weight lifting routines, all of the ones you have mentioned are great routines but they all concentrate primarily on strength(no bad thing). I would recommend looking at AllPro's Beginner Routine(bodybuilding.com), he has created this routine for mass, strength & muscle endurance & the progression is scaled in a way that you don't put your body under huge stress each session(to attain new PR's) but build slowly. It all comes down to what suits you best, just another suggestion to look at. Good Luck :)

    Russ
  • DustinWed
    DustinWed Posts: 12 Member
    5/3/1 is more for intermediate lifters, so going with Starting Strength until you can't make linear gains anymore THEN switching to 5/3/1 is the most effective.

    This was kind of what I was thinking.

    I'll look into the AllPro routine as well. Thanks again.

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