Better for weight loss: Cardio or Weights

Hollister11

Ok, I know weight loss is 80% what you eat. But exercise wise is it better to do cardio, or lift weights if you have a good amount of weight to loose.

Mars Bar

Do both

Weights to build strength and keep any muscle you have and cardio to lose the fat

caviardreams

Would also throw in a mention to do whichever you enjoy, but a balance is always good from the point of view of overall health.

Nervous Wreck

Hollister11 wrote: »

Ok, I know weight loss is 80% what you eat.

Your estimate is low.

Mr. CooL ICE

How long is a piece of string?

Like somebody said above, the best exercise for weight loss is the one you enjoy the most. But whichever you chose, make sure your mobility is in check too. Ensuring good mobility will mean that whichever path you choose, you are less likely to injure yourself.

But to answer your question, I'd be biased towards weights. IMO, you would see more pleasing results in the mirror this way.

bladespin

Both but as you say diet is king.

Mellor

Do both, if you had to pick one it's really a personal thing

Tar.Aldarion

To Lose weight? Cardio easily. I sometimes do 1000+ calories of cardio a day, but when lifting, quite a small amount is burned in comparison.

For your health do both, to lose weight do cardio and move to doing both when the weight goes down. The most important thing is you have to enjoy it, if you don't like whatever you are doing you won't stick with it at all. However, don't expect to like things straight away, give it a few weeks trying things and you start to miss not doing it.

Magenta90

Cardio for weight loss with a build up of weights over time. Then you can ease down on cardio and build up on the weights, once you look lean and your Happy. Thats what I've done and it worked for me. And eat good food but clean dont ever hold yourself back. My problem at the start was I was undereating for the workouts I was doing and then put on weight.

dorisroe

I am not that flexible, I love lifting weight more than cardio. I am just saying. But matters both.

swededmonkey

Personally I cant stand cardio, find it very boring unless but always through in a bit at the end of each weights session. More so for cardiovascular and general health benefits than anything

Black Sheep

Not a huge fan of cardio either but I have started adding in walking on an incline on rest days. If I burn 300 calories and listen to a podcast I'm happy enough.

PipingProblems

Taking just those two into consideration, cardio is going to work out better for just weight loss, especially if the weight loss is for health reasons. For aesthetics, then weights. However, if you have a good amount of weight to get rid of and are starting from a sedentary life, any sort of movement will help.

Black Sheep

I suppose it should go without saying (but it doesn't) that it's not "either/or".

Most people who are lifting should be getting in 2-4 sessions a week. Only bodybuilding or olympic weightlifting programmes (Polar opposites, funnily enough) will sometimes have a higher training frequency of 5 or even 6 days a week.

They can still do some light cardio on the other days, like brisk walking for 45 minutes on an incline, as I mentioned, and burn 300-400 calories depending on pace. No impact on recovery, might even help it.

Is it true that having more muscle means your basal metabolic rate is higher? Thus you burn more calories even when sedentary.

If that's true then gaining muscle can help burn fat?

Sunrise_Sunset

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118803428#Comment_118803428

Yes it is. Therefore both weights and cardio are important. Cardio is a fat loss tool, but nutrition is going to be #1 here. Weights will change the shape of your body, build strength etc. I'm also not a big fan of cardio but will push myself a couple of times per week for overall health purposes.

ash97

Of course, both. But you should listen to yourself and do what is better for you.

GeorgeStobart2022

The calorie burn from exercise is very little and often overestimated by most people . Weight training is the most important exercise you can do but not for the purposes of calorie burning but to build and maintain muscle and reshape your body. You don't need to do any scheduled cardio at all but its could to keep somewhat active . 10k steps over the course of the day is a good minimum to start with. The most important factor for losing fat to determine how many calories you need to eat to put yourself in a deficit

Kurooi

I personally found exercise helps me eat better, have a better sleep routine, generally help stick to a diet and stay motivated.

HIIT is a nice combination of cardio and strength, I enjoy that. It's extra motivating in small groups with a trainer. And even if I do strength I sometimes mix in a quick 10 minute sprint of cardio as a warm up. Really down to what you enioy and what works for you, just try something and you will naturally adjust to your preference. And of course consider your age, fitness level, any health issues before you go too hard with weights.

completedit

It's a very difficult question with no obvious answer. So much of looks is subjective and certain people will value things differently. Personally as a man I think eating more, high protein and lifting heavy with some cardio will more than likely be the best approach however it still depends on your current fat level, your natural genetics(do you store more muscle easily) your frame, so many things.

You first have to decide what it is you want to achieve and only then can you answer the question.

For strictly weight loss cardio is much better.

Betthoi

The simple answer to your question is cardio is better for weight loss. I like to ride a bike because it also helps to make legs stronger for these purposes or run on a treadmill. However, often people think that in order to look good, it is enough to lose weight. But exercise helps you gain muscle and look fitter and even leaner, because the body's resources are spent on both weight loss and muscle building.

bladespin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119802842#Comment_119802842

It's really not the simple answer, that's whichever you prefer and will continue with, BUT if as you infer building muscle is part of the goal then cardio pales in significance compared to real resistance training for results and progression, that said, for health in general it's better, heart rate, lung capacity etc.

SuperBowserWorld

Stay off the crap food, alcohol, ... You can still eat really well. But the rubbish just blocks you up and kills your metabolism, sleep and mental health.

Regular walks. Borrow a dog if you don't have one. Or some exercise you enjoy doing.

Don't over analyse it.

Owenee

both are good for you, so just choose one that gets your heartrate up and you enjoy enough to stick to for a long time

Xander10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119818135#Comment_119818135

Hopefully the OP has figured it out in the 5 years since asking the question.