Cardio or weight lifting to lose weight! What's your take?

Question

If “Mr X” has got 20 pounds of fat to lose , then should he not first concentrate on losing the last 20 pounds and can think of building muscles and abs later”

What if “Mr X “ does only cardio to lose the last 20 pounds , wouldn't he lose the last 20 pounds of fat or does he really have to incorporate weight lifting into his workout schedule?

I am No Expert however i think that "Mr X" should focus on losing fat first

What's your take?

Answer 1

weight loss is combination of diet and excerise always. I'm not an expert of course but I lost 25 pounds in 2 weeks eating like a pig because I was working 12 hours a day of heavy construciton work. I would compare weight lifting with that, so if you are burning off more calories than you are intaking you will lose weight

Answer 2

It depends what your fitness goals are.

If you're going for the bulky muscled up look - weights are what you want to do.

If you want a slender, athletic build - cardio (swimming, eliptical machines, running ) is what you need to do.

Incorporate both. Cardio is good for your health while weights will help build strength.

Answer 3

I saw this product called Acai Berry on Oprah the other week.. Looked like all the other diet scams, but I went for it and ordered a 14-day free trial from this site.. And guess what, it really works!! I'm so happy I've already lost weight, gotten more energy and my stomach is flatter than ever!

Answer 4

Well I actually AM an expert ;) Since I was diagnosed with a severe life threatening illness and treated I have, through treatment, diet and exercise, dropped over 105 pounds of fat, and gained 50 pounds of lean mass *at the same time*.

The simple answer is BOTH! By not doing one or the other you're completely neglecting entire parts of your body. Besides, you can't do weights every day unless you're doing supercircuit, and so on those days, you do cardio.

BUT, that said. My main focus, initially, would be on strength training. There is a huge untapped potential for fat conversion and lean mass building in you right now. The body is awesome at taking overweight people and turning their fat into muscle. Near as I can theorize the excessive bodyfat supplies extra nutrients, and gives you a huge kickstart in the weights department.

Do weights twice a week, spaced out with at least 2 days, preferably 3-4, and do cardio the rest, as much as you feel like. Don't exhaust yourself on cardio the days you're doing weights.

If Mr X *doesn't* do cardio, he won't lose the bellyfat easily.

If Mr X does too much cardio, his body will start consuming as much lean mass as it does fat mass, and take you back to square 1 :(

So do both, just not at the same time! Not in the same day!

Answer 5

A routine focusing on cardio and weight lifting will net him the fastest results. Weight lifting increases one's amount of lean body mass, and therefore increases the quantity of calories they naturally expend in one day. Cardio is an obvious means for weight loss, but both should be viewed as necessary for a maximized loss of fat. If weight loss is the primary goal, cardio should take priority regarding actual exercise length though.    

Answer 6

Both can help lose weight...lifting weights can help speed up your metabolism. He doesn't have to lift heavy weights but just some form of weight lifting combined with cardio would be great.  

Answer 7

You can do both it's not hard and its quicker too.  Just a 30-60 minute strength/resistance routine followed by 30-40 mins of Cardio four to five times a week (with a consecutive 2 day recovery period) combined with a very low sugar, low fat, high protein (and high fiber) diet should do the trick.