lift weights too lose weight ?

Hi -

I'm reducing my calories and doing cardio to lose fat. I'm planning
on losing about 20lbs. The question is should I lift weights during
this time or just forget about the weights - I'm not sure any muscle
mass will build given that I'm dieting. Not sure if to lose the
weight first and then start lifting.

Thanks.

On Sun, 1 Apr 2007, asdf wrote:

> Hi -
>
> I'm reducing my calories and doing cardio to lose fat. I'm planning
> on losing about 20lbs. The question is should I lift weights during
> this time or just forget about the weights - I'm not sure any muscle
> mass will build given that I'm dieting. Not sure if to lose the
> weight first and then start lifting.
>
> Thanks.
>
>

You should start lifting and then lose the weight.

--
Sir Jackery

"asdf" <qjohnny2000@yahoo.com> writes:

> Hi -
>
> I'm reducing my calories and doing cardio to lose fat. I'm planning
> on losing about 20lbs. The question is should I lift weights during
> this time or just forget about the weights - I'm not sure any muscle
> mass will build given that I'm dieting. Not sure if to lose the
> weight first and then start lifting.

One of the reasons why diets don't work well for many people is that
your body sees your fat stores as an insurance policy against
starvation. So when you restrict your calories instead of just
burning fat your body also tries to lower your metabolism (by burning
muscle). After all, the fat is insurance against future famines, your
muscle (unless you are actively using it) is just wasting energy which
is currently in short supply. So whatever you do make sure that you
include weight training with your diet to help fight this tendency.

In fact, I would recommend that you start exercising first, and once
you have created an exercise habit then you can start working on your
diet.

Jason

Jason Earl <jearl@xmission.com> wrote:
> "asdf" <qjohnny2000@yahoo.com> writes:
>> I'm reducing my calories and doing cardio to lose fat. I'm planning
>> on losing about 20lbs. The question is should I lift weights during
>> this time or just forget about the weights - I'm not sure any muscle
>> mass will build given that I'm dieting. Not sure if to lose the
>> weight first and then start lifting.
>
> One of the reasons why diets don't work well for many people is that
> your body sees your fat stores as an insurance policy against
> starvation. So when you restrict your calories instead of just
> burning fat your body also tries to lower your metabolism (by burning
> muscle). After all, the fat is insurance against future famines, your
> muscle (unless you are actively using it) is just wasting energy which
> is currently in short supply. So whatever you do make sure that you
> include weight training with your diet to help fight this tendency.
>
> In fact, I would recommend that you start exercising first, and once
> you have created an exercise habit then you can start working on your
> diet.

Good as this advice may be, metabolism under calorie restriction is
lowered proportionally to the lost weight. This was found in
controlled experiments on animals, but also on humans (Biosphere 2).

So, the metabolic rate under a long starvation is not lowered. This
was an important part of invalidation of the old, nice, and wrong
theory that the reason the CR-ed animals live long is the same as the
reason a car you don't drive much doesn't break down as quickly.

asdf wrote:
> Hi -
>
> I'm reducing my calories and doing cardio to lose fat. I'm planning
> on losing about 20lbs. The question is should I lift weights during
> this time or just forget about the weights - I'm not sure any muscle
> mass will build given that I'm dieting. Not sure if to lose the
> weight first and then start lifting.
>
> Thanks.

I will agree with Jason when comes to dieting.
Been there, done that.

I was on a diet 5 years ago for over 6 months and lost lots of weight.
But even tho I wasn't heavy anymore, my body fat % was still very hight and
my strength was somewhere on the ... pink dumbbells level. More muscle lost
than actual fat.
I want it fast and end up buying some dietary crap which did not do any good
to me.
After that I went to gym and worked my ass off for 3 years. All was going well
till I had some family, health and financial problems. All at once.
Stop going to gym and YO YO back my weight to what I was, plus 10kgs more.

I'm on the come back now, but this time no diet WHATSOEVER. All I do is get some
tips in here on work out and cardio. Do free weights following by 45min mixed cardio
activities. Eat sensible and avoid the obvious bad stuff.
Eat less but more often and never before sleep. It's 5 months since I started, and
till this very morning I lost 22kgs and I'm actually getting much stronger and look
better. Not to mention feel fabulous.

Check:
http://www.exrx.net/FatLoss/WeightLossTips.html

Also visit:
http://www.stumptuous.com/cms/displayarticle.php?aid=32

The fartlek works very well for me. I don't always follow the actual sets, just
the general Idea of mixing intensity.


Take care and best regards

Sebastian

On Apr 1, 10:31 pm, Sebastian <s...@HAHAHIHInjquality.com> wrote:
> asdf wrote:
> > Hi -
>
> > I'm reducing my calories and doing cardio to lose fat. I'm planning
> > on losing about 20lbs. The question is should I lift weights during
> > this time or just forget about the weights - I'm not sure any muscle
> > mass will build given that I'm dieting. Not sure if to lose the
> > weight first and then start lifting.
>
> > Thanks.
>
> I will agree with Jason when comes to dieting.
> Been there, done that.
>
> I was on a diet 5 years ago for over 6 months and lost lots of weight.
> But even tho I wasn't heavy anymore, my body fat % was still very hight and
> my strength was somewhere on the ... pink dumbbells level. More muscle lost
> than actual fat.
> I want it fast and end up buying some dietary crap which did not do any good
> to me.
> After that I went to gym and worked my ass off for 3 years. All was going well
> till I had some family, health and financial problems. All at once.
> Stop going to gym and YO YO back my weight to what I was, plus 10kgs more.
>
> I'm on the come back now, but this time no diet WHATSOEVER. All I do is get some
> tips in here on work out and cardio. Do free weights following by 45min mixed cardio
> activities. Eat sensible and avoid the obvious bad stuff.
> Eat less but more often and never before sleep. It's 5 months since I started, and
> till this very morning I lost 22kgs and I'm actually getting much stronger and look
> better. Not to mention feel fabulous.
>
> Check:http://www.exrx.net/FatLoss/WeightLossTips.html
>
> Also visit:http://www.stumptuous.com/cms/displayarticle.php?aid=32
>
> The fartlek works very well for me. I don't always follow the actual sets, just
> the general Idea of mixing intensity.
>
> Take care and best regards
>
> Sebastian

Thanks for the info. I'm 34 years old right now. When in
college I used to work out pretty hard. I'm 5'10 and
back then was around 165lbs and could bench 225lbs
free weights about 6 times. This was my max. I
remember around that time I wanted to have the six
pack so started dieting and kept working out. I went
down to about 155lbs and had the six pack but could not
do the 225 anymore. I got much weaker after dieting.

I agree with you - just eat reasonably - stay away
from the obvious crap food and eat more often. Also
it's a good idea to get lots of sleep. I'm 198lbs right
now so I have lots of work in store for me !

Steve.