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husband is confusing me on cardio vs lifting

foxycrafty

foxycrafty

TID Lady Member
Mar 8, 2014
7
0
So I am working on reaching my target weight and I have 30-40 lbs to go. I walk 5-6 miles 5x week, I throw in some cardio/dancing 2-3 times a week and I watch everything that I put into my body. I"m not gonna lie - I struggle with carbs, specifically bread (tho it is multi grain, high fiber.... still a carb). I track EVERYTHING via the Lose It app. The numbers look good, but the weight is coming off slower than I like. Here is where I get confused. I love to lift, and I lift 3 - 5x week. My husband is telling me to stop lifting and focus on MORE cardio for the weight to come off. he claims that there is plenty of muscle under the layer of bodyfat. and will be there when the excess fat is lost. I call BS on this because I know that muscles burn more calories and it's a great stress reliever for me. I don't depend on lifting to burn fat, I do it because I want to get STRONG! My natural instinct is to ignore everything he says, but could he be right? Also, is HIIT superior to just "normal" cardio as far as burning bodyfat? Thanks for reading, and I really appreciate any insight you may have to offer.
 
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foxycrafty

foxycrafty

TID Lady Member
Mar 8, 2014
7
0
honestly.... the thought of adding more cardio to my already hectic schedule is......UGH....!!! - Which is why I'm wondering about HIIT.
* sorry, I probably should have put this in the Weightloss section *
 
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O

oldnslow

Member
Jun 6, 2013
77
15
Good advice from DYS. Really, never stop lifting. HIIT cardio.

At this point, you are going to have to focus on your diet. :sorry: Maybe carb cycling? If not that, just keep lowering your carbs.

So you are still losing, just not as fast as you would like? How much are you losing per week now?
 
Rottenrogue

Rottenrogue

Strongwoman
Jan 26, 2011
6,589
1,875
to mimic what is being said above. I would focus more on dieting and be patient . If your still seeing results your not doing all that bad. The scale is really a horrible way to judge progress.
 
sityslicker1

sityslicker1

TID Board Of Directors
Oct 6, 2010
938
437
yea, I have to agree with you. not trying to be offensive here, but your husband is full of shit. if you quite lifting and up your cardio your will body will make adaptions to store more fat vs burn it. your basically programming your body to learn how to conserve fat and strip muscle...not good. think marathon runner vs bodybuilder/sprinter.

lift and most importantly lift with high intensity.

with cardio either do a snail pace with lifting on the same day or do hiit on your days off.
 
T

The Rockette

TID Lady Member
Apr 16, 2013
35
19
When people just do cardio while trying to cut they end up skinny fat.
You should pick up the book New Rules of Lifting for women or Supercharged, also, Strong Curves is another great book. Both have lifting programs in them.
As far as diet goes, you can have bread. You can have whatever you want as long as you hit your macro minimums and calorie goal. Make sure you're weighing all your foods on a digital kitchen scale, using measuring cups/spoons, eyeballing and even pre portioned foods are not an accurate way to track. Enter all the info for the foods you eat into your app yourself. Most of the info for foods in apps like that are off. Fat loss will be slower once you get closer to your goal weight, about .5-1lb/week.
Now back to cardio, it's actually not even needed to cut fat. If you stick to your deficit, and lift heavy the weight will
Come off. If you WANT to do cardio I'd do 1-2 LISS and 1-2 HIIT sessions.
 
foxycrafty

foxycrafty

TID Lady Member
Mar 8, 2014
7
0
yea, I have to agree with you. not trying to be offensive here, but your husband is full of shit. if you quite lifting and up your cardio your will body will make adaptions to store more fat vs burn it. your basically programming your body to learn how to conserve fat and strip muscle...not good. think marathon runner vs bodybuilder/sprinter.

lift and most importantly lift with high intensity.

with cardio either do a snail pace with lifting on the same day or do hiit on your days off.

THANK YOU! That's what I was looking for, but not able to put into words. The idea of 'cardio only' felt like something very important would be missing - like running a car with gasoline, but no oil - I admit I'm not very informed when it comes to body science, but I know how my body feels and what it responds to.
 
foxycrafty

foxycrafty

TID Lady Member
Mar 8, 2014
7
0
When people just do cardio while trying to cut they end up skinny fat.
You should pick up the book New Rules of Lifting for women or Supercharged, also, Strong Curves is another great book. Both have lifting programs in them.
As far as diet goes, you can have bread. You can have whatever you want as long as you hit your macro minimums and calorie goal. Make sure you're weighing all your foods on a digital kitchen scale, using measuring cups/spoons, eyeballing and even pre portioned foods are not an accurate way to track. Enter all the info for the foods you eat into your app yourself. Most of the info for foods in apps like that are off. Fat loss will be slower once you get closer to your goal weight, about .5-1lb/week.
Now back to cardio, it's actually not even needed to cut fat. If you stick to your deficit, and lift heavy the weight will
Come off. If you WANT to do cardio I'd do 1-2 LISS and 1-2 HIIT sessions.

I am definitely going read those books. I NEED to understand the science of it all. "Skinny Fat" is exactly what my mind envisioned when he suggested to not lift. I also feel like lifting will help with keeping my skin firm, because after al is said and accomplished, I will have lost 80+ pounds (post cancer depression = food comforting in the crappiest way) and want to be tight and strong,not flabby. THANK YOU for your insight and suggestions. I"m going to start adding sprints to my walks, and start learning about LISS and HIIT.
 
Rockshawn

Rockshawn

MuscleHead
Sep 24, 2013
514
93
Here are a couple good articles you can read on cardio. The science behind this is evolving, but as stated, Lift first then cardio. I believe if the body is constantly getting the stimulus that it needs the muscle it has to do the work loads you are putting on it in the gym, then it will not use that muscle for fuel in a calorie deficit. Therefor, you're added cardio will target gycogen stores and untimately fat stores for fuel.

http://www.t-nation.com/training/death-of-steady-state-cardio
http://www.t-nation.com/training/regular-cardio-will-make-you-fat
 
BrotherIron

BrotherIron

VIP Member
Mar 6, 2011
10,717
2,808
I would advise carb cycling so you can still lift with intensity and not just go through the motions. It'll also help keep your muscles looking full instead of stringy with carb depleted diets.

As for cardio do both... interval and long, steady cardio. The hit should be stadiums, sprints, sled pulls. Long, steady can be on a concept 2 rower, stepmill, etc.
 
foxycrafty

foxycrafty

TID Lady Member
Mar 8, 2014
7
0
Good advice from DYS. Really, never stop lifting. HIIT cardio.

At this point, you are going to have to focus on your diet. :sorry: Maybe carb cycling? If not that, just keep lowering your carbs.

So you are still losing, just not as fast as you would like? How much are you losing per week now?
At the start, i was losing 2-2.5 # per week. After a few months i have hit a plateau and now average .7 - 1 # per week. Any amount of loss is awesome for me. I am going to keep lifting, tweek my diet, and incorporate HIIT to my routine and READ and LEARN more based on everyones suggestions. There is a shit ton of things that i just don't know.
 
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