Cardio vs Weight Training

[RENOAK]

I agree with Tommy W. Definitely weight train. Not because muscle burns more calories because that is actually negligible but because it is important to not lose lean body mass.

[lou_rose]

Hi.. This is my first post on FitDay.

I see you have several responses already about what you asked. Permit me to comment on something you didn't ask:

You're doing aerobic exercise 90 minutes a day. Fine if you're young and in good health - but you *may* be undermining your immune system with such a heavy workload. I love riding my bike and used to ride for 90 to 120 minutes at a time. I now limit my total exercise in one session to 60 minutes just so I don't weaken my immune system.

Something to think about. Congrats on your weight loss.

One last thought, at some point you probably want to create a fitness goal or goals. Your weight will be where it's supposed to be once you're fit..

[chinanski]

You can do both if you are intelligent about it, especially with your weight still being where it is. I think that if you start lifting weights, truly lifting, e.g. free weights and compound exercises, you will love the way you look and feel. As long as you're not sprinting for an hour for cardio, there's no reason you cannot do both and make gains from both.

[rodrigo88]

Hey I'm New Here... Weight training and Cardio Should go together. Weight Training accelrates you metabolism up to 10 hours after you are done while Cardio only does that while you are doing it. It's definetly best to do Weight training if you dont want loose skin.

[ultimark]

You should already be doing weight lifting. If you lose weight without lifting, you're actually losing muscle as well (it does take a lot of muscle to carry around those extra pounds). When you reach your goal, you'll be a lot smaller but still "cushy".

You'll lose weight faster, and look better, if you're doing weight training.

Originally Posted by FutureizNow

My understanding of the weights/cardio thing is that it is not impossible, but pretty damn near to do both, to lose weight and actuall gain muscle at the *same time*.

This is only true when you're already fit.

[FutureizNow]

Losing muscle isn't the primary concern if you are obese.
The body is so loaded with fat, that it is extremely difficult to do lose
muscle first. And you would be surprised about the muscle mass of many large people, lying underneath the layers too.

Obviously, doing some weight training is a good idea just because.
But if you have to trade in calorie burning cardio then it is probably not
a wise investment. Once or twice per week is enough if you are obese.

[jackdup]

Tommy's post.

If you are not weight training, then you are really just making excuses!

You absolutely need to do weight training as well.

There are many many reasons for that, mainly like Tommy said, you dont want to diet away muscle, you want to increase muscle mass at every opportunity, and dont worry your ratio of fat to muscle will not affect your scale readings that quickly or easily.

Don't make any excuses, get to the gym.

Do you know that there are skinny people that look awful too?

[butterflybabe1997]

I do cardio AND weight training every day. In the morning I jog a couple laps around my neighborhood (I live in a relatively small subdivision), and then about an hour after lunch I do weights. I alternate between abs, lower body, and upper body. I like to follow along with a workout DVD so that I know exactly how to do the exercise.