Good morning guys,

I've heard people who swear by it and others who swear against it.

I've talked to a couple of personal trainers in the past and both insisted that strengh training is essential in weight loss and that you should do it since you start your weight loss journey, because gaining muscles boosts your metabolism, etc. I also talked to a nutritionist before who told me that I should wait until I have lost a larger amount of weight and then start strengh, otherwise my scale won't move. Losing inches is great, but I love to see my scale go down as well, I guess I can say that I'm addicted to the scale. (I know, I shouldn't) Ultimately, I just want to do what's right, not what I want.

I've done my research and from what I've read I think it's a good idea to do strengh exercise along with your cardio since the beginning of our journeys, I tried at the beginning, but I was never consistent, but now, I've been doing it consistenly for 2 weeks, I do 20 minutes weights and then 45 minutes cardio, 3-4 times a week.

What has been your experience? Have you done strengh/weights since the beginning and lost weight steadly? or Did your weight loss stop when you started doing strengh exercise? , and if it did, when did you start losing again, a few weeks/months? Or Did you wait to start your strengh training later on, after you lost more weight? I just would like to hear your experiences on this.

Thank you guys, and have a great day! Love,

Elena

This is not technically a response to your post, but it is along the same thing, so thought I would share it. Once when my DD was going to the gym at her college, we overheard 3 women body builders comparing who could weight the MOST and still fit into the smallest size! It seemed so odd to hear them bragging about how MUCH they weighed!!! I too seem to watch the scale closer than I should, but I have noticed, with my increase in activity, that even when I was stuck scale wise, I lost inches. I measure again tomorrow, and am actually as excited about that, as i am seeing the scale numbers go down. Good Luck to you!

Kat

Oh Kat, thank you so much! I have never measured myself since I had surgery, I know I've lost a lot of inches because I've gone down 2-3 dress sizes, but I should do it because those are scale victories as well! Thank youso much! Hugs,

Elena

I vote a big YES to strength training.

I'm in the camp of not caring what the scale says, as long as I'm fit and trim. (pfff, and I'm no where near trim ) I love food, good food is just the best, and I figure that if I burn more basal calories, then I can eat more food.

The last go I had to losing weight I was working with a trainer. She was a tiny little thing. She weighed 170 pounds and was a size 12. Because she was athletic, she was perfect and well scupted. She needed to eat 2000 calories a day to be able to run and work out all day.

That's how I want to be.

Well, that's good info. Thank you so much!!!! I will continue with my strengh training. Hugs,

Elena

Stregth training helps to stregthen your core which in turn makes it easlier to do cardio and all other exercises...Hate hate HATE the scale and I have not measured since last year...LOL scared even myself!!!! Good Luck

i am throwing my lot in with the weight trainers. i hear from every trainer that it is essential for the metabolism. i have been doing the weights consistently for about 3 weeks now. i usually hate weights b/c i actually have to pay attention and not zone out like i do on the treadmill. but i stopped getting any results from treadmill alone and when i told my trainer friends that, they pounced on me! i go weigh on july 11 so we'll see what happens between now and then.

Thank you so much. I will keep doing my strengh! Hugs,

Helen

This is a great site... check it out.

http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwfit/strength.html

Heck yes!

Muscle burns fat, and unless you are doing a zillion reps of a large amount of weight you will not bulk up.

In fact, certain types of weight training/resistance training make your muscles longer and leaner.

So good to know, Thank you so much! Hugs,

Helen

It never fails to amaze me the totally stupid things so called health professional say. That really is a dumb comment.

For starters, when you're starting out on a weight loss journey, you lose large amounts of weight anyway. There is no way in a short space of time you could put enough muscle on your body to cancel that out, you dont gain kilos of muscle in a few weeks. YOu might put a few kilos of muscle on your body over a couple of years. That muscle weighs more than fat as an excuse for not losing weight is completely untrue, unless you're a professional body builder preparing for competition.

And secondly, your nutritionist should know that it isnt what the scale says that's important anyway, its your body composition that matters. The goal is not to lose "weight" its to redefine your body composition.

Its always a good idea to do strength training if you're basically healthy, not nursing an injury or something. Now if only I took my own advice!

I now agree 100% , thank you so much for your advises! Hugs,

Elena

I agree - the "your gaining muscle, and loosing fat" comments make me NUTZ - its takes a very long time to gain muscle in respect to being able to see the scale move due to muscle gain.

I am toning my muscles and making my body use itself more efficiently in loosing and burning fat.

I do the cardio (eliptical and treadmill) as well as weight machines. Right now I am concentrating on the thing where I pull the rope straight down in front of me so I can stop the fat arm junk goin on on the underside of my upper arm. (the flapping fat that nestles in your arm pit)

I totally believe in strength training, but hate it as it is not as high a workout as I like, I need to work on that.

I hear you! and I will continue with my strengh as well!

Elena

My brother (5'6") weighed in at 350 pounds. He decieded to hit the gym and go on a diet a few years back. He learned so much from his girlfriend who is a personal trainer and looks great by the way. She says, (and my brother is living proof) that if you eat less (which we all are after being banded) and just doing cardio while you will loose weight, you will still be the same shape. Be it a smaller shape. For instance, he was very pair shaped. If he just ate less calories and did 2 hours of cardio a day, he would still be pair shaped, just a smaller pair. When he added resistance training he changed the way his body was "shaped". You would never be able to tell it was the same person. Muscle burns fat. Even if you are not moving. Even when you are sleeping. So the more muscle you have, the more fat you burn while you are not moving. Trust me gals and guys, you want to do resistance training. You will not regret it.