I am now cleared from the surgery and allowed to start strenuous exercise again, but I wonder if there is a strategy that I should be using.

Should I focus on aerobic calorie burning exercises to lose weight faster, then focus on weight training (circuit training) after I am at my goal? or at least after I have lost a lot of weight.

OR

Should I focus on weight training now so I can maintain muscle mass and become/stay toned? I am a big girl (obviously) but more on the muscular side than flabby side.

The second option makes sense except that I don't want to negate my weight loss by building muscle. This may sound silly but I would hate for the scale to stop moving or to move slower because of this. But I am not sure if this is more beneficial in the long run. This may not even be logical...obviously I know very little about working out.

Do you have any thoughts? Did you follow a strategy or did you just work out and let the chips fall where they did?

Well, I used to be an athlete and a coach. Yes, the muscle will add weight, but that's a temporary issue. Muscle burns calories. The larger the muscle mass, the more you burn. That's one reason that athletes must eat so much. They burn calories all day long even when they aren't actually working out, because they have high metabolism.

The great thing about cardio is that it keeps your metabolism up all day. But doing weights keeps your metabolism going for up to 3 days. It's hard work and not like a magical thing, but if you keep going in the long run, the muscle really will help your metabolism.

The best thing to do is both, and mix it up. And when you hit a plateau, you should change up your routine again. Your body will get used to the exercise and a change in days, exertion and in exercises can keep that from happening.

^^^ agree with this. A well rounded program including both cardio and strength training is best. Don't think about exercise as a weight loss tool. Think about it as a means to feel better, live longer and thoroughly increase your quality of life. Improved health and the ability to do more and enjoy a more active life will be your rewards.

As for weight loss....yes strength training will slow it some but remember you will be very limited on "building muscle" since you are eating so few calories. What you are mostly doing is preserving and strengthening the muscle you have....which is very important.

What kind of scale do you have? Some of the 'newer' smarter ones can measure your percent body fat and a host of other stuff. I remember I used to track some of the other numbers in addition to the scale weight. If the scale was stuck but I saw my fat decreasing that was a motivator to keep pushing. Also, maybe you should take measurements of your waist and thighs etc. That should decrease even though the scale is staying the same. If everything is stuck then that's when you should start to worry.

This is completely unscientific but I am convinced that because I was training with a program that focused on weights prior to surgery that I had some nice lean muscle mass going in, that it helped me recover from the surgery quickly. And now I am wearing clothing that I previously wore when I was 15-20 pounds lighter. So building muscle will add to your leanness, too.

But like Butter, I do both.

This is all such great advice guys! Thank you!!!!

any exercise is wonderful

i could only march in place for 3 min at my time of surgery

and now i am happy to say i do step aerobics on a 4 inch step and can walk 1 to 2 miles..

its not much to some but to me, the world..

and coming from someone who had trouble walking just some form of exercise is awesome

fat burns in oxygen....so do what you like and enjoy the feeling of movement...

inches loss will result....and that is the name of game..

Do you have any thoughts? Did you follow a strategy or did you just work out and let the chips fall where they did?

If I had to do this over again I would spend way more time doing weights - I am the poster child of overemphasizing one of your two choices. I went with cardio only. Sure, I have impressive weight loss on my ticker at the bottom but the price I'm paying for that is loss of strength. I put 150lbs on a bench press machine like I used to do years ago when I was doing both weights and cardio and I couldn't budge it! I found that I could only do a fraction of it.

There are probably lots of people here that could speak more definitively on this but I believe your weight loss isn't going to slow that much by lifting weights AND frequent body fat measurements as well as measuring yourself will show that the sleeve is working for you.

Do you have any thoughts? Did you follow a strategy or did you just work out and let the chips fall where they did?

If I had to do this over again I would spend way more time doing weights - I am the poster child of overemphasizing one of your two choices. I went with cardio only. Sure, I have impressive weight loss on my ticker at the bottom but the price I'm paying for that is loss of strength. I put 150lbs on a bench press machine like I used to do years ago when I was doing both weights and cardio and I couldn't budge it! I found that I could only do a fraction of it.

There are probably lots of people here that could speak more definitively on this but I believe your weight loss isn't going to slow that much by lifting weights AND frequent body fat measurements as well as measuring yourself will show that the sleeve is working for you.

Thanks for your honestly. I also really appreciate your links in your quote!

Do you have any thoughts? Did you follow a strategy or did you just work out and let the chips fall where they did?

If I had to do this over again I would spend way more time doing weights - I am the poster child of overemphasizing one of your two choices. I went with cardio only. Sure, I have impressive weight loss on my ticker at the bottom but the price I'm paying for that is loss of strength. I put 150lbs on a bench press machine like I used to do years ago when I was doing both weights and cardio and I couldn't budge it! I found that I could only do a fraction of it.

There are probably lots of people here that could speak more definitively on this but I believe your weight loss isn't going to slow that much by lifting weights AND frequent body fat measurements as well as measuring yourself will show that the sleeve is working for you.

Thanks for your honestly. I also really appreciate your links in your quote!

Eyeroll? Something you didn't like?

Do you have any thoughts? Did you follow a strategy or did you just work out and let the chips fall where they did?

If I had to do this over again I would spend way more time doing weights - I am the poster child of overemphasizing one of your two choices. I went with cardio only. Sure, I have impressive weight loss on my ticker at the bottom but the price I'm paying for that is loss of strength. I put 150lbs on a bench press machine like I used to do years ago when I was doing both weights and cardio and I couldn't budge it! I found that I could only do a fraction of it.

There are probably lots of people here that could speak more definitively on this but I believe your weight loss isn't going to slow that much by lifting weights AND frequent body fat measurements as well as measuring yourself will show that the sleeve is working for you.

Thanks for your honestly. I also really appreciate your links in your quote!

Eyeroll? Something you didn't like?

I'm thinking maybe she misquoted you? Perhaps wrong thread??? I'm hoping.

Do you have any thoughts? Did you follow a strategy or did you just work out and let the chips fall where they did?

If I had to do this over again I would spend way more time doing weights - I am the poster child of overemphasizing one of your two choices. I went with cardio only. Sure, I have impressive weight loss on my ticker at the bottom but the price I'm paying for that is loss of strength. I put 150lbs on a bench press machine like I used to do years ago when I was doing both weights and cardio and I couldn't budge it! I found that I could only do a fraction of it.

There are probably lots of people here that could speak more definitively on this but I believe your weight loss isn't going to slow that much by lifting weights AND frequent body fat measurements as well as measuring yourself will show that the sleeve is working for you.

Thanks for your honestly. I also really appreciate your links in your quote!

Eyeroll? Something you didn't like?

I'm thinking maybe she misquoted you? Perhaps wrong thread??? I'm hoping.

You're probably right, but I just want to make sure I'm not missing something.

Do you have any thoughts? Did you follow a strategy or did you just work out and let the chips fall where they did?

If I had to do this over again I would spend way more time doing weights - I am the poster child of overemphasizing one of your two choices. I went with cardio only. Sure, I have impressive weight loss on my ticker at the bottom but the price I'm paying for that is loss of strength. I put 150lbs on a bench press machine like I used to do years ago when I was doing both weights and cardio and I couldn't budge it! I found that I could only do a fraction of it.

There are probably lots of people here that could speak more definitively on this but I believe your weight loss isn't going to slow that much by lifting weights AND frequent body fat measurements as well as measuring yourself will show that the sleeve is working for you.

Thanks for your honestly. I also really appreciate your links in your quote!

Eyeroll? Something you didn't like?

I'm thinking maybe she misquoted you? Perhaps wrong thread??? I'm hoping.

You're probably right, but I just want to make sure I'm not missing something.

Probably just used the wrong smiley, but I'm thinking she meant the links in your signature.

Aha! Great point.

Do you have any thoughts? Did you follow a strategy or did you just work out and let the chips fall where they did?

If I had to do this over again I would spend way more time doing weights - I am the poster child of overemphasizing one of your two choices. I went with cardio only. Sure, I have impressive weight loss on my ticker at the bottom but the price I'm paying for that is loss of strength. I put 150lbs on a bench press machine like I used to do years ago when I was doing both weights and cardio and I couldn't budge it! I found that I could only do a fraction of it.

There are probably lots of people here that could speak more definitively on this but I believe your weight loss isn't going to slow that much by lifting weights AND frequent body fat measurements as well as measuring yourself will show that the sleeve is working for you.

Thanks for your honestly. I also really appreciate your links in your quote!

Eyeroll? Something you didn't like?

I'm thinking maybe she misquoted you? Perhaps wrong thread??? I'm hoping.

You're probably right, but I just want to make sure I'm not missing something.

Probably just used the wrong smiley, but I'm thinking she meant the links in your signature.

Sorry, I did use the wrong face . What I meant to say is that I like the links in your signiture, especially the link to the motivational video.

Edited January 7, 201412 yr by Febi135

I did both but twice as much cardio as strength training. Two days of running or eliptical followed by 1 day of strength training. I wouldn't worry about building up too much muscle if you are using handweights or tension bands. More like toning than bulking up. This worked out well for me so far. The other thing I do is I change whatever strength training I am doing every 2 months or so.