This is a common discussion that I hear with my friends who have become clients of sorts since they have seen the dramatic weight loss that I was able to accomplish over the course of a year and keep it off. I was what I consider to be, really fat. Although a lot smaller than people who made it much further down the line of bad health than me, I was around 50 lbs heavier than I said I would ever allow myself to become and I am really happy that I turned things around in my life.
But the question remains: Which is better for weight loss? Cardio or weights?
There is no simple answer to this and the real and quick answer is either one is fine because the real factor in weight loss is diet. However, for most people doing a dramatic change in their diet simply isn't going to happen and if someone tries to do a crash diet, they almost always fail. So don't do that.
the information that you see online especially if it comes from the mouth of an influencer or guru of sorts generally can't be trusted because they have sponsors and are always going to lead back to how that particular product is the key ingredient in weight loss and of course this is almost certainly bullshit. The guy on the right in the above picture, and I have no idea who he is, but he is almost certainly not natty.
Anyway, let's get to some scientific information from medical journals where they aren't actually selling any products and get the real scoop about the cardio vs. weights issue.
As far as just calories burned per minute is concerned I don't think you need a degree in sport science to realize that cardio is going to burn more calories. Unfortunately, for most normies, even people like me who have been doing this for years, I am very unlikely to do cardio that lasts for hours. When I go for a run it will be for 30-40 minutes and then i get bored or worn out and then go home.
At a pace that I normally maintain based on my body weight, I burn around 360 calories in 30 minutes. If I trained with weights with minimal breaks for the same amount of time, it is very likely that I would burn less than half that many calories. It is difficult to determine the real numbers here because I do not have a heart rate monitor that can be trusted. Generally I try to keep my heart rate up when lifting and take breaks infrequently or not at all.
Also, I will almost always weight train for at least an hour and I think this is true for most people.
One benefit weight training has that cardio does not have (for the most part) is that it generally results in an much larger increase in overall muscle and according to the National Institute of Health more muscle mass results in more calories burned when you are not currently exercising.
While this of course varies dramatically from person-to-person there have been extensive studies done over the course of 6 months using scientific methods that weren't seeking to sell any sort of product that shows that with people doing weight training, they experienced elevated levels of metabolism while at rest for up to 35 hours after training. This didn't come from GNC or some supplement company, this information comes from The European Journal of Physiology. This same phenomenon can NOT be said of any studies done on people using cardio exclusively.
One thing that frustrates people who are trying to lose weight by using weight-training exclusively is that they tend to not actually lose weight, they simply change their body's composition by losing fat, and gaining muscle. This is why I tell people that they should stop looking at the scale and instead focus on taking weekly or even daily photos of themselves. I suggest not flexing in said pictures because you are always going to look more toned immediately following a workout than you are going to hours later.
For the sake of overall health, I think it is important to have a wide-variety of physical activities that include both cardio and weight-training. But I also recognize from my own experience and the experiences of those that I have helped to lose weight that it is much easier to stick to a weight-training program and of course, to focus primarily on a diet of eliminating processed sugars and focusing more on proteins.
No matter what method you choose, i think it is important to abandon any sort of "zero to hero" concept because virtually everyone who tries to dramatically change their life all at once fails and not just that, but they tend to put back on even more weight than they had before.
Small, manageable steps is the way to go. I'm living proof.
I did not go to school for this and have zero qualifications to back up my statements. I do, however, have my own life to use as an example and honestly, I'm a pretty lazy person. If I can lose 50+ pounds and gain a bunch of muscle... i believe other normies can do the same thing
