morganstuart's Notizen, 26 Jun 23

Though I may not have any business commenting about exercise, because I am doing really poorly in that area... I would say anything is better than nothing and both can be helpful, but building muscle is the better of the two. Your body continues to burn extra calories after you've finished strength training. The more muscle you have, the more you BMR is. I REALLY NEED TO DO BETTER MYSELF. 😏 

Also... since you are doing more exercise & strength training, taking measurements may be better for you to measure your progress than the scale. You could be gaining muscle & losing fat. Muscle weighs more than fat. 

I agree with the above 

In my experience, strength training is more effective than cardio in weight loss. Strength training continues to burn fat after the workout while cardio doesn't. Doing both is best but if I had to choose I would pick strength. 

Someone else asked this very question today. Im going to say the same thing to you Morgan. Weights/strength training builds muscle. Muscles need more calories to run efficiently i.e. this ups your daily caloric requirement. Cardio helps burn calories also and can be faster than building muscles so while you may see a decline on the scale you may be losing more muscle than intended. You really should incorporate both.  

I bet you have gotten a lot stronger from doing weights. It must feel really good. I just started exercising. I do a little of both and really want to get stronger. I really admire your stick-to-it-ness. If I had been exercising the past 4 years, I would not be so weak.  

You should definitely continue weights, but also if you feel you have the energy to walk two miles instead of one, go for it!! Walking is low impact and not only does it burn extra calories but also is a good recovery exercise. Go for three miles eventually! But I wouldn’t stop lifting.  

It's the weight training that keeps you from having loose flabby skin with a major weight loss. Plus intermittent fasting. 

Strength is all important, the older you get, the more you need your strength. With strength training you get a foundation for the future because you lose muscle mass as you age. Cardio is great, but the calorie burning effects last a short time, more muscle burns more calories just resting. I'm doing some strength training now using my own body weight and resistance to help me keep my balance and support me better when moving. I will increase it as my mobility improves, at my age you don't want to injure yourself with a fall. You would have never heard me say that 6 years ago because I was very active on my farm and strong as a horse. I did not know I was going to have issues with my vision and not be able to see where I was putting my feet. Fear of falling kept me sedentary and it's frightening to realize how quickly strong but untrained muscles lose their strength when not used. Eight years ago I weighed 305 lbs, I could run up and down stairs and never get short of breath. I threw hay bales and 50 lb bags of feed like it was nothing, and I could use a set of post hole diggers for hours putting in fences. Today I go up the steps one at a time, slowly and carefully holding onto the handrail. Do both, swap them out, but don't replace strength training with cardio. 

Resistance training is always superior to cardio but the exercise you are going to do and enjoy is better than nothing.