Hi. I do an in-home walking program as my cardio five times a week. I just ordered a sculpting dvd that uses hand weights, lunges, squats and other forms of exercise for total body toning. Do any of you know if you lose as many calories doing this kind of exercise as you would doing cardio? I would appreciate any responses or info. on this.

Cardio burns more calories *in the act*, as in one hour of cardio burns more calories than one hour of toning,

BUT -

toning is STILL VERY IMPORTANT, because it builds up muscle, which will in turn increase your basal metabolic rate - meaning you'll burn more calories just *sitting*.

So, in other words, the best answer is obvious - both for optimal weight loss (and maintenance!)

Both...definitely the answer is both. Strength training raises your lean muscle mass and so you burn more calories all of the time -- even when you're sleeping, but you also need the cardio for both health and for the calories burned in the moment --and of course, cardio does build some muscle so you'll get some increase of metabolism from cardio, but nowhere near the same amount. Also, strength training will improve the way you look as you get closer to, and reach, your goal. It will help give you that nice, long, lean look...sculpted.

It is important, however, not to do any hard strength training two days in a row. Your muscles need time to recoop and heal (Most of what I've read says 24 hours is good)...so three days a week is really plenty (I just do it every other day). Most cardio you can do every day without a break...but I generally take one day a week off from the cardio too...so my body has a chance to, well, restore.

I wear a heart rate monitor for both cardio and strength training. For strength training you can get a nice burn, if you put all of your effort into it.

For instance, tonight at the gym I managed appx 400 calories in 45 minutes during my back and biceps routine. If I take a lot of breaks or go easy it's obviously considerably less. When I work with my personal trainer my burn is lower because we're guilty of talking too much. I try to do both cardio and strength training on the same day, either in separate sessions or all at once (depending on my schedule).

Do try to get rest days in, like the above poster said. Rest is very important for muscle growth. I split my routine up, into separate body parts for different days (so a set of muscles always gets needed rest) and also have pure cardio days (to lay off strength training entirely). Back when I did full body strength training I'd do that 3x per week, cardio only on the other days.

The above info is right about the importance of building muscles. Muscles = sexier body, higher metabolism, stronger body.

Ladies, thank you so much for the information and good advice!