Hey guys,

If you had to choose between cardio or weight lifting (suppose you only have 30 minutes, or for some reason couldn't do both), which would you choose? The ultimate goal being, of course, to lose weight.

I think weight lifting can give long term benefits along with immediate. You are burning calories while you are lifting and since muscle burns more calories than fat, you continue to burn calories long term.

Yep, agreed. If you lift weights hard enough it makes you huff and puff anyway, which is a cardio workout at the same time! If I could only do one, that's what I'd do.

If I only had 30 minutes, I'd do HIIT (high intensity interval training).

Run/walk, or run at a higher speed, then jog at a slower speed. Or alternating weight intervals for 1 minute followed by cardio intervals for one minute.

If I only had 30minutes I would do both simultaneously. Aerobic weight training where I would combine lunges and squats with upper body free weights.

agreed. both are so important to losing weight. also consider alternating days - do 30 minutes of weight training twice a week and 30 minutes of cardio the other days.

I did nothing but cardio for 6 months with moderate results but it wasn't until I started doing weight training and building up the muscle (muscle will help you burn fat) that I REALLY started to lose. Now I do both each week.

Cool, thanks, chickies!!

The squats/lunges with weights as both weight training and cardio is a brilliant idea.

And thanks for reassuring me that lifting weights is worth it! Sometimes I get confused about how it fits into weight loss.