I'm thinking about adding 2 days of strength training each week, but I'm worried that will slow down my weight loss. It wouldn't be anything crazy - hand held weights & like squats & stuff. Anyone know if that will help or hinder?

If anything, it will increase it because muscle burns fat. I have been doing strength training since starting, and it hasn't affected my weight loss.

I think it will definately help, and its a lot of fun! really breaks up a work out routine

It HELPS! Trust me on this! When you are building muscle it increases your metabolism because muscle burns fat! I know that it has had a strong part in my weight coming off so quickly. DO NOT be afraid of weights! Esp hand held ones =) That is what I use and love how much stronger I am because of them!

Good luck Madison!

Don't be worried about lifting weights. I just started a workout routine with weights, twice a week, also. It leaves me feeling sore, but that means I'm getting somewhere, right?! I also feel so strong and more confident after weights. They also say to never lift weights two days in a row. Your muscles are actually being broken down and you need to let them have time to rebuild themselves.

Good luck with this, and I hope you do decide to lift weights, if that's what's right for you! =)

Thanks for asking this Madison, I've been wondering the same thing!

Helps... TONS! I don't lose with just cardio, gotta build that muscle to burn those calories. Oh and don't lift like a girl!! That's the best advice I ever got, from this super-ripped hot girl trainer who worked for the Navy. None of that crappy 2 or 5 pound lifting. Chalean Extreme is a great at-home weight lifting program that teaches you to lift heavy. In 90 days it changed the shape of my body.

This sounds like blasphemy to dieters, but...don't worry about the scale! Weight training is great for your bones, your spine, your brain, your hormones...darn near everything you need to function. Don't think of it as slowing down your efforts, in reality it is greatly helping. It might slow down the numbers on the scale, which can be disheartening, but you will lose serious inches.

Cardio burns muscle and fat, strength training builds muscle, which is essential to health and strength and vitality. I'd recommend taking a break from the scale and instead using a pair of jeans as your barometer for a few weeks. I am super crazy when it comes to the scale. I could fit into the same pair of jeans but be a few pounds less and be over the moon, or I could be ripped and fit into a small pair of jeans but be the same weight and I know that I would be just as happy with both, which is stupid because one of the whole points in losing weight is to look good!!! Weights keep you from being a flabby mess or worse, skinny fat. This is my first time measuring by jeans and not the scale and I am so much more motivated. A low number on the scale just bums me out and makes me not want to bother, but fitting into those jeans is easy when I'm exercising and lifting and therefore much better motivation.

I guess that's my very very very verbose way of saying that come bikini season you will be glad you lifted!!!

Truthfully, its sooo difficult to put on mass and weight through lifting that it won't negatively effect you. It will make you look and feel better and stronger. A lot of women have misconceptions about weight training and think that suddenly they will gain two pounds from ten pound dumbells. Trust me on this, if you could gain two pounds of muscle in a month you, as a female are on something. To build signifigant mass you have to lift heavy and EAT like its your job. I've been lifting through school for near 8 years and heavy and it hasn't hulked me out...though some may disagreewith that statement. If anything its sexy and makes you feel really good about yourself...or maybe that's just how I feel? haha. Go for it!

That's a great way to put it! It's certainly a perk I'm looking forward to!

The only times that I have effectively lost weight and genuinely felt good about myself has been when I was doing strength training. And that is exactly what I'm starting up again to get me going! (You would think I wouldn't have stopped wouldn't you.... lesson learned. again.)

And I don't know about others, but I have always found strength training to be fun. If I'm on a stationary bike or a treadmill, I'm constantly watching the time to see when I'm done. All the different routines you can do strength training keeps it interesting. And if you have an iphone/ipod touch then there's a workout program that sets up a routine for you which I've found handy.

GL!

I agree that 2lb lifting for long periods of time isn't that great but my trainer recommends 5-10 pounds for me and my goals of being cut (after losing the fat) and I have seen AMAZING progress in the way my body has taken shape. I don't believe you have to lift heavy weights to get cut, unless you wanna be ripped like a body builder.


prepping - I couldn't agree with you more! I find the weight training to be SO MUCH more fun than any other activity! I also love medicine balls and kettlebells though =) Maybe we are just weird. =)