When I first started calorie counting and working out I lost about 5lbs right away, then a few more but very slowly.

As my endurance has increased, I've been upping my cardio... Between 4-7 miles 6 days a week. I feel great and my body is definitely changing, but the weight loss is so slow.

I do strength training maybe twice a week, and probably only for 15 mins each time. Will decreasing cardio and increasing weights help my weight loss? What have your experiences been with this?

Cardio burns fat, thus increasing weight loss.
Strength training builds muscle which means slower losses, but a more toned body. You'll also need to take in more calories to keep up with your lifestyle.

It just depends on what you want. Do you want to lose pounds slowly, but lose inches quickly while building a nice layer of muscle to be revealed once you reach your goal?

Or do you want to drop the pounds quickly but still have some toning to do after you reach goal.

I personally prefer to lose weight more quickly and do cardio, you'll still have some tone because you are working your muscles, but not so much it slows down weight loss. I won't really be able to see the muscle I'm building until I lose weight, and I won't know if I like the way my body is building muscle (The neck hump, overly toned arms, man butt), until the fat comes off. I've also read that every 3 pounds of muscle you build burns only 120 extra calories. I'd rather get to goal first.

you are tall so mabey you are at or close to your ideal weight... i would measure yourself and redecide what a good weight really is and focus on all around health instead of pounds lost, and the closer to your goal the harder it will be.. and i think runners are way more attractive than body builders!!

I lost a majority of my weight doing circuit training. I would do some circuits that incorporated body weight exercise, dumbbell work and then one minute of some high intensity cardio exercise (skipping, treadmill sprints, mountain climbers, etc). The idea is to keep your heart rate elevated. If you're lifting weights you don't want to be sitting for a long time in between. You want to moving the whole time keeping your heart rate up.

Weight training adds muscle mass but it's very hard for women to add bulk unless you are a) lifting heavy, b) have lots of testosterone and c) are creating a calorie *surplus*. What you might notice when you first start weight training is that you're swollen which causes your muscle to retain water so you feel "bulkier" and you gain a pound or two initially. But if you're restricting your calories (in whatever eating plan you're following) and keeping your heart rate up you should be good. At the end of the day weight training puts you in a better place to burn fat because you're adding lean muscle mass which increases your basal metabolic rate.

And cardio I just threw in for an extra calorie burn. Cardio was never the foundation of my weight loss program.

If your only goal of weight loss is to see a low number on the scale the best thing to do is keep a calorie deficient.

If you want to improve your health, lose inches, and have more energy, weight lifting is the way to go. Certainly there are advantages to cardio and I do do cardio about 3x a week but I see that as something that I'm doing for my heart/lungs and because I enjoy it. Not something related to shaping my body and weight loss. I DO so lifting as that though.

I can tell you that I've been at this weight before without lifting and I'm wearing at least a size smaller. I can also tell you I didn't have this stamina that I have now and I'm older too.

The whole concept that women lifting weight = looking like a body builder is such a ridiculous idea that, well, I'm doing my best not to rant quite a bit here. I have a VERY feminine figure (thank you very much!) and I lift HEAVY weights. One of my goals is to eventually deadlift my body weight and eventually managed to do pull-ups. Yet, I also have an hourglass figure and certainly don't lack from male attention (not something I'm even remotely soliciting being that I'm happily married).

FWIW, I've been both a runner and a lifter (actually, I'd be doing both at the same time right now if not for my crappy knees!) and lifting has really changed my body the most. I might not be losing 10lbs a month like some but I'm wearing a size 8/10 even though I'm 19lbs above an ideal BMI.

In order to get the body builder physique you'd have to be lifting ALL day EVERYDAY on a seriously restrictive diet. Adding in steriods too for that matter... Seriously, can we PLEASE move past this ridiculous idea that heavy lifting turns women in the she-hulk????????????? You do realize that all the contestants on the biggest loser-esque shows are doing some serious lifting and none of them look like men!!!!

ETA: Sorry, I did end up going off on a rant... as to the OP. I do want to tell you that if you do lift then expect to maybe some some craziness on the scale for a bit. Not something to stress about! It's just the water retention from your muscles being torn and repaired. You are pretty close to your goal weight so things are going to go slowly for you. That's why weight lifting is going to give you the most bang for your buck. You'll see your inches change quicker. Running (and cardio in general) is great but if you're doing a lot (like training for a race etc) your body becomes more efficient and running for longer distances means you burn less and less calories over time. The best way to do something like running is through interval training, which will burn the most calories.

runningfromfat - I totally agree with you. Today I deadlifted 175lbs and last week I did a power clean (olympic lifting move) at 105lbs. I lift heavy too and there are girls at my gym that lift much heavier than me but they are *tiny* and have awesome, defined muscles. It's about body type too.

Thanks and that is amazing, really! I'm jealous!

I want to add something too... it's actually really offensive that women have to be weak to be attractive. That a man (or women) wouldn't be attracted to a strong women simply because she has muscles, is, well, mind boggling!

I'll add I also ran a half marathon last year. I love running and I was running a ton and my body was not what I wanted it to be. I'm much tighter now. I would be running more if I wasn't having knee issues but I would never stop doing the weights I'm doing now.

runningfromfat -it's CrossFit. You do some crazy s***!

Yeah this bothers me too. For reasons already said.

Lifting does not bulk women up.

And sticking with cardio (and giving others a reason to do so to) to achieve the "runner's body" of very thin favors vanity over health. Strength training is critical for protecting muscles, joints, boosting bone strength and preventing osteoporosis...

And any runner who doesn't also lift is just begging for an injury.

Sorry, you just hit a nerve. I'm just tired of seeing females I now, and women in general, choosing thin over health.

And other females encouraging that.

I totally agree with you. That comment really struck me the wrong way because it feeds into the idea that women who lift weights are unattractive and man-like. In reality lifting weights is one of the best things a woman can do for herself!

I LOVE lifting weights too and it bothers me when I'm at the gym (at my weight lifting class DESIGNED for women!) and so many women who could easily lift more are choosing less because they don't want to "bulk up." I've been adding to the amount I can lift and lifting heavier hand weights and they all scold me, saying I'm going to get too muscular.

If anything, lifting weights is the reason I'm still in the overweight BMI but getting into smaller and smaller sizes! It's probably also the reason why the scale hasn't moved in over two weeks but I've gone down a dress size in that time!

And where did the inches come off? My waist! Now I have more of an hourglass figure

One of the reasons I stopped running was because I was already getting a lot of cardio in my spin classes and I found running aggravated my knees. I'm lighter now, so while I wouldn't mind giving running another shot, I would much rather train to lift heavier weights. I'm going to go out and buy some heavier hand weights since I'm already lifting the heaviest we have at the gym and I know I need to move up

The idea that bodyweight training or "light" weights will "tone" and "elongate" the muscle drives me nuts to. A muscle doesn't "tone" or 'elongate". Muscle grows or muscle shrinks. That's it. You're either doing exercises that are anabolic ("Muscle building") or catabolic ("Muscle wasting"). Intense weight training *with* cardio would be my ideal weight loss program. Cardio just speeds up the process and burns calories but weight training will keep you thin and lean.

I think everyone is entitled to their own opinion. If the poster who thought that runners look better than bodybuilders thinks so, it's her opinion. If it makes you feel better to lift weights and you think it looks good, then by all means. Everyone has their own standards of what looks good and what doesn't. No need to take offense because someone doesn't think your standard of beauty isn't their cup of tea.

I however agree that it's definitely good to mix both in. I like working with resistance bands. I like the control and I like the way my body tones from them. I used to lift heavy weights, and my arms were bulky. Didn't like it. Lean and long is achieved through running and specific strength training.

In response to the original question, I think regarding weight loss, diet is most important. As is often said on 3FC, you can't out-exercise poor eating habits. If you're not watching what you eat either through calorie counting or low-carbing or portion control or whatever plan you choose to follow, and you have a tendency to overeat, it might be difficult to lose weight.

That being said, if you're looking at using exercise to supplement a healthy diet for weight loss purposes, cardio will create a larger calorie deficit and aid you in seeing faster scale results. Strength training will help you build muscle and in the long run raise your metabolism and I suppose help you look leaner.

Personally, I'm more of a cardio person: I jog, do aerobics and have also more recently gotten into kickboxing. I DO do some strength training, mostly body weight exercises and adding weights to my body for my workouts but I don't really do any lifting. Why? There's absolutely nothing against it. I've tried it and it's just not a challenge I enjoy personally. But being that you're already at a healthy weight, if you're just trying to get leaner, it might be something you find you enjoy or want to get into.

I think ultimately if you stick with a healthy diet and keep up with exercise that contains some balance of cardio and strength, depending on what you enjoy, you'll achieve your goal. Just keep on keeping on. You can do it!

There's a difference between women (or men) who lift to look good and who lift to be body builders and compete in weight lifting events.

I do cardio 5x a week and weight training 3x a week. Having to much of a calorie deficit (between dieting and exercise) will cause you to lose muscle 'weight' not just fat 'weight'. I want fat loss, not weight loss, so I lift.