training now? i still have all my weight to lose and I know cardio is what is going to skim off the fat, but should I wait till I am at my goal weight to start training with weights? or should I start building lean muscle now, to be revealed when that final layer of fat comes off? starting now makes sense even if I won't see real results till I'm at my goal weight....
also, being that I am OLD and not very flexible, and have been overweight forever, i have lots of joint issues, tight back etc. are there any exercises that are gentle on the back and knees, but still give a good workout? I don't have access to a gym, just a very basic set of dumbells and a weight bench.
any advice would be appreciated! thanks,
tracyg

No. It's not a waste of time. Building muscle will help you burn more calories.

It is never a waste to weight train. There are tons of simple exercises you can find on websites (women's health has good ones or go to indigo and look at books for ideas). Just make yourself a little routine that encompasses all the major muscle groups: back, chest, bicep and tricep, quads, hamstrings, calves, abs. Your body weight is enough for most exercises like squats and lunges to begin with anyway. Muscle burns more calories than fat throughout the day so it will help you to lose weight as well as cardio. I do weights min 2 -3 times per week.

It is hard to gain much muscle while you are losing weight, but lifting will definitely help you hold onto the muscle you already have.

I also suspect it might help prevent or mitigate some of the dreaded loose skin problems. At least it seems to me like people that trained hard while they lost weight had less loose skin than those that dieted alone.

When I was 360 lbs, I started first with weights. I lost a bunch of weight before even touching cardio. I love weights and it has helped me so much in my weight loss.

Not a waste of time at all! In fact, lifting weights will help you to lose weight more quickly, and will help you to see progress as you tighten up.

Body for Life for Women is a great book to help you get started. A number of us here started with the original BFL, and several are currently following the BFLFW.

In terms of your joints and flexibility, you will definitely want to take it slow and easy - lots stretching, and focus on lifting form until you get stronger.

If you do it, you'll not regret it!
Cindy

Tracey - I am also old (62) and I lift weights along with doing cardio. For one thing it helps with strength. I love to travel and being strong lets me hump my luggage around, in and out of trains, etc. It lets me haul in the groceries where some 16 year old packed all the cans in one bag. Grrrr. As to not being flexible, try some yoga or other gentle stretching.

Short answer: YES, start now.

Besides, why do you want to spend all that time losing the weight and still have a flabby body when you get there? Start weights now and you'll look FANTASTIC once you get there.

Here's a recent blog post by Alwyn Cosgrove citing some studies. I think you will see weight training is not only not a waste of your time at this stage in your transformation, but actually should be a priority.

http://alwyncosgrove.blogspot.com/20...le-loss-q.html

I enjoyed reading it. I have a question for any who care to respond. What do you think he means by this, in a response to a question from a reader. I tried to search his site for it, but no luck. Here's the quote:

PS - If you're 40lbs overweight - you need a beginner's fat loss program. I don't care how "advanced" you are.


What constitutes a "beginner's fat loss program?" Is that lots of cardio, something related to diet, or what exactly. Thanks!

Basically, the beginner comment was addressed to the questioner who felt that since he was an advanced lifter that perhaps the high rep work shouldn't apply to him. In Alwyn's opinion, no matter how advanced you may be as a lifter, in terms of a fat loss program, if you have that much fat to lose, you need to start with the fat loss basics and part of Alwyn's basics includes some high rep work which some may feel is only appropriate to beginning lifters.

Alwyn makes similar comments about advanced lifters- beginner fat losers in this podcast interview

http://www.maxoutradio.com/page/2/

As for what is a beginner program, steady state cardio is actually pretty far down on his list. Nutrition is the key, resistance training is critical, High intensity intervals are next. He lays it all out in "The Hierarchy of Fat Loss"

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1526539

As far as Lean System 7 and muscle milk together being overkill. No. They are totally different animals and don't work together or against each other. That said, I'm not a big fan of fat burners and I think they may be of limited use to those who have plateaued trying to get off the last few pounds but, in my opinion, they are not something to use just starting out for multiple reasons. 1. The body quicky adapts to the stimulant. 2. If the user does not know enough to cycle properly, they will subject the body to the stimulant for a prolonged period of time which could be harmful. 3. The user leans on the pill and does not give proper focus to nutrition. These may or may not apply to you. I don't know. This is just my general opinion and not a judgement. I would pass on the Lean System 7. Of course, this is a personal choice that you need to make for yourself.

Muscle milk will not automatically help you gain lean muscle. It is a MRP product that will give you some quality protein along with some carbs and fat. Depending upon your diet as a whole, this may be right or wrong for you. You may be better off with a protein only powder instead of the full MRP or your macronutrient content of your diet may be fine as is and you may not really need to supplement at all.

I would not worry about building too much muscle on your arms as it is difficult for a woman to get too bulky anyway because of hormonal differences but when you couple it with a prolonged caloric deficit and you need to worry more about holding on to the muscle you have rather than worry about building too much muscle. The size of your arms will start to shrink as the fat comes off. If that doesn't appear to happening right now, it is because fat doesn't come off evenly across the body. This may be a case, where you lose arm fat later than other areas. Give it time.

If you are still worried about building muscle in your arms, my suggestion would be to keep lifting as you are (as heavy as you can in the 12 rep range) but to drop direct arm work. Focus on the big compound exercises. You arms will still get sufficiently worked with movements such as presses, rows, pulls and you will be burning more calories now and elevating your metabolism for longer periods in the process.

Fluffy,

I would add that I was pretty frustrated at my arms not going down very much but they have gone down quite a bit in the last 130 lbs. I started with 21 inch arms and now they are down to 14 inches. The girth there is fat and I can feel it. Even though I've lifted heavy and lift to failure, my arms never actually got bigger over the course of my weight loss. They just aren't shrinking as much as I'd like them. I can feel muscle but still the fat is the part that is making them so big. I'm patient though and know they will go down eventually if I keep plodding along.