-Diablo's Journal, 02 August 2021

hiya i have been reading your comments about cardio and strength in regards with fat bunting. with your expertise and experience i have the same experience but in complexity opposite way. no exercise and no concept of diet. to cut short with growing up and not looking after have out on fat deposits that might become health issue in future. so my question is in short time if one wants to burn fat would cardio and strength combination would be better or would u still stick with cardio. limitations : can’t go to gym can only use my body weight to excersise max have 30-40 minutes excerise time food intake to 1900 calories or less F 30 % P 20 % C 50% trying to achieve that. 4-5 months expected time to move from 92kg-75-70 kg do u still think cardio would be more effective or strength excersies. thank you.  

Push yourself as hard as you can on either during that 30 minute window and you'll see 😉. Basically, you can't sprint for 30 minutes straight, so a jog/light run is the best you can hope for. An all-out HIIT program can't last very long either. But 30 minutes of resistance training (with all the little recovery breaks - which still keep your metabolism on fire) will not only burn fat more consistently, but there's the "afterburn" effect wherein you continue to use energy for 1hr+ after completing the workout. The goal is to push yourself to do just one more ___ before collapsing into a break. "You can relax when the 30 minutes expires". But do as much as you can, dedicate all effort into that short time and you'll feel stronger, sleep better, lose fat (if you stick to eating properly), gain some muscle (not bulky "man muscles"), and it'll help you set a goal other than an arbitrary target weight! Those of us that are on this train rarely get off one we see the magic it spins!  

To do both - if you're in a time crunch - would be to waste energy on the cardio whereas the more efficient "fat burner" is gonna be your calisthenics. If you can get ahold of some cheap exercise bands or dumbbells, they'll assist in speeding up the process as you'll burn even more energy too! 👌 

I would do calisthenics for the time that you have. Push-ups, bodyweight squats, bands, and for the love get some dumbbells. A cheap pullup bar you can place in a door frame would also work wonders. 

Look at that guy's profile. I mean, c'mon... who're ya gonna trust: the giant muscle man-mountain or the dumpy, frumpy, grumpy bear? 😜  

Oh wait - we both said the same thing.  

Thank you both very much. i am using an app that is called FIIT. they have excercise for both cardio and strength. but very strange. thing when i search a fat burning excersies they give me cardio not strength. but i guess u guys are right it makes more sense. i was concentrating on calories actually and comparing them with fat burning as well. i am trying to burn more and not eat fat and carbs more then required. i was sticking to 1900 and plan to go down till and try to lose the fat. but it’s been helpful guys. thanks and much appreciate it.now that i am comparing fat burn via fitbit app ur theory is more practical. i shall seek some dumbbells now to help the process.  

The more you weigh, the more your body burns at rest. Especially when the extra weight is muscle. It's hard to overcome the habit of overconsuming calories. What happens when you overconsume calories when lifting? You replace fat with muscle lowering your body fat percentage and getting healthier. You reverse diabetes and other medical ailments like high blood pressure. What happens when you overconsume when doing only cardio? You spin your wheels. Go to any gym where there are serious lifters. Where are the leaner people? Lifting weights. Where are the people who have a high body fat percentage and look the same year in and year out? Going from one cardio machine to another. This is what I've noticed over my 21 years of lifting. It's almost always the case. 

Thank you for the info Diablo360x and Chris77 

The sad thing is not many people associate getting lean with lifting. Everyone is like "I'll start lifting once I get this weight off." Not know that lifting will give them a more favorable end result AND they won't have to lose as much or cut calories as harshly. A new lifter who is also obese will be able to radically change their body composition because not only will they get the "noob gains", they will gain even more because their body has more energy to work with to create even more lean mass then someone who started off skinny. 

You're welcome kkhan and Sugar Waffle. 

“I will reach my target and then start toning” 😆 

That last comment by Diablo is so true. I make sure to train as hard as I can when I'm in a deficit to retain lean mass. 

My dad has become more supportive of resistance training since he saw my flexed biceps. He knows about hypertrophy (used the word) but also says things like "toning" lol and that any exercise has the same result. The knowledge of the general population, even the educated, is pretty low when it comes to body composition. 

Kkhan, if you want to give a go at resistance bands , have a look at Peter Miljak on Instagram. The guy shows how to work your whole body with it. 👌 

LC, my dad lost a huge amount of weight last year and I remember one day he showed interest in using my dumbbells and resistance bands 😆 He is 60, doesn’t have a clue of what he is doing or what muscles he is exercising but he started to enjoy it. Hopefully he is still using it since I returned to UK and he kept everything. People shouldn’t judge what they never tried.  

Paula, I hope he is still using them, it can only do him good. I noticed you're from Madeira. Today is "eat at maintenance" day and I ate the bread. Can't get enough of it. 

LC, I always told my dad off about his weight, unfortunately It took him a trip to the hospital for a week or 2 to decide to change. I shall ask him if he is still doing those wall pushups I told him about and if he is still using the gear 😆 At least I now know he won’t call me manly or skinny. It took him a while to accept my tattoos while I was chubby so tattoos and some baby muscles will be the real challenge 😂 P.s that’s so funny. Yfritz put me in the mood for it too. If you are having a rest from weights today, that combined with that bread .. will make you drop something on the scale (it happened to me) 🤭 

Pity that it sometimes takes a health crisis for people to change. Lol, it must be difficult for a more conservative (I'm imagining) older Madeiran gentleman to accept tattoos and lifting weights, but it sounds like he is open to learning. I hope you are right about "dropping something" - it can happen with a rest day and some comforting carbs. 

That bread and all the amazing sweets though...I was so chunky my first year in Madeira.