Weight lifting REQUIRED for weight loss?

[bijank0]

Hi everyone,

I'm an 18 year old male who weighs 168 lbs at 5"10.5'. My weight makes me sound fairly fit (I'm about 17-18% body fat), however, since dropping from 186 in the last 2 months, not many people have told me I look much skinnier, and frankly, I have a long way to go.

My guess is I'd look good at 155 pounds.

Anyway, my method has been eating somewhere from 1500-1700 calories a days and doing cardio 3 times a week. This has worked really well so far, but recently people have been telling me I should eat more ( I eat 1550 most days).

I'm ok with eating less, but people (people being fitness trainer at local gym and my dad, who is an athlete of sorts) are also telling me that cardio is useless and I should do weight lifting. Well, as an artist, I don't get a lot of time to exercise and I never have enough energy for weight lifting, so I'd rather stick to cardio. I know it might be more beneficial, but I really can't do it.

Anyway, people have demotivated me from doing cardio and eating less so now I feel like eating more and exercising, so what do you recommend?

 

[Gator10]

Hey bijank0,

I'm in no way an expert, but I've done a lot of research and looked into this topic myself. It sounds like you've had success with a caloric-deficient diet but have since stalled and therefore are curious about other methods.

I would recommend trying some home activities before spending time in the gym. I personally do push-ups regularly and sometimes convince myself to complete a round of sit-ups. Pull-ups are fantastic and I feel everyone should learn to excel with those, since they build a lot of strength and takes care of "loose" areas (as does much of resistance training).

With regards to energy, do you drink coffee in the morning or have you looked into any kind of "pre-workout" options? I've had success in the past, but couldn't give you any personal recommendations just yet (currently exploring that!). Regardless, if you conjure up the energy to hit the weights, you may find you enjoy it!

Let me know what your thought process is, I'm curious to know your solution. Thanks!