Cardio or Weight Lifting to Burn Fat faster?

Hey,
I've been calorie counting for the past few months.  I introduced weight lifting about a month and a half ago hoping to end my plateau, and even though I've definitely gained muscle, I'm hoping to burn more fat. I've heard HIITs are really good for that, so I do between 10-15 minutes of them three times a week between my weight training. 

I'm wondering if I should just do cardio for the whole 40 minutes now instead weight lifting for the next couple weeks? I bike to work everyday for 30 minutes each day (I'm not sure if that matters)

Thoughts?

you want to keep weight lifting so that you won't lose muscle mass. otherwise you'll end up with the "skinny fat" look everyone's always talking about.

I generally do cardio and weight lifting. I find it's very effective. Mon, Wed, Fri I have about an hour long workout. 10 min to warm up on the treadmill or bike or something, then weight lifting for however long it takes to get my full body workout in (usually about 25 to 30 min) and then cardio for something like 30 min. Sometimes its a little more than an hour, sometimes a little less.

Tues and Thursday (and sometimes saturday, if I'm feeling ambitious) I do cardio for something like 30 - 45 min. This is usually lap swimming for me.

The really important thing for fat loss is diet, which you say you've already been doing. And if you're doing it right its probably very gradual, so you may not be able to tell that you actually have lost fat. I know that I can't always see the differences, but people tell me how great I look lately and when I see old pics I realize I really do look entirely different. So basically, what I'm saying is, have patience.

Stick with weight lifting. You might find this article interesting: Hierarchy of fat loss.

Thanks for the responses! It's a relief to know I'm doing this right.

amethystgirl, it looks like metabolic resistance training is the best bet for me...I'll try to modify my workout more to that model.

danaofdoom, did you (or others) ever find yousrelf looking more toned but without losing inches or weight?

I do. I'm maintaining now, and have been doing NROLFW. I quit taking my measurements, because I wasn't seeing any changes, but I still look (and feel) a lot better than when I started (and I had been lifting for ~1 year before I started New Rules).

Original Post by oseya:

Thanks for the responses! It's a relief to know I'm doing this right.

amethystgirl, it looks like metabolic resistance training is the best bet for me...I'll try to modify my workout more to that model.

 

danaofdoom, did you (or others) ever find yousrelf looking more toned but without losing inches or weight? 

I definately feel that I look more toned. I gained five pounds, but lost a pants size.

Original Post by danaofdoom:

Original Post by oseya:

Thanks for the responses! It's a relief to know I'm doing this right.

amethystgirl, it looks like metabolic resistance training is the best bet for me...I'll try to modify my workout more to that model.

 

danaofdoom, did you (or others) ever find yousrelf looking more toned but without losing inches or weight? 

I definately feel that I look more toned. I gained five pounds, but lost a pants size.

phhheeeew, that's so comforting! i think the tape measure is definitely the winner.

So if I do a 45 minute gym workout three times a week (including cardio, or HIIT, and weight lifting), should I be doing 20 minutes of cardio, and maybe 25 of weight lifting?

I also go swimming for 25 minutes twice a week at moderate to vigorous effort, and bike an hour to work everyday if that changes anything..

So you have 45 minutes 3x/ a week in the gym + swimming 2X + biking daily, right?

I'm thinking that you get enough cardio from that daily bike ride that you don't need to do any more in the gym.  Instead, try spending the entire 45 minutes doing an intense whole-body weight lifting session, hitting all the major muscle groups with heavy weights!