Ok, ive been trying to loose weight for a few years now. I need to loose at least a 100 lbs, but I want to shoot for more...or at least get rid of the gut and the flabbyness. I've had numermous freinds and people appraoch me and tell me that lifting burns fat faster and more effectintly while creating muscle and toning up. Is there any truth to this?

I could deal with weight lifting, but I have a hard time sticking to cardio. So I was wondering if this statement has truth to it and if its a better idea to persue lifting to burn fat instead of doing cardio.

Thanks in advance.

Weight lifting does not burn fat to any significant degree, however it can increase your metabolism, which will result in fat burning. And no, fat can't be turned into muscle.

Fat and muscle are two different kind of tissue that can only be burned or built, not converted into one or the other. But as mentioned, the increase of muscle does increase metabolism and burns some calories, but not nearly as many as cardiovascular exercise. You really need both (in addition to clean diet) in order to get real, lasting weight loss. Trying to keep with only one or the other will slow your progress.

I agree with the previous posts. From all the anatomy/physiology classes I've taken, fat cells will not disappear. Unless you physically remove them, in case like liposuction. They can all shrink, but will never disappear. Along with muscle cells, they can either bulk up or slim down.

With weight lifting, depending on how heavy you set the weights and how many reps you do, they will increase your metabolism b/c you're creating more muscle mass which requires more energy to keep. So in turn, will burn more calories.

Your body runs on calories, so depends on the #calories going in vs #calories being expended. To lose 1lbs of fat requires a 3600 calories burned. Food for thought.

To answer your question; no, fat cells are completly different from muscle cells and will NOT change from one to another.

I am no trainer, but just giving info from my experience.
Good luck to you.