Goodmorning everyone...

Along the topic of fat burning and weight training, I was reading some posts here where people were saying that they don't bother doing much weight training because they need to lose the fat first...then they will concentrate on toning muscles. I was under the impression that weight training will build muscles (whether you can see them yet or not) which will aid in making the fat burning process quicker. Is this true? I am trying to lose about 10 lbs. a month and I am doing 45 minutes of cardio a day and in 3 day intervals...legs, arms, then abs. I am trying not to get too technical yet but I am hoping what I am doing is right. I do 3 sets of 8-15 with just enough resistance to tire the muscle group by the end of the 3rd set. I am finding these are getting easier now so should I increase the weight or the number of reps? I am trying to eat a well balanced diet (which I am finding is harder than the exercise :-) ) Any imput would be appreciated!

You're doing everything right. Muscle does help you to burn fat, so weight lifting will help. Some people (like me) get discouraged if they don't see an improvement right away or if the scale doesn't change. I think that might be why some people lose the weight first and then tone up... You have motivation in seeing the scale change for the first part and then see muscle for the second part. Sounds to me like you're doing a good job to stay motivated though, keep doing what you're doing!

The reason some people like to burn the fat off first is because it's covering up the muscles and if they lift weights, they won't see the results of all that effort. A good example is ab work. You can develop those muscles but a lot of people think it's a waste of time if the fat hasn't been burned off the ab muscles first. Another reason people like to burn the fat off first is that if you build muscle, then it'll push the fat out even farther making you look bigger. This happens to some people who do a lot of ab work. They muscles push the fat out and it makes their stomach stick out farther.

I would incorporate both weight training and cardio and then use trial and error from there. Also, take what you want to accomplish into consideration. Everyone is different and responds differently to exercise so be aware of that. Stay with the weight traing and do the cardio but not too much, especially if you are just starting out. Weight training will allow you to build muscle,which in turn will increase your metabolism and thus you will be more efficient at burning calories even at rest.