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• Pursuing overly restrictive diets that stifle recovery and do not provide adequate fuel for training.
• Overemphasising high-intensity cardio that leaves less energy for strength training.
• Thinking that weight training alone will burn enough calories to create a meaningful calorie deficit.

As with any attempt to address two goals at the same time, a delicate balance is needed. There are several options at your disposal.

1. Focus on a Calorie Deficit to Lose Weight Whilst Getting Stronger

Weight loss only occurs with a calorie deficit. Consuming 500 calories less than what you expend daily is often recommended as a sustainable approach. Often (but not always), it’s easier to create this deficit by altering food intake than it is by getting them to burn around 500 calories in the gym every day. Therefore, if you establish a 500 calorie deficit through changing your eating habits, then you’re free to focus on building strength (rather than burning calories) in the gym.

The Benefits – your workouts will revolve around building strength, with weight loss occurring in the background. This maximises your strength gains. Strength training for weight loss will still burn some calories, which may put a dent in your calorie deficit. By pursuing a dedicated strength training programme, it’s easier to get the “lifting bug” than if your training is divided.

The Drawbacks – This method is reliant on your adherence to a calorie deficit. For a lot of people, dietary adherence isn’t easy. If you’re going to consistently restrict calories from your diet, you have to be prepared for the possibility that this will impact your social life and enjoyment of food.

As always with weight loss dieting, there is also the chance of developing unhealthy eating behaviours such as a preoccupation with food and dieting. If you’re considering making lifestyle changes for weight loss, it’s important to consider your motivation for doing so.

2. Focus on Strength and Weight Loss Training at the Same Time

This option divides your training into two halves. In the first half, you focus on strength training as per option 1. In the second half, you focus on increasing energy expenditure in workouts. This can be done using steady state cardio, circuits, or your activity of choice. My one recommendation is to avoid using HIIT for this purpose: save your high-intensity effort for your strength training.

You can split your training across a session or across a week. For example:

	Session Split	Week Split
Workout 1	Squats and Steady State Cardio	Whole Body Strength
Workout 2	Deadlifts and Arm/Core Circuit	Full Cardio session, maybe 1-2 Assistance Exercises

The Benefits – As energy expenditure from workouts is now increased, there is arguably more flexibility in your diet. As long as you didn’t add anything to your diet, these workouts should put a bigger dent in your energy balance than in option 1. There are also health benefits to training in a way that raises the heart rate and creates some fatigue as opposed to just dieting to lose weight.

The Drawbacks – It’s not uncommon for your calorie intake to increase when you start training. Your energy expenditure has increased, after all, and your appetite may spike. Although you can burn a moderate amount of calories from increasing your energy expenditure in the gym, this method should not be considered a way to lose weight without any dietary control.

Other Tips for Building Strength and Losing Weight

Know Your “Why”

The common theme with these options is that some level of deficit is required. This either comes from restricting your calorie intake, or by maintaining your calorie intake and increasing work.

A calorie deficit can be difficult to maintain, hence why losing weight is notoriously difficult to do sustainably. For this reason, it’s important that your motivation for losing weight is solid.

Weight loss motivation based on external sources (such as social media and peer pressure) are hardly ever that helpful in the long term. If these are your primary reasons for losing weight, then you may find your motivation wavering before long.

Make sure that your weight loss goals align with your values, rather than just pursuing weight loss because of external pressures.

Use a Training Max

A training max is where you choose your lifting numbers based on 90-95% of your historical lifting numbers.

Example: If you have previously squatted 100kg for 3 reps, and you have to squat for 3 reps again today, then you should aim to start your first set around 90-95kg.

A training max assumes you are a little weaker than you actually are. This can be useful when you’re restricting your energy availability and performing endurance work in the gym; two things that can impact your strength levels.

People’s strength levels fluctuate on a weekly basis at the best of times, so it’s best to be prepared for these fluctuations when training to build strength and lose weight.

Conclusion

Training to get stronger and lose weight at the same time can be a tricky proposition, especially if you’re a little more experienced in the gym. This combination of goals requires a strategic approach. If this is something you’re struggling with, get in touch below for a free training consultation.