Hi,
I've recently started a diet but I've been overwhelmed with contrasting information.
For example, some people tell me that the best way to lose weight is to do cardio, some others say the best way is to do weight training. Which one's true? And is it true that doing cardio makes you lose only muscles and not fat? Or is it enough to keep your muscles fit when on a diet?
I'm quite worried of losing muscles and not fat.
I'm really confused...I hope you can help me. Thank you so much for your time.

Good question and good concern.

First and foremost your diet needs to be in check as that is where any goal is going to shine. If you desire you may list it for opinion.

The answer to your question in short...

You use both but as needed and correctly.

A great start would be to incorporate a 2-3x a week full body strength training program of compound (multi joint/muscle) movements like squats, lunges, rows.

And then 1-2 times a week work on an interval cardio training program and work your way up to HIIT if not previously experienced with running or sprinting at a fast pace. This is of course based on your stats and program. Someone largely overweight needs to do just some simple walking and light resistance work for corrective movements. So see it all depends on where you are personally at.

So again if you want to post some more information on what you have been doing, yours stats and diet in detail then we would be more than happy to help in some more detail.

I'm 21 yo, I'm 173 cm (I'm sorry I don't know how many inches they are), I'm 165 lbs and would like to be 143 by august.
I bike for 45 minutes 3/4 times a week.
I went to a doctor to decide my eating plan. I have 1200 calories a day.
this is a tipical day:
breakfast: milk and cereals or toasted bread and tea
snack: fruit
lunch: pasta and vegetables or meat, bread and vegetables, or fish bread and vegetables
snack: fruit
dinner:meat or fish with bread and vegetables.

I don't usually do squats, crunches or things like that because I find them a bit boring but I know I'll have to do them.

Thank you for answering me so promptly!

First off, trusting a doctors advise on nutrition is like asking a plumber how your computer is working. Their specialty is prescribing drugs, not knowing what foods do what.

You want to speak with a RD (Registered Dietitian) Not with a doc that had about 12total hours of nutrition study in college. RD's spend their entire 4 years on the subject.

For example, a doctor will tell a person to take 2 baby aspirins a day for its affects on platelet aggregation and platelet adhesiveness, while an RD will tell you that Vitamin E reduces platelet aggregation and platelet adhesiveness to collagen, MORE so then aspirin ever could. for the Record the RD is correct here.

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Make sure the bread and pasta are WHOLE WHEAT and Whole grains NO white bread/pasta and so on should exist in your diet.

I went to a dietitian, only I didn't know how it was called in English.I'm sorry, English is not my first language.

So what do you think about this study?

What about it? I dont think this silent guy was promoting Vit E, but stating the difference between doctors and nutritionists. Plus this is what I see when I read it anyways:

Those taking vitamin E supplements had a slightly higher death rate than did participants getting a placebo

The rates of death, stroke, heart attack, and cancer were similar for the two groups,

I think your food intake is low as well. Lets do the quick guesstimate: 165*15=2475. Reduce that by 20% and you're at 1980. So somewhere around 1800-2000 would work for you.

Boring?? I guess we're opposites then, because I hate doing aerobic training (cardio). If I had to choose an hour of jogging or being fat, I might choose fat.

Agreed Give me squats anyday of the week.

Hehehe! To each his own

So you think I should increase my calorie intake? I'll work on that then!

Good information. I was wondering borderline the same thing.

Right now, all I want is just to get my body in shape for normal things like walking without getting tired after a few blocks and/or bending down without my gut flowing over my waistline

I plan on running 3 times a week and working out 2 times a week for 30 min each....I really just want to lose some weight and maybe tone my body but thats it

Hrm. I heard that bread is really fattening? So I'd recommend that you didn't eat so much of it...
I know several people who weren't losing any weight with their diets until they removed the bread. And since then, one of them has lost over 100lbs, the others have lost 10-40lbs. Might just be a coincidence...?

No necessarily a coincidence, but maybe they have a wheat sensitivity or allergy.

Some people, from what I've heard, seem to react to that sensitivity in different ways, some having a typical allergic reactions, others gaining weight as a symptom.

My trainer and I were just talking about this the other day -- she took wheat out of her diet (she only ate whole wheats) and she lost some little belly fat that she had been trying to lose for a while. She substituted it with other grains, like buckwheat, to replace that carb.

Just food for thought. She gave me some questionnaires to fill out to see my nutrition habits to see how well I process certain carbs, and if I shouldn't do something similar. I guess we'll see.

I don't eat much bread/wheat as it is, but I've noticed that some things have wheat in it that I didn't expect -- like soy sauce!

What I don't understand is why some people claim to lose a lot of weight (sometimes 50 - 100 lbs) by simply walking. These people don't do any weights and they still lose weight. So, if one doesn't do weights you still lose weight, right? But do you lose MORE weight by adding some kind of strength training? Or, is it unhealthy to lose weight simply with cardio. I'm quite confused. Help would be appreciated.

I am sure someone can correct me if I am wrong but walking is still a great way of exercise if you do it enough and with the right amount of distance.

My mother walks early in the mornings and has lost about 10 pounds. Get her metabolism running and she feels better, earlier in the day.

I think though eventually if people want to get into "real good" shape or tone their body and whatnot....other exercises may be needed.