I am not obese but I am a little overweight. My doctor informed me not to do as much cardio because it hurts my back. I was told to do back workouts because Running hurts me. I can lift weights and work on my ab muscles and do lite cardio. I am ok with doing bench press, weight lifting, and other work out machines. I am out to lose weight though. Can I lose weight by weight lifting with a side of light cardio?
If you're looking solely to lose weight, diet is going to be what you need to concentrate on. If you lift weights, you will build muscle, and increased muscle will help increase the efficiency of your metabolism. If you improve your diet with more whole foods than processed, control your portions, and add weight lifting to the mix, you should see weight loss results.
I went from 200 to 184 dieting and lifting weights.
Lifting weights helps a lot, and in my experience, it is EASIER TO KEEP DOING (which is the most important thing) and it helps a lot.
Also, your diet is more important than exercising, so if you don't change how you eat you won't see much change through exercise alone.
Cardio is an invention of the 1960s. Most people never did cardio before then and there were far less overweight people before the 60s too. So it's more about eating then it is exercise anyway. Lifting weights is a good way to stay in shape while losing weight.