Strength Training is Key to Losing Weight

 

Did you know that?! If you simply do cardio and starve yourself you will not only lose fat but also muscle mass, which is really, really bad for you, since muscles are what actively burn calories.

Here are some facts for you to think over:

1. No big weights are needed. You don’t need to be bench pressing 300 pounds or deadlifting your car, but adding a little bit of weight training into your cardio will help keep the muscles under the fat alive and working, which will in turn help you burn off all the excess calories even faster.
2. Losing muscle mass is bad!!! When you try and starve yourself to lose weight you are actually losing muscle mass, which happens to weigh anywhere from three to ten times as much as fat! Muscle mass declines because you don’t need as much to hold up all the fat that is now slipping off and of course you don’t have enough calories to actually keep your muscle mass.
3. Weight training will speed up your results. Because muscle burns calories you will see the fat loss much fast then if you simple reduce calories and do cardio.
4. Better results!!! When the fat burns off you will not have to work on toning up your body, but your underlying muscles that were once covered in fat will show, and you will end up with the toned and muscular body that you wanted.

I am getting a little tire of hearing everyone talk about extreme diets that will burn off the fat or starving themselves for results or simply whining about the fact that their cardio is not working and while they lost a good chunk of weight to start with they hit a plateau and can’t get out of it. 

The honest truth is that the scale lies. Literally!!!! Your fancy scale does not take into account the fact that you might have larger then average bones, or your muscle mass under the layer of fat is actually significant. If you set a goal of wanting to weigh 130 pounds you have to also figure out exactly how much muscle you need to build and how much fat to lose to be at that weight.

Instead of setting a number on the scale as a goal figure out what dress or jeans you want to fit into and what you want to look like, then work towards this goal.

I can tell you this from my own experience. When I started going to the gym again a few months ago, I lost about 5 pounds, and I had a goal of about 15 to 20, then realized that I was gaining it back, but I still fit into my clothes better. I’m back to being about a 144 pounds right now, at 5’7” that is at the very end of the “okay weight” however, I feel better, I fit into my jeans better and my legs are less jiggely. While I still have a ways to go to my perfect goal it is no longer about the number on the scale but rather about what I feel like and how I look when seeing myself in the mirror.

If you don’t believe me go check out this article.