Build Muscle to Burn More Caloriesby Ryan
One of the best ways to kick-start weight loss is to build muscle through strength training.
Why?
Because by adding muscle to your body, you’re increasing your metabolic rate. You will naturally burn more calories throughout the day. (Muscle tissue “eats up” calories, even at rest.)
If you are trying to lose weight, a diet alone is a big mistake. As you cut back your food intake without exercising, your body will burn both fat and muscle, thereby lowering your metabolic rate. As your metabolism drops, you will burn fewer calories each day, and it will become increasingly harder to lose weight.
Because by adding muscle to your body, you’re increasing your metabolic rate. You will naturally burn more calories throughout the day. (Muscle tissue “eats up” calories, even at rest.)
If you are trying to lose weight, a diet alone is a big mistake. As you cut back your food intake without exercising, your body will burn both fat and muscle, thereby lowering your metabolic rate. As your metabolism drops, you will burn fewer calories each day, and it will become increasingly harder to lose weight.
A diet plus cardiovascular exercise is better than a diet alone. But the best “recipe” for weight loss–the one with the highest success rate–will include strength training of some kind. Because the more muscle you build, the more calories you’ll burn.
An article by Jane Brody and published in The Rocky Mountain News says this:
With greater muscle mass, your basic metabolic rate will rise and you will burn more calories all day and night. And since muscle holds water and takes up less room than the equivalent weight of fat, by shedding fat and gaining muscle you can lose inches and sizes without losing actual pounds.
With greater muscle mass, your basic metabolic rate will rise and you will burn more calories all day and night. And since muscle holds water and takes up less room than the equivalent weight of fat, by shedding fat and gaining muscle you can lose inches and sizes without losing actual pounds.
As Brody suggests, don’t be surprised if your weight stays the same or even goes up a little bit right after you begin strength training. This is simply muscle replacing fat.
Take my wife, for instance. She is 5′5″. During times when we’ve not exercised consistently, her weight has dropped as low as 116 lbs. But when she is in her best condition, her weight hovers around 120-122 lbs. This is because of increased muscle mass.
Oh, and one more thing: strength training is also excellent for improving sleep. The nights I sleep deepest are when I’ve done some good resistance training and made my muscles work.
Skip the expensive sleep pills… start strength training!
Source: thehealthblog.com
