Training For Weight Loss Success
by Deborah L.
Why Diets Don't WorkIf you go "on a diet", what does that mean? That you will eventually
go "off the diet". If you haven't changed your eating and physical activity
behaviors, what's going to happen? Rationally, you know the answer, but emotionally, you
engage in wishful thinking, hoping that this time you will lose the weight and keep it
off. What weight are we talking about? When people tell me they lost 12 pounds in two
weeks, I ask "12 pounds of what?" On low-calorie diets, about 25 percent of the
weight loss may be muscle (Ballor & Polehlman 1994).
Losing muscle is a bad thing. Muscle tissue is very active--it burns a lot of calories.
Every pound of muscle burns about 35 calories per day, just staying alive. Using the above
example, if you lost 12 pounds, then, you lost three pounds of muscle. You would be
burning 105 less calories per day or 3150 per month. Since there are 3500 calories in a
pound of fat, you would gain almost one pound of fat per month just from the muscle mass
that you lost!
Why The Middle-Aged Spread Keeps SpreadingInactive adults lose around one-half pound of muscle per year, or five pounds
per decade. Since most people continue to eat as much as usual, what's going to happen? If
you take in more calories then you burn, the extra calories get stored as fat. Fat is less
dense then muscle---a pound of fat takes up more room than a pound of muscle. This means
that as you lose muscle and gain fat, your weight might remain the same over the years,
but your waistline will continue to expand!
Rev Up Your Metabolism--The Key to Permanent Weight LossHow can we lose and keep off extra fat? You need to increase your resting
metabolic rate (RMR), which is the pace your body burns calories at rest. Your RMR is
closely linked to the amount of muscle you have--remember, muscle burns more calories than
fat. Adding muscle will raise your RMR and will greatly increase the chance that the
weight loss (more accurately fat loss) will be maintained.
Strength Training Versus Aerobic ExerciseContrary to what many people think, strength training is as important, maybe
more important to successful fat loss than aerobic exercise. The reason lies in the amount
of calories that are burned when you aren't exercising. Depending on the intensity and
your weight, an aerobic workout (walking, cycling, stairstepping) will burn approximately
300 calories per hour. If the exercise is strenuous enough (which is unlikely in the
beginning exerciser) the RMR will be elevated temporarily up to a few hours afterwards.
Compare this to strength training which elevates the RMR permanently. The RMR accounts for
60 to 75 percent of your daily calorie expenditure, so even a modest increase will help
burn off more fat.
One study (Campbell 1994) found that a three-month basic strength-training program
resulted in the subjects gaining three pound of muscle and losing four pounds of fat,
while eating 370 more calories per day (a 15 percent calorie increase). Remember, aerobic
exercise generally doesn't increase muscle tissue. In fact, excessive amount of aerobic
exercise combined with a low-calorie diet can cause the loss of some muscle tissue. This
is not to say that overweight individuals shouldn't do aerobic exercise--it offers many
health benefits and is a part of a weight loss program. It's just that aerobic exercise by
itself may not be the best solution for permanent weight (fat) loss.
Don't think that you need to workout in a gym for two hours to strength train.
Significant gains can be made with a consistent 30-minute workout performed 2 -3 times per
week. This could be your key to successful weight control!
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