When we want to lose weight, we tend to combine calorie-cutting with sweaty aerobic exercise. This is all well and good, but there’s a third prong of the fork that many would-be slimmers miss out on: strength training.
In a recent study, women burned over 350 calories more over a 24-hour period on days when they strength trained compared to days when they did not.
“Dieting is not effective in controlling weight. You can get a temporary weight loss with a diet, but each scheme ultimately gives way to weight gain, and subsequent losses become increasingly difficult. Worst of all, you get progressively fatter on less food. Dieting actually makes you fatter!”
-Dr. Lawrence Lamb, Author of “The Weighting Game: The truth about weight control.”
“Cutting calories backfires. The more you cut, the more your body fights to hold onto its fat stores, as reducing calories signals the “starvation response” where the body tries to “survive” and hold onto its calorie reservoir known as fat.”
-Chris Aceto, author of “Everything you need to know about fat loss.”
When we talk of “diets” we are commonly referring to a temporary restriction of food (or calories). When we restrict our calories sufficiently we will initially lose weight, perhaps quite quickly at first but this will soon slow and eventually stop. The problem with this type of “diet” is that the weight loss will consist mostly of lost muscle tissue and not just fat. A loss of muscle tissue will slow down your metabolism and ultimately cause an even greater increase in body fat when you come off the diet.
If all you are looking for is a temporary weight loss then “diets” can work, but if, as you should be, you are looking for a permanent fat loss whilst retaining muscle shape and tone then conventional diets fail. The key to losing body fat is to follow a sensible eating plan with balanced amounts of protein, carbohydrate and fat and to follow an exercise program involving strength and cardio training.
Find out how to successfully control your weight…
