How many calories you consume has a big impact on fat loss or gain. If you eat more calories than your body is able to burn will result in weight gain. The best thing about exercise is that the more you do the less you have to worry about calories and you are able to stimulate fat loss.
By burning 500 calories a day you can lose 1 pound of body fat in one week. By combining exercise with a reduction in calories you are able to make it easier to attain a calorie deficit. By riding a stationary bike for a half hour and reducing 200 calories from your daily caloric intake you can create the 500 calorie deficit without having to starve yourself or exercise yourself to exhaustion. 200 calories a day can be as small as a plain baked potato, one slice of pizza, or 1 cup or cooked spaghetti.
Another advantage of exercise is that after you exercise your resting metabolic rate (RMR) is elevated for several hours. Weight training has a longer effect on your RMR than aerobic exercise. Recent studies have shown that the raise in the resting metabolic rate from weight training can last up to 36 hours depending on the intensity of the weight training session.
Exercise helps preserve muscle tissue, which when trying to lose weight is a dieters advantage. Lean body mass (muscle) burns more calories per day than fat tissue. This is why building muscle mass is important when trying to lose weight. The more muscle that you build the more calories you will burn resulting in greater fat loss.
Calories burned during weight training plus a raised resting metabolic rate and increasing lean muscle mass resulting in a higher metabolism can help you shed pounds faster than just dieting and doing aerobic exercise alone.
Losing weight does not necessarily mean that you have to cut calories. Strength training at high levels of intensity and eating quality nutritious low fat foods will take care of the extra fat you are carrying on your body. Research has shown that people who begin a weight training program need 15 percent more calories to just maintain their current body weight.
By adding aerobic exercise to your workout routine can also help in expending extra calories. Or just increasing the intensity of your weight training, that is lifting heavier weights or shortening rest periods, will burn more calories.
It is important to combine exercise and a healthy diet so that boredom or the feeling of being deprived does not ruin your weight loss goals. Also to remember not to eat the same exact things day after day and do the same exercises all the time. After 12 weeks the body learns to adjust to things, and with exercise this means that the body gets more efficient at not using so much energy to be able to do the activity. Change your exercise routine every 2 months so as to keep your body guessing and burning fat. A change in routine can be as much as doing the exercises in different orders, changing intensity, adding new exercises, or just doing a whole new routine.
Follow these tips and within 12 weeks of doing weight training and eating a healthy low fat diet you should start to see changes in your body.
Josie Anderson is a personal trainer and is the owner of [http://www.weight-loss-program-101.com] providing weight loss resources to help with many weight loss goals and newsletter to keep you up to date on the latest in the health and fitness industry.
