What does weight lifting and diet for effective weight loss really mean? If you are anything like the average American male(or female), your body retains your excess calories as fatty tissues. Why?
Eating large burgers, fries, and liters of soda is not exactly healthy. Watching sports, day time drama or Netflix all day doesn’t exactly count as exercise either.
If your daily life lacks physical activity and control in what you eat, I’ve got some bad news. Most of these fat cells are deposited in your gut and upper body resulting in protruding stomachs and flabby arms. Not exactly Brad Pitt-like. Diets and weight lifting are necessary if you want to see effective weight loss.
Unfortunately, simply following programs on diets and weight loss are not enough if you want a rock-hard or at least, a well-defined physique. What you need to do is to combine a well-balanced diet (think vitamins, proteins, and carbs) with weight lifting and resistance training.
It’s not at all difficult, you don’t have to lift a LOT, but commitment is necessary if you want to achieve your dream body.
First things first, consult your doctor for a whole body check-up because resistance training can aggravate past injuries such as fractures or back injuries. The sooner you know what to avoid, the better your program would be.
Second, identify what muscle groups you want to develop and develop a plan for overall body building. It’s not a pretty sight to have a muscled upper body and skinny legs.
Third, sign up for a gym membership (or create your own home gym) with proper equipment and team up with a trainer/fitness instructor you feel comfortable enough to work with. It is important to talk to him or her about fitness goals, lifestyle, and overall health. They might even prescribe a specific diet plan that fits your lifestyle and dietary needs for maximum weight loss.
Fitness and weight loss experts usually recommend building muscle in order to lose weight. The thing to remember always is your RMR (resting metabolic rate); this measures how fast your metabolism works (read: burns calories) at rest.
It is important to get your RMR past a specific level for you to effectively use body fat as fuel. This is why you have to lift weights. As you lift weights, the body tends to develop more muscle or leaner mass. Muscle burns body fat or calories even at rest; so the more muscle you have, the faster the pounds are shed.
Another key factor is progression. Soon your body will become accustomed to the weights you lift. Hence, you use less effort and energy which staggers the whole weight loss process. The right weight for you is the weight which you can’t lift for over 12 reps. It is also advised to increase the weights every one or two weeks to keep your body guessing.
An effective diet for people doing resistance training or weight lifting, is one that is high in protein, with significant amounts of carbs. However, vegetable and fruit servings should be part of your diet as these contribute to the body’s water needs, nutrition, fiber, etc. Weight lifting and diet combined are best for effective weight loss. So get up, get moving, get lifting and eat well for a fitter you.
