Sustainable weight loss requires simultaneously reducing calorie intake and increasing calorie expenditure. Reducing calorie intake is accomplished by eating less, while increased calorie expenditure is accomplished by exercising. Two types of exercise matter when losing weight--aerobic exercise and anaerobic exercise. Aerobic exercises increase heart rate, such as running or cycling. Anaerobic exercises, such as weightlifting, increase muscle mass and burn calories at the same time.
Calorie Expenditure
Weight lifting burns calories, though it generally does not burn as many calories per hour as high-intensity aerobic exercise. According to the Mayo Clinic, an hour of weight lifting will burn between 219 and 327 calories per hour, depending on your body weight. The more you weigh, the more calories weight lifting will burn. The number of calories you burn lifting weights, however, depends on how much effort you put into it. If you lift very light weights and take long rests between sets, for example, your calorie expenditure will be less than this.
Resting Metabolism
Your body burns a certain amount of calories simply to keep your heart beating, lungs breathing and other basic bodily functions. The amount of calories it burns performing these activities is determined by your resting metabolic rate. If your resting metabolic rate increases, and calorie expenditure increases, the more muscle mass you have. People tend to gain weight when they get older partly because they lose muscle mass each year, according to physician Edward Laskowski. If you replace this muscle mass by weight lifting, your resting metabolic rate will go up, and you will burn more calories all the time, even while you sleep. Aerobic exercise does not offer this benefit.
Body Fat
Many people initiate a weight-loss program not because they want to lose weight per se, but because they want to look better and be healthier. Both of these goals can be accomplished by focusing on reducing body fat rather than reducing overall body weight, although a loss in body weight may be a natural consequence. Between two people of the same height, frame and weight, one can be healthier and look better than the other if his body fat percentage is lower. Weight lifting both increases muscle mass and decreases body fat, resulting in a net decrease in body fat percentage that can be dramatic.
Routine
You should lift weights for at least 20 minutes twice a week, according to the Mayo Clinic. More is better if your physical condition allows. Use weights so that you can perform at least eight, but no more than 12 repetitions in a row. Increase the weight once you can perform 12 repetitions easily. Try to cover all the major muscle groups of both your upper and lower body. Skip at least one day between workouts. On your days off, your body repairs the muscle tissue you intentionally damaged during your workout, which is what results in muscle growth. You should also take care to get plenty of sleep because most of this muscle repair is done while you are asleep.
Weight Training Myths
Many women are discouraged from weight training out of fear that they will bulk up to the proportions they see on the cover of muscle magazines. In fact, this is unlikely even for men--such dramatic results only occur as a result of very specific and intense programs undertaken by people with certain genetic gifts. Another myth is that you can control where you lose weight by focusing your exercise on this area. Actually, performing abdominal exercises, for example, will render you no more likely to lose weight around the midsection than performing chest exercises will, although it will improve muscle tone in the abdominal area.
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