If you're considering a weight-loss program, lifting weights will help you increase the number of calories you burn each day. You'll burn calories while lifting weights, and you'll gradually burn more calories daily as your muscle mass increases and uses more of the calories you consume for energy. Because muscle weighs more than body fat, your weight may increase slightly at first but will go down when your caloric intake is no longer high enough to add new muscle mass.
Nutrition
According to the Harvard Medical School website, weightlifting requires carbohydrates for the energy to perform short-burst, anaerobic movements. Anaerobic exercise refers to movements such as push-ups and weightlifting that put stress on your muscles in the absence of oxygen. As your muscles recover from a workout, they will use amino acids from the protein in your diet to rebuild the damaged tissue. Consume both protein and carbohydrates while weightlifting for weight loss, but count your calories to ensure you're not consuming more than you burn off.
Technique
Intense, focused weightlifting with heavy weights and less than eight repetitions per set builds strength and muscle size but doesn't burn body fat. Endurance exercise, such as running and swimming, uses oxygen to raise the heart rate and burns both carbohydrates and body fat. If your weightlifting goal is to gain strength, lift heavy weights, but if your goal is to burn body fat, lift somewhat lighter weights for a longer amount of time to increase your heart rate and endurance.
Metabolism
Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) refers to the number of calories your body needs each day to function normally. According to the University of Cincinnati Net Wellness website, your BMR will increase as your amount of lean body mass increases and your body fat percentage decreases. You'll experience a temporary weight-loss plateau while your body gains heavier muscle tissue and loses spongy fat tissue. Measure your shrinking waistline during this phase to keep track of your changing metabolism and caloric needs.
Time Frame
According to the BMI Calculator website, subtracting 3,500 calories from your total caloric needs will result in a loss of one pound of body weight. For example, consuming 500 calories fewer than you need each day for seven days will cause you to lose a pound in one week. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that women never consume less than 1,200 calories a day and men no less than 1,800. Losing no more than one to two pounds per week ensures that your lean mass receives the necessary nutrients to prevent muscle wasting and a decrease in metabolism.
Considerations
The Harvard Medical School website recommends a combination of weightlifting and cardiovascular exercise. Because anaerobic exercise doesn't burn body fat for energy, strength training helps you meet weight-loss goals but doesn't cause weight loss on its own. Reducing calories will cause you to lose weight, but consuming too few calories will also prevent you from gaining muscle and strength. A well-balanced combination of calorie reduction, strength training and endurance training is the most efficient way to lose weight.
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