If you're performing strength-training exercises regularly and still not losing weight, there are many potential causes. The most likely factors holding you back are the missing pieces of your weight-loss puzzle. These include diet and other types of exercises that you should include in your fitness routine. Before you begin a diet or a new exercise program, consult your doctor -- especially if you have any health issues.
Causes
Strength training is usually performed using weight machines, free weights, medicine or stability balls, calisthenics, or resistance bands. Strength training is essential to building strong, healthy muscles, bones, ligaments and tendons, but it's just one part of a weight-loss plan, says the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. If you're not losing weight from doing strength training, you should add aerobic or "cardiovascular" exercise to your fitness routine. Another major consideration is your diet. To lose weight, you must burn more calories than you consume. So if you're taking in more calories from your daily diet than you're burning doing strength training and other exercises, you won't lose weight -- and you might even gain weight.
Aerobic Exercise
Aerobic exercise burns lots of calories and can include activities like walking, jogging, running, swimming, bicycling and aerobic dance, according to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. You'll typically burn more calories minute-per-minute performing aerobic exercises than strength training. For example, you might burn 219 to 327 calories per hour from strength training, depending on you body weight, but you'll burn 584 to 872 calories per hour by jogging at 5 mph, MayoClinic.com notes. In fact, you should include at least 2 ½ hours per week of moderate aerobic exercise to lose weight, recommends the University of Michigan Health System. Or, you could perform at least one hour and 15 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity per week. Strength training, on the other hand, is usually recommended just two or three times per week.
Stretching
Stretching is another key component to your fitness and weight-loss plan, because improving your flexibility supports your ability to perform other types of exercise like cardio and strength training. Stretching helps to improve your blood circulation and your joints' range of motion, notes the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Stretching should also become part of your warm-up and cool-down practices before and after exercise to reduce injuries and muscle strains. You should stretch for at least five to 10 minutes prior to and after strength training or aerobic exercise.
Diet
You must balance the amount of calories you consume with the amount of calories you burn through physical activity in order to lose weight. Your diet can help you to lose weight more effectively, instead of relying on exercise alone. One pound of fat equals 3,500 calories, so you'll need to burn 500 more calories than you consume every day to lose up to 1 lb. per week. If you stick to a low-calorie diet, you'll maximize your weight-loss results from your exercise efforts. Combining appropriate exercise and diet is the best way to lose weight.
References
- University of Pittsburgh Medical Center: Strength Training the Missing Link
- University of Pittsburgh Medical Center: Start a Regular Exercise Program
- MayoClinic.com: Exercise -- How Much Do I Need Every Day?
- University of Michigan Health System: Weight Management
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Exercise and Weight Loss
- MayoClinic.com: Exercise for Weight Loss -- Calories Burned in 1 Hour
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