Weight loss requires changing your energy balance. Many people have no idea how many calories they consume or how many calories they burn in activity. This puts you in a situation similar to not knowing your bank balance. A crucial issue in weight loss is whether you're losing body fat or muscle. Fad diets, drastic calorie-cutting and extreme exercise programs can result in muscle loss. When you don't take in enough calories to fuel your level of activity -- including the involuntary basics such as breathing -- the body breaks down its own lean tissue for fuel.
Benefits
Lifting weights is the most effective form of strength training. This activity preserves your lean tissue, tones your body and helps burn fat, not muscle. By increasing the weight load on your muscles, you make them work harder and become stronger. Lifting weights also helps to counteract age-related muscle loss.
Muscle
Most men build larger muscles if they lift weights progressively. Progressive training involves regularly increasing the amount of weight you lift so that you continue to challenge your muscles. Women tend to become toned and firm rather than developing bulky muscles. Muscle weighs more -- and takes up relatively little space compared to fat. You may find that your clothes fit better even though you may not lose weight at first.
Calories
Lifting weights for at least 20 to 30 minutes two to three times a week helps you burn fat. Circuit training with weights burns more calories than aerobic dance, racquetball or jogging. Lifting weights also improves your stamina, allowing you to increase your the duration and intensity of your aerobic exercise sessions -- another way that lifting weights is important in weight loss.
Metabolism
Muscle burns more calories than fat, so the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn at rest. This is why metabolism slows down with age-related muscle loss. Building and maintaining muscle by lifting weights is the most effective strategy for maintaining muscle -- and your metabolism. Not only does lifting weights burn calories, each weight training session elevates your metabolism. An intensive weight lifting session can raise your calorie-burning rate for hours.
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