Exercise trains the body to better accomplish a task. Weight loss involves making the number on the scale go down. While you are likely to turn to exercise to lose weight, this works best in combination with a balanced diet. Consult your physician if you suspect you have any underlying conditions before beginning a diet, weight-loss or exercise program.
Resistance Training
Resistance training, commonly referred to as weightlifting, can also include body weight exercises or other weighted forms of exercise. The purpose of resistance training is to strengthen the muscles, but you can also strengthen the skeleton and connective tissues. Resistance training can effectively burn fat and contribute to weight loss, as a bout of heavy resistance training can increase your metabolism for up to two days following training.
Cardiovascular Exercise
While popularly viewed as the primary method of fat loss, cardiovascular exercise works mainly to strengthen your heart and lungs. Cardiovascular exercise can be used to lose weight or better yet drop body fat, but you must take care not to overtrain and lose muscle at the same time. Many of the hormones stimulated by cardiovascular exercise help you burn fat, but they can also cannibalize muscle tissue if your diet is not in order.
Focus
Unless you have a target weight for an athletic event or some sort of contest, your focus should be on dropping body fat instead of simply watching the needle on the scale go down. Loss of lean muscle tissue can result in weight loss, but this will leave you weaker and more susceptible to injury. This will also decrease your resting metabolic rate, which means you will burn fewer calories over a 24-hour period, making it even harder to lose body fat.
Diet
To effectively lose fat and drop weight in the process, you need to ensure your hormonal levels are optimal. This is particularly true if you are exercising heavily. Many of the hormones that help you recover from exercise, including testosterone, are produced from converted dietary fats. This is why a long-term, low-fat diet will make it harder for you to progress. As exercise eats away at muscle tissue, you also need protein, are around roughly twice the quantity of a sedentary person.
References
- "The Journals of Gerontology"; A Single Bout of Concentric Resistance Exercise Increases Basal Metabolic Rate 48 Hours After Exercise in Healthy 59-77-year-old Men; David L. Williamson, et al.; May 1997
- "Journal of Bone and Mineral Metabolism"; Effects of Different Impact Exercise Modalities on Bone Mineral Density in Premenopausal Women: a Meta-analysis; M. Martyn-St James, et al, May 2010
- "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition"; Dietary Omega-3 Fatty Acid Supplementation Increases the Rate of Muscle Protein Synthesis in Older Adults: a Randomized Controlled Trial; Gary I. Smith, et al.; February 2011
- "Journal of the American College of Nutrition"; Beyond the Zone: Protein Needs of Active Individuals; Peter W.R. Lemon; 2000
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