While it's possible to lose weight by simply watching what you eat, the healthiest and most reliable way to do it is through a healthy low-calorie diet and exercise. Cardio exercises, such as running and jogging, burn the most calories; but strength training is also considered part of a balanced exercise program. Strength training is not absolutely necessary for weight loss, but it burns calories, builds muscles and helps boost the metabolism.
Weight Loss
All weight loss programs include the basic precept that you need to burn more calories than you consume. You need to burn 3,500 more calories than you consume to burn 1 lb. of fat. The Mayo Clinic recommends you lose no more than 1 to 2 lb. per week. If you are consuming as many calories a day as you are burning, dropping 500 calories a day will let you lose that initial pound. The second pound can be lost with exercise. Strength training is recommended as part of the exercise program, and knowing its benefits can help you appreciate why.
Calories
Cardio exercises are usually the ones that get the credit for reducing calories the most. According to MayoClinic.com, a 160-lb. person jogging at 5 mph for 60 minutes burns 584 calories, while the same person lifting weights for an hour burns 219 calories. Although cardio exercises burn more calories during the workout, strength training burns calories for several hours afterward. Thus cardio should be included in an exercise program, but strength training should be added as a complementary regimen.
Muscle Mass
Building muscles not only makes you stronger; it also helps signal the body to lose fat instead of muscle. When you start to lose weight, your body turns to whatever it can to produce needed nutrients and energy, including muscle. Therefore, many people who use diet alone to lose weight lose muscle mass. If you tone and strengthen the muscles, your body will get the signal to take the energy from fat instead. The extra tone in your muscles will also make you look and feel better, as well as give you more endurance to keep exercising and keep the weight off.
Metabolism
When you consume a low-calorie diet and start exercising, your body reacts by slowing your metabolism down to compensate for the reduced intake of energy. According to the American Council on Exercise, strength training has been shown to be very effective in countering that, because the added muscle helps to boost the metabolism. Muscle requires more energy than fat, and the body increases its overall metabolic rate the more muscle you have. This occurs even when you are at rest and increases exponentially when you exercise.
Recommendations
While cardio training is a vital part of losing weight, adding strength training not only boosts your metabolism and burns calories but also builds bone, strengthens muscle and increases the flexibility of the joints. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends doing strength training two times a week. Do at least one exercise for each major muscle group: chest, back, abdominal muscles, biceps, triceps, hamstrings and quadriceps. Start with a weight or resistance level that you can maintain for one set of eight to 12 repetitions, gradually building up to two to three sets. Once you can do three sets of each exercise comfortably, increase the weight.
Considerations
Consult your doctor before beginning any exercise program. He may recommend a specific weight loss regimen. Keep in mind you may gain weight in the beginning of a strength-training program, but this will stop after a few weeks. Avoid crash diets and extreme cardio routines. Crash diets lead to malnutrition and possibly eventual binge eating, and extreme cardio routines are not sustainable over the long term. Strength training, while not absolutely necessary to lose weight, should be incorporated for a well-balanced body and for good health.
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