Is Strength Training Good for Weight Loss? – By Sunny Mehrotra

Is Strength Training Good for Weight Loss? Sunny Mehrotra

Resistance exercise may not burn as many calories as aerobic, but it can support weight loss in other ways. Here’s how.

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) and other types of aerobic exercise get a lot of attention when talking about exercise for weight loss. But strength training — whether free weights or bodyweight-only — may help budge the number on the scale, too.

Like other forms of exercise, strength training challenges your body, which increases your calorie burn (compared with just sitting still). Weight loss happens when you burn more calories than you consume over a period of time. So if you pair strength training with a moderate calorie restriction, you may lose weight over time.

Speaking strictly about calories burned, aerobic exercise generally wins over strength training

Sunny Mehrotra @sunnymehrotraofficial

Research suggests that resistance or strength training is part of a weight loss program (along with calorie restriction or aerobic exercise) for overweight or obese adults, those interventions are more effective. That’s because strength training helps promote muscle growth, while reducing overall body fat, and giving a more toned look.

Typically, weight loss efforts (calorie restriction plus aerobic activity) cause people to lose muscle in addition to fat. But when you’re resistance training , you’re building muscle, so you’re preserving that strength while burning extra calories. Aerobic activities (running, jogging, cycling, and others) also strengthen the muscles you’re working, but generally less effectively than resistance training does.

“The real benefit of strength training for weight loss lies in the maintenance of lean muscle mass,”

In short: When you’re resistance or strength training as part of a weight loss plan, the pounds that you lose are more likely to come from fat mass than muscle mass — compared with weight loss plans that include calorie restriction alone or just calorie restriction and aerobic exercise. Hence, you get a toned and muscular physique.

Why do you tend to lose more fat mass than muscle mass when strength training is part of a weight loss plan? There’s the fact that you’re building muscle. Plus, muscle is metabolically active tissue that requires energy (calorie expenditure) to maintain. In contrast, fat does not.

Losing muscle has the undesirable effect of lowering your resting daily calorie burn, which can lead to weight gain over time (unless you’re accordingly limiting calorie intake),In fact, muscle loss is a key reason many people gain fat as they age.Strength training can help you keep your metabolism up and prevent unwanted fat gain More importantly, the muscle you build through strength training helps your body use nutrients from food.

Resistance training improves insulin resistance which when your cells don’t respond to insulin, a hormone your pancreas makes to help regulate blood sugar levels. When your body can’t respond to insulin, your body has to make more, causing insulin levels to stay elevated. Elevated insulin levels can result in weight gain and diabetes. Improving insulin resistance may help with weight loss and weight maintenance.

Sunny Mehrotra @sunnymehrotraofficial

For maximum fat loss, you should do both cardio and strength training. But how often is best? Here are some guidelines for losing weight (and losing fat):

Include strength training. Weight training is a great way to increase muscle mass, which helps you in several ways.
Push yourself by lifting heavier weights with fewer repetitions. This is not always the recommendation, but if you’re looking to build muscle mass faster, it’s better to lift heavier weights and do 8 to 12 repetitions rather than lifting lighter weights and doing 15 to 20 reps. When you move to lighter weights and more reps, the work you’re doing is more like cardio – it’s still beneficial to your body, but it won’t build as much muscle.
Choose aerobic exercises you enjoy. The more you like exercising, the better you’re likely to be at sticking to your routine.
If burning calories is your main goal, consider running or cycling over walking. The faster you go and the harder you work, the more calories you’ll burn per hour. That said, if you’re just beginning or you have health conditions that make running or cycling difficult, start with walking and increase the time you spend exercising and your speed as you get stronger.

For weight loss specifically, I recommend strength training for 45 minutes three or four days per week, and working hard enough where you’re close to total muscle fatigue for the muscle group you’re working at the end of your sets (or the feeling like you couldn’t do one more rep). This doesn’t mean you have to lift heavy, but you have to put in enough effort to feel like you’re being challenged

You can start with fewer or shorter strength sessions, if needed. However, aim to perform at least two full-body strength workouts per week

If this goal seems daunting for you, start slow. Any exercise you do is better than no exercise, so remember that every minute counts. If you feel like you don’t have time to fit exercise in, do it in small increments. If you start by walking ten minutes every three hours, you can get 60 minutes of walking in throughout your day.

Strength training helps you lose weight and keep it off by building muscle tissue. The more muscle mass you have, the higher your metabolic rate tends to be. More muscle also helps your body burn more fat than muscle, which is important if you want to lose weight and keep your strength. So, if you build muscle, you can speed up your metabolism and burn more fat when you exercise. The faster your body burns calories, the more calories it will burn each day. Since the formula for weight loss is to burn more calories than you consume, increasing the calories you burn will help you lose weight (given you don’t increase your calories).

Remember, doing exercise is better than not doing it. Don’t get down on yourself if you don’t think you’ve done enough exercise. It takes time to get into a routine – especially if you’re new to exercise.

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