It may seem counter intuitive, but when you are losing weight, strength training, not cardio training should be your number one exercise priority. When you place your body in a caloric deficit, it is normal for your body to burn a combination of stored body fat and muscle to meet its energy needs, but you can prevent this loss of muscle mass through strength training. The human body has been conditioned to adapt to the stresses place on it by its environment by making it more resilient to the stress the next time it’s encountered. If your body is required to lift heavy objects using all the muscles of the body, on a frequent basis, it will preserve muscle and burn fat exclusively when in a caloric deficit, assuming you are consuming sufficient quantities of protein. That is why strength training should be your number one exercise priority.
A study compared diet and strength training vs diet and cardio training. The 12-week study found that the cardio group lost more weight, than the strength training group (32 pounds vs 28 pounds), but the strength training group had lost a lot less lean muscle mass. The type of weight you lose is more important than the amount of weight you lose. Strength training is the best form of training for improving body composition because it promotes fat loss while building muscle. The study concluded that “the addition of an intensive, high volume resistance training program resulted in preservation of lean body weight and resting metabolic rate during weight loss with very-low-calorie diets.” If you are at 30% body fat level and you lose 10 pounds, but three of those pounds are muscle. You haven’t decreased your percentage body fat very much. You will look almost the same. You will just be a little smaller, weaker version of your former self. Worse, by losing muscle, you have decreased your metabolism, which will lead to a fat loss plateau.
If the muscles loss is severe enough, you will begin a downward spiral where your body composition gets worse. Every pound of muscle gained or lost will either increased or decreased you metabolism approximately 50 calories a day. Once you resume normal eating you will likely gain back the lost body fat, but not the muscle. When you lose body fat while building muscle mass, you transform your body by significantly reducing your body fat percentage. You’ll become leaner, stronger, and fitter. Your ability to burn calories will increase instead of decrease, which will help keep the weight off after your resume a maintenance diet.
Everyone needs to change their belief that cardio burns fat and replace it with exercise burns fat. It is also important to remember that creating a caloric deficit through calorie restriction should be your number one priority when your goal is fat loss.
I hope you have found these suggestions helpful. Best wishes and best health!
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