Time and time again I overhear someone saying: I used to workout but ever since I stopped, my muscles just turned into fat. Does this happen? Let's set the record straight...
Lucky for us, this is not how muscles and fat work. Basically a muscle is a muscle and fat is fat, one can never be the other. Muscles are what moves your body so therefore without muscles, your body would not be able to move at all. Muscles use fat for energy to contract (move your body). This is why the more muscle you build, the more fat that is used up -- Don't worry though, this doesn't mean you need to become the Incredible Hulk in order to burn fat, you just need to work your muscles.
Isn't that good news? Now get out there and do some resistance training already.
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Strength Training IS Important for Weight Loss
Losing weight (and keeping it off) is more complicated than the calories you eat being less than the calories you burn. Without strength training while dieting you risk losing lean muscle mass which is really important to keep your metabolism going.
Your muscles need energy to work, so the more muscle mass you have the more calories you burn over the course of a day. It works like this, for every pound of muscle you gain you will burn 35 to 50 more calories a day. Now that has got to be great incentive to add strength training into your routine if you are trying to lose weight.
Here is another inspirational fact for strength training to build lean muscle: we lose 5% of our muscle mass every ten years after age 35. If you do not intentionally build muscle through exercise you will need to eat 120 to 420 less calories a day to maintain your current weight if you are over 35. I just want to say it is never to early to start building lean muscle - no need to wait until you are 35. So why not start today?
There are so many advantages to strength training, including: benefits to your bones and cardiovascular health, reducing risk of Type 2 diabetes, and protecting your joints.
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