If you’re looking to lower your BMI, a strength training (weight lifting) regimen is probably at least as helpful as diet and cardio. While simply not taking in as much fat from your food obviously helps to lower your overall body fat, weight lifting gives you an added advantage because it helps create lean muscle that actually burns more calories, even when you’re at rest.
The problem with dieting alone is that even when a smart diet plan is followed to the letter, without exercise it can slow down the metabolism. Cardio is great for burning fat and calories, but it doesn’t alter the amount of calories you’re burning while you aren’t exercising. Some individuals find they hours of cardio per day to keep weight off, and that’s just not possible for most of us to stick with.
Strength training with weights effectively raises your metabolic rate by building the lean muscle that burns more calories than fat does. Keep in mind that if your goal is to lower your BMI, you may do this without losing weight: muscle burns more calories than fat, but it also weighs more. If you’re noticeably overweight, you will lose weight eventually, but at first you may stay the same or even gain a few pounds. Don’t let this discourage you.
Filed in Strength Training
Updated: October 13, 2009
Copyright: October 20, 2009
