Lose Fat Through Body Building

Why does bodybuilding for fat loss work? To lose fat, calories must be burned. To burn calories, the body needs to be active – or does it? If you want to lose fat, bodybuilding may get you to your goals faster than dieting can.

Bodybuilding Burns Calories

Consider the mathematics of exercise in regards to calories. While you are working out, you are burning calories. As long as you do not replenish those calories by eating more than you normally do, you will lose weight.

In other words, if your calorie intake remains the same every day and you burn 7,000 calories per month by working out, you should lose about two pounds of fat per month without going on a diet.

The amount of calories burned during a workout depends on several factors. Someone who is very out of shape will burn more calories than someone who is physically fit, even if they both do the same workout. The physically fit person does not have to labor as hard to do the same amount of work, thus less calories are burned.

Other factors include the intensity and the length of time of the workout. More energy will be used in a more intense, longer session simply because the body is harder at work for a longer period. The more energy you burn, the more fat you lose.

A weight-training workout that includes both the use of weights and aerobics will burn more fat than one that only includes only weight lifting. Circuit training is a popular method of including both. This is done by moving quickly from one exercise to the next with only a few seconds between sets. This keeps the heart and respiratory system working harder allowing for the maximum burn of calories.

Exercise Resets the Metabolism

Studies have shown that exercise increases the metabolism, thus increasing calorie burn. This includes aerobic exercise for the heart and respiratory system, and anaerobic exercise such as weight training. The effects can last from several hours up to 48 hours. This means that more calories and fat are being burned by the body even when it is at rest.

The amount of the metabolic increase varies for everybody depending on age and the intensity of the workout, as well as other metabolic factors for an individual. However, the increased rate can burn enough calories to shed at least a few pounds of fat over the course of a month. This is a bonus because calories are being burned during the workout and afterward as well.

Muscle Burns More Calories Than Fat Does

Research has shown that muscles cause fat loss. That is because the body uses more calories to support muscles than it does to support fat – up to three times as much! This can mean an extra burn of 200 calories per day or more. A burn of 200 calories per day can keep nearly two pounds of fat off each month. That does not include the calories burned directly by working out.

Conclusion

Bodybuilding for fat loss may be the best way for many people to lose weight. Dieting can be difficult, and in the end, it slows down the metabolism. Bodybuilding does the opposite. Working out with weights does not mean becoming a champion body builder, but toning the body and adding some strength. This can result in a more energetic and better-looking body that is fat free and on the right course to stay that way.