Many people looking to lose weight do not really understand the difference between weight loss and fat loss. All they are concerned about is what they weigh on the bathroom scale but what you weigh really has nothing to do with the big picture of becoming slim and trim again.
Losing weight and losing fat is not the same thing. In reality what you do to lose weight is almost the exact opposite to what is involved in fat loss. This simple fact is the number one reason why countless dieters and exercisers fail to attain and maintain any sort of real body transformation for the long haul.
Weight lost by dieting does not last, but when you work on the changes you need to make to your metabolism (your body’s engine) for good to improve ‘metabolic fitness’ so you burn more calories you will find this is where the true results are.
The first thing to address is your body composition (muscle/fat ratio) as this is the base rate your body burns fuel (calories). If you have not been doing enough muscle building and maintaining activity along with eating the wrong types of food and too much of them you will have lost some of your fat burning tissue – your muscle tissue.
When allowed to become weak and flabby, our muscles energy requirements become low so calories remain unburned and the excess fat weight starts piling up. Bingo – you are overweight and will continue to gain weight until the situation is addressed.
Firstly your exercise program needs to not just ‘burn off’ calories while you are at the gym but rather to tell your body to grow, to become stronger, to build new tissue and run at a higher metabolic rate all day and all night long. This means whether you are active or inactive, rushing around or sitting watching television you are burning more fuel and it is these extra calories you burn are how you are going to reclaim your slim body.
To achieve this we must rebuild and re-tone the body’s muscular system with proper exercise. There is only one type of exercise that will achieve this and that is strength training exercise. Two to three sessions each week are what are required to change your body composition but you will need to put some effort into them.
Keep in mind that making these changes at base level to your metabolic motor cannot be done by low intensity, long duration type of activities so if you are doing them they will never ever rebuild your metabolism to burn more fuel permanently. Activities like walking, jogging, cycling or swimming are great as part of an overall active lifestyle but will not tone up your muscles directly at the intensity (degree of difficulty) required.
So, your strength training program should come first and foremost and the most effort put into it. Learning to exert ourselves does seem a bit strange at first but it is a skill that you will develop and get better at.
Your body will love it as we have been designed to be strong and vital and our present day ‘easy’ and ‘comfortable’ lives rarely have us doing anything that takes us out of our comfort zone. But if it is a strong, lean, healthy, energetic body that you want if does not come without some effort and your active participation.
To boost your body transformation support your exercise program with healthy eating and the first and most important aspect of this is getting rid of as much processed food as possible. Get yourself back into the kitchen cooking your food from scratch. Eat 4-6 small meals each day each with a portion of protein.
Just implementing these two basic strategies – your proper exercise program supported by a healthy eating plan will have you back on the road to that slim, trim but strong and healthy body that any one of us would be proud to live in for the rest of our days.
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