The Fit Facts of Fat Loss
November 17th, 2008
·
by Angie Tousignant · Filed Under: Fat Loss Exercise · Muscle Building Workouts
This is the time of year when people want to get serious about their weight/fat loss. Let me give you some facts to remember so that you are prepared ahead of time for your fitness journey…
Soon, the gourmet feasts will be here…and so is that snazzy dress that you plan to fit into! Here is the TRUTH to your concerns:
The key to burning the most fat that you possibly can, is to implement a weight resistance program in your routine. Yes, you do need to do cardio and you do need to eat well. However, what many people forget is that you will burn a lot of calories while doing your cardio and you can reduce your calories through your diet; but the downfall is that you will likely s-l-o-w down your metabolism! This is the last thing that you want to do.
How Do You Keep Your Metabolism Running High? You can keep your metabolism running HIGH by engaging in weight or resistance training. The more muscle that you have in your body, the more calories you will burn-even at rest! If you are not currently following a weight training program or you do not want to spend hours at the gym, I can suggest to you to give The Fit Chic program a try. I complete my weight training in 20 minutes or less in the comfort of my own home!
How Can I Turn My Fat Into Muscle? This is not possible. Muscle and fat tissues are two totally unique tissues with unique properties. Exercise will help to shrink fat cells; these cells do not turn to muscle. The fat needs to be ‘burned’ through cardio and then these cells will shrink in size. Muscle tissue is tissue of the musculature system that helps to control body movement. You can increase the size of your muscle through weight training.
Why Do You Want More Muscle In Your Body? More muscle = High metabolism = Higher Calories Burned; EVEN AT REST! We need muscle in our bodies to encourage our metabolism to remain high.
How Many Repetitions Should I Do When I Lift A Weight? Ideally, you should aim for anywhere between 8-15 reps. The key is to keep GOOD FORM as you go through the motion of lifting the weight. “Smooth, controlled movements.”
What Do I Need To Do To ‘Target’ My Butt, Thighs, and Abs? You cannot target any body parts! What you need to do is the combination of cardio, nutritional eating, and weight training. As your body burns fat and gains lean muscle mass, you will SEE those target spots getting smaller, tighter, and leaner.
Should I Stretch Before My Workouts? The majority of research encourages people to ‘warm up’ before any physical activity. It is better to do light cardio for a couple of minutes; as ’stretching’ could lead to injury.
Now You Have The Facts…So Go And Get THE FIT!!
Cheers to health,
Angie
ISSA – C.P.T., B.Ed.
Angie,
Great post.
Thanks to taking on and shooting down a number of myths about exercise.
Rick Kaselj
http://healingthroughmovement.blogspot.com/
.
If I can’t target my butt for weight loss, is my target the butt muscles, to tighten them up. If not why do lunges and squats??
Hey Liz…when you do lunges and/or squats…these are ‘compound movements’ that require you to move more than one muscle at a time to perform it. when you do this, you are accelerating your heart rate, increasing your metabolism, and you will burn fat.
The reasons we lift weights is to increase the lean body mass (LBM) in our body, and burn the fat. The more lean muscle mass you have in your body, the more calories you are burning even at rest.
Doing lunges, squats…any muscle building exercise will lead you to gain more muscle throughout your body…which will eventually shed the fat from your butt, hips…etc. Your body ’shape’ will begin to change shape because the fat is being burned and the muscle (tighter and firmer) is increasing.
Great post Angie! Keep em coming PlEASE!!