Muscles continuously burn calories so you can eat more and still lose weight.

The difference between losing and gaining weight can be just a few hundred calories a day. If you could change something about your body to burn a few hundred more calories a day, would you?

Excellent. You can burn more calories by building muscle through weight lifting. You knew there had to be a catch, didn’t you?

Adding muscle increases your resting metabolism.  This is the calories you burn when you are doing nothing, when you are absolutely at rest. Your brain, for example, is only about 2% of your weight, but consumes about 20% of your total energy! Your body must burn calories to run your brain, even when you aren’t doing anything. And it’s the same for every other part of your body. Running your body takes a lot of calories.

If you have a faster metabolism, you burn more calories and store less fat. If you have a slower metabolism you burn calories less efficiently and therefore store more calories as fat. You want your metabolism always working for you by burning more calories and keeping you out of starvation mode.

Your resting metabolism is responsible for 50 to 75 percent of the calories you burn each day. Digestion accounts for about 10 percent, and physical activity for 15 to 40 percent.

What is the single biggest calorie burner in your resting metabolism? Your muscles. Simply by building muscle and becoming more active, you can increase your resting metabolic rate by 15 percent or more.

This is why many men can seemingly eat all they want when they are younger and not gain weight. Men tend to have more muscle mass than women, so the extra food is burned up. But old age makes the sexes equal. As we age we lose muscles, which is one of the reasons we gain weight as we grow older.

Replace Fat with Muscle to Lose Weight

How do you get a faster metabolism? By replacing fat with muscle. One pound of fat burns about 4 calories a day. One pound of muscle burns a whopping 50 calories a day. So the more muscle you add, the more calories you burn.

The exciting benefit of burning calories by adding muscle is that you are burning these calories 24 hours a day without any extra effort on your part. Muscle is like interest on your bank account balance. You get interest on your money and you don’t have to do anything but let the money sit in your bank account. Muscle works the same way.

The more muscle you add, the more calories you burn and the easier it is for you to lose weight. Another benefit of adding muscle is that when you get to your target weight, you can afford to eat more food because of all the extra calories your muscles are burning. You’ll also feel stronger, be happier, have more energy, and look better in clothes. What a deal! A free wonder drug. How can you not take it?

Creating Your Resistance Training Program

You’ve learned about many of the wonderful benefits of muscles, so how do you build them? With resistance or weight training! The key point is it’s not as hard as you may think. We always hear about those hard charging folks who spend hours in the gym. Fortunately, you can lift twice a week for about 20 minutes each day, and see significant results.

Skeptical? Here’s a 15 minute workout routine created by Jesse Cannone, a certified personal trainer:

1.      Jumping Jacks – 1 minute.

2.      Bodyweight squat – 15-20 reps.

3.      Push-ups – as many reps as possible.

4.      Kick butts (jog in place and kick your rear with each heel) – 1 minute.

5.      Hamstring floor bridge – 15-20 reps.

6.      Superman (lying on stomach with arms out to side, lift legs and chest off floor) – 15-20 reps.

7.      High knees (jog in place lifting knees as high as possible) – 1 minute.

8.      Stationary lunge – 15-20 reps.

9.      Torso rotations/twists – 20 reps each direction.

10.  Side bends/reaches – 20 reps each direction.

11.  Mountain climbers – 1 minute (if you can).

12.  Wall sit – as long as you can hold it.

13.  Dips (use chair/bench/stairs) – as many reps as possible.

This short, intense workout delivers excellent results and you can do it anywhere with no special equipment. I do a variation of this routine when I am on the road or in the office. Of course, this is just one example to show how little time you need to spend on a workout. Please figure out what works best for you. The larger point is everyone is pressed for time. Fortunately, you don’t really need a lot of time to get a good workout.

You’ll see some strong benefits if you can work weight lifting into your life.

To Learn More

·        Strong Women Stay Slim by Miriam E. Nelson, PhD. This is a wonderful all around guide to get you started. Despite the title, it’s a good book for men too.