I really don’t like the term weight loss. It leads people to sites which advocate the loss of bodyweight period, when all a person should ever be concerned with is fat loss. Fat loss is the term we need to use, yet the amount of people who Google ‘weight loss’ outnumber those who Google ‘fat loss’ by 20x. Madness!
Anyway – rant over. But, for the sake of clarity – this article is about lifting weights for fat loss. Good. Let’s explore…
There are two reasons why lifting weights will help you to lose fat:
1: You burn calories
When all is said and done, the only way to lose weight is to consistently leave your body with fewer calories than it needs to stay the same weight. This is known as a calorie deficit, and it can fluctuate, so no definitive number can be used forever.
There are two ways to leave your self in calorie deficit, and that is to eat less, or to train with weights. By eating less, you take in fewer calories, period. By training with weights with good intensity, you burn off the calories you’ve taken in from food, which helps to leave you in deficit.
Also, by lifting weights, you are telling your body that, even though you are taking in fewer calories, it’s important to preserve muscle mass. And, the more muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn even when resting – so it makes sense to maintain muscle mass even if your sole aim is to lose fat and you couldn’t give a damn about muscle.
2: It helps to boost your metabolism
When we diet, we tend to lose fat rather quickly – for a while. But then our body can run out of steam. Our metabolism slows down to protect fat reserves. By lifting weights – in particular, doing heavy leg work – you can boost your metabolism back into the normal range, and fat loss will continue at a good rate.