BHP Fitness

Losing weight(fat) the right way. There are many ways to lose weight, some good some bad. Starving yourself is not only a bad way to lose weight, but can be counterproductive. If you you've every known someone who lost weight this way you probably noticed that, yes they were thinner, but still looked out of shape. Starving yourself can result in weight loss, but a lot of the lost weight will be in the form of muscle mass. This is where the counterproduction comes into play. As you lose weight this way your body starts to adapt to the weight loss and stops using fat for energy. Your body knows it's not getting enough calories so it begins to hang on to the fat for a rainy day so to speak. That's when weight loss comes to a halt. Eating a healthy diet with the right kind of calories along with weight training and low impact cardio workouts is the best and safest way to lose fat. People with more muscle mass burn more calories through out the day than those with less muscle mass. This is what is refered to as your Basal metabolic rate (BMR) or resting metabolic rate. The RMR, which is the amount of calories consumed by the human body at rest for performing essential body functions such as beating of the heart and keeping the body warm makes a huge difference to the calories consumed by an athlete every day. The more the lean body mass (muscle weight), the more is the RMR of the body. The athlete’s lean body mass should be increased through weight training and aerobic exercise so as to increase the RMR. If the weight loss program leads to weight loss accompanied by a loss in lean body mass (reduction of muscle weight), it will also mean that the RMR will decrease as well. The reduced RMR will mean the body will require less energy while at rest and the chances of regaining the lost weight will be extremely high. It is therefore essential that the muscular fitness is increased along with the weight loss. Therefore, a mix of aerobic exercise (to burn calories) and weight training (to increase the lean body mass) is the best technique for losing weight.