You Need Muscle to Burn Fat
This is one of the most overlooked aspects of a fitness program. Your muscle is highly metabolically active. It is responsible for nearly all of the calories you burn each day. And since your muscle is always metabolically active, it is always burning calories. That’s right, you burn fat even while you are sleeping. I guess you really can burn fat while you sleep.
Muscle has this great quality, yet people are still so adverse to having muscle. Are you afraid of having muscle? You know who you are. You’re afraid of bulking up – afraid of getting too big. You just want to be toned.
For those with that mentality, let me give you a little reality check. Being toned means nothing more than having muscle and being lean. Building muscle is hard work. You don’t just workout a few times and become huge. You would think that some people have an allergic reaction to weights based on how they talk. It’s as if they could just look at a weight set and start to swell up.
All rants aside, if you are worried about being bulky, that is 100% an effect of your diet. If you start lifting weights and don’t change your poor diet, you are going to get bigger. Your muscles will get larger, but your fat mass will potentially stay the same, resulting in a larger body mass.
Weight Loss vs Fat Loss
Don’t be afraid if you are putting on muscle but your weight is not going down. If you are building muscle but your weight is unchanged, you are still losing body fat. And isn’t our #1 goal to lose fat? I talk about this more in Weight Loss vs Fat Loss.
Getting back on topic, why then do you need to build muscle to burn fat? Well, your muscles contain these little cellular power plants called mitochondria. Mitochondria are responsible for the oxidation of fat. The more muscle you have, the more mitochondria you have. The more mitochondria you have, the more fat you will burn, even while at rest.
The Primary Fuel Source for Muscle is Fat
You might burn a few hundred calories during your workout, but you burn thousands of calories throughout the rest of the day. Your muscle is constantly tearing itself down and building itself up. It is a highly energy intensive activity. The more muscle you have, the looser you can be with your diet, and the more food you can eat without having to worry about putting on weight.
If your fitness program does not contain any form of resistance exercise, you need to add it in. Walking or other low intensity exercise is nice. I consider that active recovery. That’s exercise I do to help me recover from my high intensity workouts. If you aren’t sore the next day from your workout, there’s a good chance you aren’t working hard enough. And chances are, you aren’t happy with your progress thus far.
So build that muscle. It helps you be more functional in day to day tasks. It helps keep you healthy. It looks sexy. And it’s the only proven way that I know of to burn fat in your sleep.
About Coach Calorie
I have been doing weights 3 times a week, on the off days of cardio, { Tues arms & back, Thurs, abs etc…. and Sat legs. } Been doing this now for a few months, and haven`t been seeing any results. Hoping for some suggestions
What kind of results are you looking for Rhonda? Are you putting on muscle? What do you do during your workouts? And most important – how is your diet?
I really like that I came across this article. I’m trying to start exercising, and this is exactly what the trainer at the gym told me. Now, I had a question, how far should I be pushing myself? I did as much as I could, without killing myself, including squats, sit ups, weights, etc…, and then I was soooo sore that I was not able to workout again for 2 days! Haha, I don’t know if that’s normal since I never workout, or if I should slow down…
That’s fairly common for when you do a workout after a long hiatus. You might always be sore the next day after a workout, but it’s never going to be as bad as that first one. It’s painful, but in a good way
My husband always says this, I ride my bike and walk but don’t do any weight training. He tell me start small and then add more weight slowly. I don’t want muscle, but I do want to be toned.
Hey Geri, I ask you this – what do you expect to “tone” if it’s not muscle? Being toned means nothing other than having muscle and lowering your body fat. I’d consider listening to your husband. It takes time to build muscle. Don’t be so worried about getting too big. That is a fitness myth 90% of women fall for.
I am trying to loose weight, especially inches. I am 39 yrs old, 5’3″ 150 pounds and vegetarian. Could you please suggest how many times i have to do cardio( i am trying zumba) and resistance. I have been doing some off and on exercises had lost 10 pounds but its stuck.
You don’t need cardio to lose weight. Try weight training 3 times a week and then cleaning up your diet by eliminating all processed foods. That should get you some great results. Once you’re consistent with that, you can start focusing on the smaller details.