It’s actually a proven fact, the most effective way to lose fat and tone is to combine aerobic exercise and sound eating habits WITH weight training. Toning is simply the restoration of muscle and the simultaneous decrease of fat. Every year after the age of 25, the average American gains one pound of body weight, yet loses one third to one half pound of muscle. As a result, our resting metabolism decreases approximately one half of a percent every year. The good news is, proper exercise and sound eating habits can reverse this process.
Weight training helps increase our metabolic rate in a couple ways. While aerobic exercise burns calories during exercise, anaerobic exercises like weight training and sprints burn calories hours after exercising. Weight training also restores muscle tissue that had been lost over the years from a sedentary modern lifestyle, thus improving the aesthetics of the body by accentuating its natural shape. Furthermore, one pound of muscle burns approximately 30-50 calories per day. In contrast, a pound of fat only burns about three calories per day. This may not seem significant considering one pound of fat contains 3500 calories, but over the course of years, it adds up. Weight training exercises that use large muscle groups (e.g. Gluteus Maximus, Quadriceps, Hamstrings, Chest, and Back exercises), with a progressively greater resistance, have the most potential for restoring lean body weight and raising the metabolism hours after exercise.
Most people do not have to be worried about getting too big when training with weights. Evidence suggests that less than 20 percent of men, and very few women, can develop large muscles, even if they wanted to, regardless of what program they follow. Bodybuilders seen on TV have usually trained for years, possess a certain degree of genetic aptitude and, most likely, have used anabolic steroids sometime in their careers. When beginning an exercise program, muscle mass increases may initially outpace fat loss, resulting in a very small, temporary weight gain. When exercise can be increased over time, more significant fat loss can occur. Unless an exerciser is highly motivated, actual weight loss is usually only seen with particular dietary improvements.