Can strength training help you lose weight?

The answer is yes, but its weight loss effect cannot be judged solely by the number on your scale.

A girl I met at the gym had been working out her butt, legs and core with a trainer for two months. When she got on the scale, she gained a pound. She wanted to transfer her fitness card on the spot. But when I took her measurements, I found that her waist circumference was 4 centimeters less and her thigh circumference was 3 centimeters less. The skirt that couldn't be stuffed last year zipped up easily - this is actually a misunderstanding of strength training by many people. The core reason why you cannot lose weight through exercise is that the volume of muscle of the same weight is only one-third of fat. You lose loose fat while growing tight muscles. Your weight does not change or even increases slightly, but your whole body shrinks. This is of course an effective weight loss. After all, we lose weight to look good in clothes and have a light body, not to submit a report card on the scale, right?

Of course, there are many people who say that strength training is useless, but it is not groundless. Either they equate losing weight with losing weight, or the training method is really wrong. Every time you go to the gym, lift dumbbells for 5 minutes and then take 20 minutes of photos. After training, you will reward yourself with a double-decker burger and full-sugar milk tea. The few calories you consume are more than a fraction of the amount you eat. If you can't lose weight no matter what kind of exercise you do, you can't blame strength training for not working.

I have been practicing strength training for three years, and the most obvious feeling is that I can really develop a "slim-down physique". When my body fat was 27%, I would have gained two kilograms after eating one more hot pot meal. Now I have seven kilograms more muscle mass than that. As long as I don't eat haise all the time, my weight is basically stable in the ideal range. Even if I occasionally eat too much, I will go back after two days of exercise. I don't have to eat a little more to gain weight like I did before by starving myself to lose weight. This is actually the benefit of muscles. It is a "small motor that continuously consumes electricity" in your body. Even if you lie down to sleep or sit to work, people with high muscle mass consume more calories than people with less muscle mass. This long-term metabolic improvement cannot be compared with the short-term consumption of only two to three hundred calories per run.

However, this does not mean that strength training has all its advantages. If you are taking wedding photos next week and are anxious to lose three or four pounds a week, then it is indeed not as fast as aerobic exercise such as rope skipping and running. Moreover, strength training has a barrier to entry, and it is easy to get injured if the movements are not correct. In the first two weeks of training, your whole body hurts, which is really grueling. But if you want to lose weight without losing weight, have a waist and legs that look good, and don’t have to be hungry all the time without gaining weight, then you can really try strength training, and don’t be scared away by the few numbers on the scale. By the way, don’t worry that girls will turn into King Kong Barbies when they practice strength. You see, those professional female bodybuilders have to practice three or four hours a day and strictly control their diet to grow big muscles. Ordinary people like us train three or four times a week for an hour each time. At most, we can develop some smooth shoulder lines and perky buttocks. It’s too late to look good in clothes, and we can’t build big muscles at all. Don’t worry.