People have been trying forever to lose fat. They try any gimmick, pill, fad diet…you name it they try it.

There is a simpler way………BUILD MUSCLE!

Building muscle requires three things:

1. Free weight training
2. Eating right to support the work you have done in the gym, and
3. Getting enough rest.

(I will go into the hows and whys of these much more deeply in future posts, but for now, just trust me and do your best.)

Here’s how it works:

When you build more lean muscle, then your metabolism goes up. This burns fat. Period. It’s really that simple!*

Cardio training is important and should be incorporated into any fat loss program, but if you want to lose real fat and have a leaner, stronger body you must lift weights. In a 5 day-a-week training program you can alternate cardio days with weight lifting days. Or if you are fit and ambitious enough you can do 30 minutes of cardio followed by your weight training.

Your sessions need not be 3 hours long. Do 30 minutes of some moderate to intense cardio followed by 30 minutes of moderate to intense weight training, then give yourself a few months and watch what happens.

A note for those of you that look at the scale to gauge your fat loss. When you are building muscle to burn fat, your number on the scale may go up, then down, and continue this teeter-tottering for months. This is due to the fact that muscle weighs more than fat. You build new muscle and your metabolism goes up stimulating fat loss.

It may take a little time for the fat loss to be more than the muscle gain, so your scale numbers may not always be what you want to see. This process freaks women out. But you have to remain consistent. If you go through the trouble of gaining muscle, then give your body time to burn the fat with your newly increased metabolism. Too many people shy away too soon and never continue that path. They go back to the fad dieting, and end up losing more muscle, which lowers their metabolism. You see the problem?

I always tell my clients to ignore the scale. If you focus on those numbers you will become frustrated. I will give you an example of my own experience with this.

Earlier this year I invested in a spin bike. Once I had the spin bike my cardio training switch a little. I used to run every day, doing crazy miles. Now I run less and split my cardio time between running outside, my treadmill, or the spin bike. If you ever have been on a spin bike or taken a spin class you know how well it works out your glutes and leg muscle. Very quickly I noticed a change in my lower body. I had deeper cuts, a more muscular bottom, and my clothes were a little loose.

After about three months when my husband mentioned how muscular my lower body was I decided I would jump on my scale (I rarely weigh myself only because I refuse to be one of those people who are controlled by the number on the scale). Well my weight had gone up, from 115 to 119. I was not worried; in fact, I was thrilled. I knew I had developed new good muscle. So I continued. Some months went by and I started to feel lighter, saw more cuts all over, so I decided to jump on the scale again. I was back down to 115. So you see my numbers had gone up but my fat ultimately went down.

You need to be patient with yourself, your body, and your program. But most importantly, if you want to lose solid fat, and have a more tone body, weight lifting is a must. You can start slow if need be, just start.

* Sometimes people have a hormone deficiency or an over abundance. This can be due to years of yo-yo dieting and eating wrong or jumping on the fad diet band wagon. These people will struggle more than others, and I suggest they see a doctor, have all the proper and extensive blood work done to find the one, or sometimes multiple, underlying causes. But if you have not tried what I suggested yet, maybe that is something you might want to attempt first, or you can even do it simultaneously. You can start the doctor visit and blood work, while you do your part by building new muscle.