Highly Suggest Weight Training for Women to Slim Down

Pump Up, Slim Down

If you've blown off weight training for fear of bulking up, you're missing out on the fastest fat-burning method known to woman.

By Lauren Aaronson, Women's Health

Tired of sweating all over every piece of cardio equipment at the gym and still getting zero love from the scale? You need more iron. Not in your diet—in your hands.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, a mere 21 percent of women strength train two or more times a week. What you don't know: When you skip the weight room, you lose out on the ultimate flab melter. Those two sessions a week can reduce overall body fat by about 3 percentage points in just 10 weeks, even if you don't cut a single calorie. That translates to as much as three inches total off your waist and hips. Even better, all that new muscle pays off in a long-term boost to your metabolism, which helps keep your body lean and sculpted. Suddenly, dumbbells sound like a smart idea.

Torch Calories 24/7
Though cardio burns more calories than strength training during those 30 sweaty minutes, pumping iron slashes more overall. A study in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that women who completed an hour-long strength-training workout burned an average of 100 more calories in the 24 hours afterward than they did when they hadn't lifted weights. At three sessions a week, that's 15,600 calories a year, or about four and a half pounds of fat—without having to move a muscle.

There's a longer-term benefit to all that lifting, too: Muscle accounts for about a third of the average woman's weight, so it has a profound effect on her metabolism, says Kenneth Walsh, director of Boston University School of Medicine's Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute. Specifically, that effect is to burn extra calories, because muscle, unlike fat, is metabolically active. In English: Muscle chews up calories even when you're not in the gym. Replace 10 pounds of fat with 10 pounds of lean muscle and you'll burn an additional 25 to 50 calories a day without even trying.

Target Your Trouble Spots
If you've ever tried to ditch the saddlebags and ended up a bra size smaller instead, you know that where you lose is as important as how much. As great as it might be to see the numbers on the scale go down, when you're on a strict cardio-only program your victory is likely to be empty.

A recent study at the University of Alabama at Birmingham compared dieters who lifted three times a week with those who did aerobic exercise for the same amount of time. Both groups ate the same number of calories, and both lost the same amount—26 pounds—but the lifters lost pure chub, while about 8 percent of the aerobicizers' drop came from valuable muscle.

Researchers have also found that lifting weights is better than cardio at whittling intra-abdominal fat—the Buddha-belly kind that's associated with diseases from diabetes to cancer.
Just don't rely exclusively on the scale to track your progress in the battle of the bulge. Because muscle is denser than fat, it squeezes the same amount of weight into less space. "Often, our clients' scales won't drop as fast, but they'll fit into smaller jeans," says Rachel Cosgrove, owner of Results Fitness in Santa Clarita, Calif.

Start Pumping
Begin with three weight-training sessions each week, recommends Joe Dowdell, founder and co-owner of the New York City gym Peak Performance. For the greatest calorie burn, aim for total-body workouts that target your arms, abs, legs, and back, and go for moves that will zap several different muscle groups at a time—for example, squats, which call on muscles in both the front and back of your legs, as opposed to leg extensions, which isolate the quads.

For each exercise you do, try to perform three sets of 10 to 12 reps with a weight heavy enough that by your last rep you can't eke out another one without compromising your form. To spark further muscle building, William Kraemer, Ph.D., a professor of kinesiology at the University of Connecticut, suggests alternating moderate-intensity workouts of eight to 10 reps with lighter-weight 12- to 15-rep sets and super-hard three- to five-rep sets.

And remember to fuel your workout properly. Too many dieters make the fatal error of cutting back on crucial muscle-maintaining protein when they want to slash their overall calorie intake. The counterproductive result: They lose muscle along with any fat that might have melted away. Sports nutritionist Cassandra Forsythe, Ph.D., co-author of The New Rules of Lifting for Women, recommends that you eat one gram of protein for every pound of your body weight that does not come from fat. For instance, a 140-pound woman whose body fat is 25 percent would need 105 grams of high-quality protein. That's roughly four servings a day; the best sources are chicken or other lean meats, soy products, and eggs.

Ready to turn yourself into a lean, mean, calorie-torching machine? Then go get pumped!

Does Muscle Weigh More than Fat?

No, they are the same pound for pound.

A pound of fat and a pound of muscle weigh exactly the same- 1 pound. Muscle tissue is more DENSE than fat tissue, meaning that the pound of muscle takes up less space than the pound of fat. This is why a person who is 130 lbs. and 20% body fat looks a lot smaller (leaner) than a person who is 130 lbs. and 30% body fat.

Remember, it is not how much your weigh but what your body fat is!

Ellen's Take on Whey Protein

Ellen's Take on Whey Protein

What effects has it had on me? I find that I eat less, consume less calories, my metabolic rate is faster, I recover faster from workouts, and am not craving animal proteins that have cholesterol and fat in them.

Do doctors recommend it? Most physicians know little about nutrition or diet believe it or not. In my opinion, their answer is to prescribe a medication that will fix the problem. But take notice – medications have side effects. I would much rather try to get healthy by following a healthy diet and fitness program. It is much easier however to take a pill.

What doctor recommends it? One of my clients is a patient of Dr. Denise Bruner who specializes in weight loss. She has been on “Oprah” many times. My particular client has been using the whey protein that I recommend for over a year while under the care of Dr. Bruner. Dr. Bruner thinks that the whey protein that I recommend is of high quality and recommends that she be using it for weight loss.

What is whey protein? Whey protein is a food derived from milk. It is not a “bodybuilder” food or a food just for athletes. It is a food to help maintain and build muscle, increase metabolic rate, and get lots of nutritional value with little calories and no fat aor cholesterol.

How should I ingest it? Put one to two scoops in a shaker, add water or milk to it, shake and drink. If you want to make it a meal, put water or milk in a blender, add one to two scoops, non-fat yogurt, some fresh berries, ½ banana, some ice cubes and blend. Once done, it is delicious and fills you up for an entire meal.

What is the cost? $35 plus tax for 2 lbs of whey protein.

What flavors? Chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry are recommended.

How do I order it? Place your order by e-mailing me.

Will you help me figure out how I should add it to my diet so that I can get the maximum benefit? Of course. Just ask or e-mail me.