Any woman who works out with weights will likely wax lyrical about it.

Weight-lifting brings tangible results and is hugely satisfying. It’s becoming increasingly popular amongst women, but many still fear they’ll soon resemble body-builders, rather than create the lean physique they desire.

Gradually, general consensus is shifting though, with more and more women trying resistance training - be that with weights or just their own bodies - and never looking back.

One female personal trainer even told The Independent she can eat eight times as much as she used to when doing purely cardio. But if that’s not incentive enough, we spoke to personal trainer Tom Mans to find out exactly why lifting weights is such a good idea for women.

1. Weight training is key to losing fat

“When it comes to fat loss, the single most important factor is making sure you burn off more calories than you consume on a day-to-day basis,” Mans explained to The Independent

By weight training, you build lean muscle, and muscle is a metabolically active tissue where carbohydrates and body fat are burned and used as energy. The more muscle you have, the higher your basal metabolic rate, so the more calories you’ll burn over the course of a day. 

2. It's more effective than cardio

Many people think slogging it out on a cardio machine or pounding the pavements are the keys to fat loss, but cardio like running or cycling puts strain on your muscles (which can lead to injuries) and won’t build muscle, according to Mans.

Plus with weight training, there are practically endless exercises you can do, so unlike with cardio you’ll never get bored.

3. Lifting weights doesn't mean you'll become big and bulky

“I completely understand why women think weight training makes you bulky and muscly,” says Mans, adding that it can make you bulky, but only if you do specific training with a strict diet to match.

Plus women are built differently to men, and Mans says we won’t become bulky because of our basic biology: “On average, testosterone levels in men are about seven to eight times as great as in women. And testosterone is the main hormone that builds muscles.”

4. It has a positive impact on bone density

“When our bones are put under stress from the force of resistance training over a long period of time, they grow stronger and increase in density to withstand the extra load and force,” Mans says.

“Resistance training increases bone density and therefore decreases the chances of women and men developing osteoporosis later on in life.”

Studies have shown that both aerobic exercise and resistance training help strengthen our bones’ ability to bear weight, but resistance training is more effective.

5.  It will improve your strength and boost your confidence

Every time your work out with weights, you become stronger, and so next time you’ll be able to lift more, which is both incredibly satisfying and motivating.

“Unlike fat loss, which takes a lot of time and patience, strength in the gym can increase on a week-by-week basis,” Mans says, “Especially in the first five to six months of training.”

Plus, it just feels awesome to feel strong: “My female clients get a massive confidence boost when they know they are can lift more than most men of the same age in the gym,” Mans says.

6. It makes you more athletic

Everyone wants to look toned and sculpted, and weight training is the way to achieve this. But it’ll also improve your abilities in other sports.

“I have trained a range of athletes in the past - from professional rugby players to tri-athletes to motorcycle racing drivers,” Mans says. “Having a solid strength base helps improve many other elements of athleticism, including power, speed, agility, endurance and muscle mass gains. 

“Strength training and weight training will help the body adapt to the forces it will face during sport and through everyday life.”

Weights machines can be daunting so put people off. But all you have to do is ask someone how to use them once, and then you’ll be good to go.

And if you don’t have access to a gym, it’s easy to find at-home resistance-based workouts using stretchy bands, dumbbells or even cans of beans (or bottles of alcohol, depending on your priorities).

Once you start working out with weights, chances are you’ll never look back. And then you’ll be one of the ones waxing lyrical (and smashing the men at arm-wrestling).

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/why-women-should-lift-weights-6-reasons-exercise-fitness-confidence-strength-fat-loss-a7829436.html

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Weight Loss vs. Fat Loss: Are You Sure You’re Losing Fat?

Weight loss is one of the hottest topics ever. Everyone seems to be trying to lose weight nowadays. But what’s the difference between weight loss & fat loss? People seem to use both terms interchangeably.

After reading this post you’ll understand the difference between weight loss & fat loss, but also which one you should aim for and how.

Weight Loss vs. Fat Loss. What’s the difference? Let’s start by defining weight loss & fat loss so you know what I mean here.

Weight Loss. You want to lower your body-weight, the sum weight of your bones, muscles, organs, body fat, …

Fat Loss. You want to lower your body fat, the amount of fat your body carries. Healthy goals are 10% body fat for men and 15% for women.

Problems with Weight Loss. If you want to lose weight, it’s most likely because you carry too much fat. There are people who must lose weight, like athletes before a competition, but most want fat loss. So stop weighing yourself.

Unreliable. Your body-weight can fluctuate daily since it’s influenced by your stomach/bowel/bladder content, water loss/retention, muscle loss/gain, fat loss/gain, … You’ll have no idea what’s going on.

Irrelevant. 2 people with similar height can weigh the same, but look completely different because one has lower body fat than the the other. Check the picture at the top for an example.

The last point shows why the BMI standard is flawed: it doesn’t take your body fat into account. Both guys in the top picture have the same BMI, but one is clearly healthier: his body fat is lower.

Here’s How The Weight Scale Can Mislead You. Clothes, mirrors & pictures don’t lie. Neither do fat calipers. But the weight scale can become your worst enemy by misleading you and killing your motivation. Examples:

Carbs & Water. Carbs bind to water. So eating less carbs will make you lose weight: water loss. This is why you lose so much weight on a diet like Atkins the first 2 weeks: it’s mostly water. Of course, increasing your carb intake will make you gain weight again: water retention.

Muscle Gains & Fat Loss. You’ll gain muscle while losing fat when you get into strength training. But on the weight scale it will look like you’re not making progress: your body-weight doesn’t change. Track your body fat using a fat caliper and you’ll see your body fat is going down.

How to Make Sure You Lose Fat, Not Muscle? Check the picture above: 5lbs muscle takes less space than 5lbs fat. That means you’ll look slimmer at the same body-weight by building muscle. Keys to losing fat, not muscle:

Get Stronger. Strength training builds muscle & prevents muscle loss. It also helps sticking to your diet. Check the StrongLifts 5×5 routine.

Eat Healthy. Eat whole unprocessed foods 90% of the time and eat less starchy carbs. Check the 8 nutrition rules.

You can do cardio to speed up fat loss. But without strength training, cardio will cause muscle loss and you’ll end up skinny-fat. Avoid.

How to Track Progress Efficiently. You don’t need to track progress weekly, changes wouldn’t be drastic enough. Track progress every 2 weeks.

Stop Weighing Yourself Daily. The daily fluctuations will mess with your motivation. Weigh yourself once every 2 weeks, not more.

Stop Looking in The Mirror. Self-image issues can skew perception. Shoot full body pictures and compare them with old ones.

Track Body Fat. Get a fat caliper and track your body fat every 2 weeks. Use this how-to guide and watch this video.

Take Measurements. Girth measurements of your neck, chest, arms, waist & thighs. Waist should go down, rest should go up.

Shoot Pictures. Full body pictures from ankle to neck, front/back/side, every 2 weeks. Compare with your previous pics.

Strength Stats. Log your workouts. Strength going up means muscle gains and strength training prevents muscle breakdown.

Listen also to what people say. They’ll notice your body change more than you will. Clothes will start to feel differently too.

You Might Not Want to Lose Weight. Big guys who want to lose weight often change their mind once they’ve lowered their body fat. They realize they prefer to stay big as long as their body fat is healthy.

Focus on fat loss first. Once you’ve got your body fat down, check if you like what you see. Then decide if you still need to lose weight.

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Source: https://stronglifts.com/weight-loss-vs-fat-loss-are-you-sure-you%E2%80%99re-losing-fat/

Skin Brushing and Weight Loss

People may lose weight faster and more evenly when skin brushing is a daily part of their weight loss plans. While it only takes a few minutes each day, the benefits can be significant. Make skin brushing part of your routine, during and after weight loss.

Benefits

Consider skin brushing an exercise for your skin, your largest organ. By improving circulation, skin brushing may help to eliminate wastes and toxins, the source of stubborn cellulite. Skin brushing may reduce fat deposits, tightening skin and toning muscles. It sloughs off dead skin cells, leaving your skin soft and smooth. According to Yoga Journal, skin brushing may also stimulate the lymphatic system, which boosts immunity.

Time Frame

For best results, skin brushing should ideally be done for 5 to 10 minutes every morning before you shower during and after weight loss. Skin brushing in the morning helps release the toxins in your body that have accumulated during the night. The time it takes to see noticeable results will vary between individuals.

How To

Skin brushing is best done with a natural bristle brush with a long handle so you can get at those hard-to-reach areas. Start from the bottom and work your way up. Begin at your feet and brush up your legs, giving extra attention to your thighs, hips and buttocks. Continue with your stomach. Brush your chest, avoiding direct contact with your nipples. Continue with your hands and brush up your arms, including your underarms. Finish with your back, and brush lightly down your neck. The general rule of thumb is to brush using long strokes toward your heart. The natural bristles may feel rough on your skin at first, but it will soon adjust to the pressure.

Risks

Do not brush your skin if you have varicose veins. In fact, brushing the wrong direction, away from your heart, could contribute to or worsen varicose veins. Avoid brushing near open or irritated skin. If you are pregnant, remember to brush gently on your stomach. Use a separate brush for each family member. Wash your brush with mild soap and warm water every few weeks. As with any new treatment, talk to your doctor to determine if skin brushing is right for you.

Considerations

Although skin brushing regularly can reduce fat deposits and tighten saggy skin, skin brushing should not replace diet and exercise. You will not lose weight through skin brushing alone. However, it can be an effective part of your weight loss plan. The additional benefits of skin brushing will leave you looking and feeling healthier, giving you the motivation to achieve your weight loss goals.

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Source: https://www.livestrong.com/article/290552-skin-brushing-and-weight-loss/

WHY WE SHOULD REPLACE WEIGHT LOSS WITH FAT LOSS

We need to stop obsessing over losing weight, says Rachel Hosie - there are better ways to measure your fitness and health progress.

Hollywood star Kate Winslet says she hasn't weighed herself in more than 12 years - and several fitness experts have urged others to shun the scales too.

Talking about new movie The Mountain Between Us - in which co-star Idris Elba drags her from a stream - she says: "It was very hard on him. I don't know how much I weigh. I haven't weighed myself in 12 years. Top tip."

She hit the big time playing Rose in Titanic in 1997, and has been a size 10, 12, and 14 over the past two decades.

Many fitness experts urge people to improve their fitness and tone, rather than trying to lose weight, so Kate could be onto something.

Personal trainer to elite athletes and the stars, Rich Tidmarsh, told The Independent: “You shouldn’t be losing weight - ideally you want to keep your weight the same whilst getting smaller.”

If you’re trying to get healthier, you should be gaining muscle and losing fat, thus getting smaller but not necessarily lighter.

Muscle is more dense than fat, which is where the common adage “muscle weighs more than fat” comes from: a pound of fat takes up a lot more space than a pound of muscle.

“Muscle is three times as dense as fat (so you are heavier),” personal trainer Nicola Addison explained. 

“But the same weight of fat over muscle will take up 19 per cent more body space. That’s why we (and most fitness professionals) will recommend a measuring tape over the scales any day!”

The trouble is, we’ve been conditioned to obsess over the number on the scale.

However, according to fitness and nutrition expert Gav Gillibrand, the scale is the least effective tool for assessing your progress when it comes to losing body fat. 

He says it’s better to focus on three other factors:

1) Body dimensions and measurement

2) Body fat

3) Performance

“Anyone can restrict calories and ‘lose weight,’” he explained to The Independent. “On a crash diet, most of the weight loss comes from water and muscle.”

He believes that instead of looking at the number on the scale, we should be trying to improve our performance, such as by completing more reps or higher weights on a given exercise. 

“Focus on building muscle and becoming strong,” Gav says. “That combined with a high protein, good fats and low GI carbohydrate diet is the key to sustained body fat loss.”

But for decades, we’ve been obsessively talking about losing weight. We need to change the conversation.

“As the owner of a busy personal training company in London, one of the most common goals we have new clients asking us for is weight loss, but 99 times out of 100 what they’re really after is to change the shape of their body, for example, achieving a slimmer stomach or leaner thighs,” David Valentine-Jones, owner of Sculpt Fitness, told The Independent. 

We just need to retrain our brains to think about weight loss being the be all and end all.

As personal trainer Tom Mans points out, when people say they want to lose weight what they really mean is they want to lose fat. All we ever talk about it losing weight though. 

Tom accepts that very overweight or obese people will see the number on the scales go down once they start training, but for most people, your body weight “will probably stay the same, or not change drastically.

“With my own clients who want to get leaner and lose some fat I’ll do before and after photos,” he explained to The Independent. “This gives a better representation of whether they are losing fat.” 

What’s more, our weight fluctuates so much.

“The thing to remember about solely focusing on the scale to track results is that weight will naturally fluctuate up or down day to day depending on a number of factors, primarily water retention,” Jones explains. 

“This can potentially lead to a demoralising result for a person that has embarked on a quest to lose weight, exercised hard and eaten sensibly all week only to find they have put on a pound, most likely in water weight.”

Women also have the issue of their menstrual cycles affecting their weight.

But at the end of the day, working out shouldn’t just be about fat loss anyway - there are so many other benefits to exercise that go past aesthetics. 

“If you stay fit and healthy you will potentially live longer, lower your body pressure, increase bone density, decrease stress, boost confidence, improve your sleep and increase your appetite,” Mans explains. 

Keeping tabs on your weight isn’t necessarily a bad thing just to keep you in check - Jones says the best approach is to weigh yourself no more than once a week or a fortnight, at the same time of day and on the same scales - but we need to stop obsessing over weight loss. 

Fat loss and improved health are much better goals.

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/why-weight-loss-fat-replace-health-safe-gym-workout-scales-measurements-ratio-a7968451.html

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What’s the difference between weight loss and fat loss?

Losing lbs isn’t always a good thing—here's how to know if your efforts in the gym and kitchen are actually paying off.

DITCHING THE LAYER OF FAT covering your six pack means you’re cutting calories and increasing your burn. But seeing the scale flash three pounds less than last week doesn’t necessarily mean all your hardwork is paying off.

There’s three explanations for weight loss, says strength and performance specialist Joel Seedman, Ph.D., owner of Advanced Human Performance in Atlanta: Losing fat, losing muscle, and losing water. With a perfect diet and workout regimen, you’ll just be shedding fat. But because there are so many moving parts when it comes to dieting and working out, chances may also be losing weight you’d rather keep.

Muscle Loss

Muscle requires constant work to maintain—we all know this. But if your attention is on fixing your diet or upping your cardio in order to burn fat, that focus is probably coming at the expense of strength training.

Plus, if you’re more focused on your calorie restriction than working out, you’ll almost assuredly lose muscle tissue weight, Seedman says. Why? Because calorie restriction usually means macronutrient restriction. Without enough protein in your diet, your body can’t rebuild the tissue even if you are strength training.

Not only is it a bummer to forfeit those gains, but muscle directly impacts your basal metabolic rate (BMR)—or the rate at which your body burns calories both while working out as well as at rest. Less muscle means a lower BMR which means a lower calorie burn throughout your day.

Muscle tissue also regulates your insulin sensitivity—the biological process that determines how well your body absorbs nutrients. If you lose muscle tissue from dieting improperly, the nutrients you eat are less likely to be partitioned to your muscle cells and more likely to be turned into fat cells, Seedman adds.

Water Loss

One of the fastest ways to lose weight in the short-term is to cut carbs—that’s because carbohydrates retain some three times as much water as any other type of macronutrient, Seedman explains. When you cut back on carbs, your body isn’t retaining as much water, plain and simple.

But losing water weight is like buffing your car—it makes the exterior look sleeker, but the beautification is short lived and no interior improvements have actually been made. “If you lose intermuscular water, at first it’s not a big deal—it’s like letting a little air out of a balloon,” Seedman explains. But after a few weeks, because muscle is 70 percent water, the tissue adapts to the dehydration and your muscles shrink and start to atrophy. You’re not only compromising the structural integrity of your muscles, but as you lose bulk thanks to the lack of water, you’re also triggering the whole metabolic dysfunction of BMR and insulin sensitivity that comes with losing muscle. 

The problem comes when you drop below 50 to 75 grams of carbs on a consistent basis, Seedman adds. You still need to eat some carbs—at least .5 grams per pound of your body weight for a low-carb diet or .75 to 1.5 grams per pound for a more balanced calorie-restricted diet will allow fat loss without losing that intramuscular water.

Fat Loss

Your aim is for maximum lipolysisis—the biological process of breaking down fat lipids and triglycerides in either the food you eat or that are already stored in your body. This mostly happens in the mitochondria of the muscles, which is why the more muscle you have, the more fat you burn, Seedman points out. Exercise has also been shown to upregulate those lipolytic enzymes and improve mitochondria function, which is why working out helps you shed fat.

While that sounds pretty straightforward, it’s actually incredibly hard to predict your potential burn rate. “It’s not just calories in, calories out,” Seedman clarifies. While traditional thinking was that between your BMR and calorie intake, you could calculate how much fat you’ll lose per week. But there are an infinite number of possibilities that can occur among the different enzymes, hormonal response, biochemical reactions, and endocrine function—just to name a few—which can all affect this rate, he adds.

How Do You Know?

If you see more than two pounds disappear in a week, you’re dealing with more than just fat loss. “When guys start upping their workouts and cutting calories, they’ll see fat loss pretty quickly—but never at a rapid rate,” Seedman explains. This two-pounds-a-week is most everybody's threshold for fat burn. If you drop 10 pounds in a week, the vast majority of that will be water weight and a little bit of muscle loss as well.

Source: https://www.mensfitness.com/weight-loss/burn-fat-fast/whats-difference-between-weight-loss-and-fat-loss

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Cheat meal strategies for weight loss and muscle gains

How to optimize your indulgences to further your gains, not your gut, by Brittany Smith.

   

BEER-BATTERED HOT WINGS. Stuffed-crust pizza. Double-digit scoop sundaes. This is the stuff of cheat meal fantasies. But more often than not, it's also the stuff of weight gain nightmares. The problem most guys run into when they're straying from their diets is they don't know how to properly splurge. Eating like garbage for damn near 24 hours once a week doesn't equate to renewed resolve in your diet and exercise regimen any more than it stimulates muscle growth and fat loss. There are scientific and personalized components to a cheat meal you've probably been overlooking, until now.

"A cheat meal is high in calories and all macronutrients. Protein, carbs, and fat and is not something that would normally be part of a proper diet plan," says BuiltLean contributor and nutritional scientist Eva Lana, MSc. It's not to be confused with a cheat day, which is an eight- to 12-hour window in which you go outside of your grilled-chicken-and-roasted-veggie diet, and straight out binge. In fact, cheat days aren't really recommended for the average guy who's in the gym four or so days a week. A cheat day, she says, is recommended for those who are serious, competitive athletes and body builders. For the average guy, Lana suggests a weekly cheat meal.

When it comes to cheating (on meals, that is), there are two hormones you need to be concerned with: leptin and ghrelin. Leptin is the "hunger hormone." It's mainly produced by fat tissue, and it regulates your appetite and energy stores. Grehlin is a hormone mainly produced by the stomach. It's an appetite stimulant that signals the release of growth hormone.

"Weekly cheat meals that are higher in calories and carbohydrates can help raise leptin levels and lower ghrelin," Lana says. When your hormones return to normal, they can help reverse or even prevent any negative effects on metabolism, hunger drive, and energy expenditure. What's more, she adds, the increased calories may also help to increase thyroid function, further boosting metabolism; so a scheduled cheat meal may actually help optimize your body’s hormones to avoid weight loss plateaus and prevent chronic metabolism depression."

And hey, if nothing else, it's a welcome reprieve from your typical diet that can help you stay on track the rest of the week. (Think: Looking forward to pizza or wings on Friday night can help you make a healthy choice for lunch on Wednesday.)

Plan and Schedule

Pick a day of the week that will be your designated "cheat" day and stick to it. If you don't, and just abide by what you're feeling or craving, you're way more susceptible to caving to cravings every other day. Also, you need to remember that cheat meals are meal replacements, Lana says. They need to fit into your current eating regimen, and aren’t meant to be a day-long gorge fest where you eat twice as much and twice as often.

Splurge on Favorite Foods

There are a few reasons you want to include your favorite foods in your cheat meals. For one, when you look forward to indulging in certain foods, it can make maintaining a diet easier in the long run since you’re not being deprived all the time. That being said, "you need to pick a meal (read: singular meal) that will allow you to indulge without going overboard,” Lana says. That means you can reach for your favorite fish tacos, but forgo the chips and guacamole that precedes the meal, and definitely stray from the pitcher of margaritas. “Cheating may turn into a negative psychological problem for some people if you’re prone to binging,” she adds.

Get Moving

Just because you're going rogue on your diet doesn't mean you get a pass to skip the gym, too. Actually, it's super important to work out before and/or after feasting; it can actually promote bigger, better gains. "The purpose is to deplete muscular glycogen and activate the glucose transporters in your muscle (GLUT4 and GLUT12), which creates an insulin sensitivity," Lana explains. "When activated, and in the presence of glucose, GLUT4 and GLUT12 will move glucose from the blood into the muscle." Once this happens, you need ample amounts of carbs and calories to restore glycogen.

Refrain from Gorging

Despite popular belief, cheat meals are not an excuse to overindulge, Lana says. Sure, you can have a calorie-rich meal, but you don't want to stuff yourself sick. Here's an obvious rule of thumb (that you learned when you were little): Don't eat to the point of discomfort and potential sickness; eat until you feel full and satisfied. Simple as that.

Customize Your Cheat

"People who are in a large caloric deficit (more than 750 calories per day) need a cheat meal more often than those who are in a smaller caloric deficit,” Lana says. "Leptin concentrations (hunger hormone) typically reflect total body fat mass; the leaner your physique becomes, the less leptin your body produces, at which point eating cheat meals is more ideal. All in all, you need to recognize the changes in your body and how your body reacts to different cheat meals. You may psychologically and physiologically feel super sluggish and bloated after a heaping plate of fettuccine alfredo, or you may struggle to refrain from binging all weekend long when your cheat day is on Saturday. You need to find what best fits your lifestyle in order to be successful, fit, and happy.

Fit in a Fast

Now, to truly see the benefits of cheating, Lana suggests fasting beforehand. But, she stresses, the word "fasting" has many meanings. You can just drink liquids, eat very few calories, or not eat anything at all. The most important thing to keep in mind is making a calorie deficit. “For those who eat at a slight caloric deficit for majority of the week, then throw in a fasting day right before they cheat, they see a huge drop in weight and body fat," Lana says. "However, if they eat a relatively high number of calories, but stay regimented in their diet and take in few carbs, then the cheat will not work as well due to the lack of change in leptin levels." That's why low-calorie diets and chronic exercise often result in increased ghrelin concentrations, which may lead to increased food intake and body weight.

So, if you want to have a cheat meal at breakfast, Lana suggests fasting 12 hours before (being asleep obviously makes the fast easier). If you want your cheat meal to be dinner, that would mean fasting (not eating, eating very little, or only drinking, etc.) the whole day before the meal. Keep in mind, fasting is really particular to the individual. If you tend to get light-headed without food or have medical concerns, make sure you eat small meals throughout the day. When in doubt, talk to your nutritionist or doctor.

Avoid Nutrient-Poor Foods

"Small sugary indulgences are fine, but try to avoid sugar-laden, nutrient-poor foods, which can postpone progress during the week," Lana says. Opt for a well-balanced meal that is higher in calories and carbs than your typical go-to, especially if you're trying to bulk up. "Carbohydrates serve two main purposes when it comes to building muscle; they're the direct fuel source for intense workouts, and they free up protein for building muscle rather than for energy needs," Lana explains.

Here are some delicious options to get you going:

-    Cheeseburger with the bun

-    Two slices of pizza

-    Pasta dish with a protein source

-    Chicken or shrimp fajitas with two tortillas

-    Chicken stir fry with rice or noodles

Source: https://www.mensfitness.com/nutrition/what-to-eat/cheat-meal-strategies-weight-loss-and-muscle-gains

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