Melt Your Middle With Muscle
I hear it time and again-“I don’t want to get bulky, just toned…So cardio is all I need.” And my inner self screams in frustration. But I step back and remember when I weighed 200 pounds and gyms scared me so I thought I’d just walk too. And I did lose weight. But my arms still had that “flap-back” and my legs were still like tree trunks and there was still pudge to my tummy. That’s when I finally decided it was worth hiring a trainer. But only for a few sessions! I told him I was happy with the number on the scale, I just didn’t like my shape. So off we went to the weights. Now all I had ever lifted was a 10-pound dumbbell before so when he gave me a 15 pounder I told him, “no bulk.” “Lift,” he said as if he hadn’t heard me. “Just trust me,” became his mantra, I swear. But a few short weeks later I noticed it, that horseshoe where my triceps are, that line defining my hamstrings and just a hint of washboard abs! What was this? We hadn’t done anymore diet monitoring than I’d already done when I started walking. I hadn’t added anymore cardio sessions, in fact I had cut out some on the days I lifted, and Lord knows the scale hadn’t moved. But my jeans were really getting loose and my arms firm and my cardio easier. Why? So I started reading up on muscle and metabolism and I figured it out!
FIRST, a pound of muscle looks much smaller, more compact, than a pound of fat.
SECOND, a pound of muscle burns between 30 and 70 calories a day, compared to 2 calories burned by a pound of fat.
THIRD, while cardio burns calories during and for about 2 hours afterwards, strength sessions burn during and for 6-12 hours afterwards and that’s on top of reason 2!
So now when I hear “cardio only,” I just smile and firmly say, “Lift!”