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Kim:
You are suffering from what I like to refer to as the yo- yo syndrome. It is obvious that if you burn more calories than you consume you will loose weight. However if you don’t change the composition of your body you will gain the weight back as sure as a yo-yo will return to your hand after you release it. That’s why you need to lift weights to keep your body in shape.

When most people think of weight lifters they usually picture the muscle bound body builders from the old Joe Weider magazines. What people fail to realize is these body builders represent about 1% of the people who lift weights. Competitive body builders use extreme measures to look the way they do including long 4-5 hour workouts, radical diets and performance enhancing drugs.  So don’t worry you won’t look like them. Now that we have that straight lets discuss why weight lifting can work to your advantage.

When you start a weight training program you will build muscle. Since you are adding muscle mass you may gain a couple of pounds of body weight during the first couple weeks of your program. Don’t panic it’s normal. You are already starting the fat burning process. The new muscle mass will account for the increase in body weight. The good news is that the more muscle mass you gain the more calories you will burn. Studies have shown that for every pound of muscle you add you will burn an additional 35-50 calories a day. In other words if you add 2 pounds of body weight to your frame you may possible burn an additional seven hundred calories a week. Not bad.

Another thing to remember is that muscle is much different than fat. Fat is loose and takes up more space. Muscle is tight and dense. As you become leaner will usually notice a change in the way your clothes fit before you notice any weight loss. If your clothes become looser you are on the right track. So don’t depend on the scale alone to track your results

As you become a more experienced weight lifter your body will continue to change. You metabolism will become elevated and your body weight will slowly decline. The great thing about weight lifting is that unlike cardiovascular training you will continue to burn more calories even when you rest or take a break from working out. Therefore you won’t experience the yo-yo syndrome anymore.

Add cardiovascular training and a healthy diet and your results will be even more dramatic.