Why Weight Training Is Important For Fat Loss

                              

"All I want is a flat stomach"

"I don't want big muscles or abs, I just want to be fit"

"My body is perfectly fine, I just need to lose some weight from my stomach & love handles"

Sounds like something you would say? I think I know exactly what your problem is, and how to fix it.

When I first started losing weight, I had no intention of building muscle. I just wanted to look "normal".  To me, this meant nothing more than having a flat stomach.

I wasted an entire year trying to achieve this goal. I kept dieting (starving) and exercising (excessive cardio) but I only moved further away from my "dream" physique. My arms got skinnier, my legs got skinnier, my face shrunk a little BUT my stomach just wouldn't budge. I automatically assumed that I'm simply supposed to keep losing weight until it does.

Early 2013 - After the initial "Weight Loss"

I hit my all time low of 63 kilos by the summer of 2013, and believe me, I looked horrific. I couldn't imagine dropping my weight any further. Something HAD to be wrong. I panicked and spent days trying to google what my problem was. Luckily, this is when I was first introduced to the bodybuilding community. I read hundreds of articles on fitness, nutrition, weight training, gaining muscle, losing body fat and suddenly, it all became clear to me.

A good example of what I looked like underneath

Turns out, all I did was move from being FAT, to Skinny-Fat. This is a term used to describe people that look normal (or skinny) with a t-shirt on, but have fat in all the wrong places underneath; a flabby chest. a hanging gut or both. And guess what, unless you're genetically blessed with Spartan genes, this is exactly what an everyday "normal" person that doesn't work out looks like.

Still want to look normal?

If I had any knowledge of bodybuilding before I started my initial journey in the gym, I could have avoided the entire skinny-fat predicament. I say this because I shunned strength training from my work out routine for an entire year. What I didn't realize was that while I was losing weight, I probably wasn't losing a lot of fat.*

*Weight is a combination of water, fat and muscle. Your goal should be to lose body FAT, and not body WEIGHT.

Simply put, if you're not using your muscles and eating an ample amount of protein, your body prefers to burn muscle and store fat, most essentially in your belly. This is because doing excessive amounts of cardio requires energy. Energy is derived from fat which is stored in your body when you're on a calorie restricting diet. This is one of the reasons why I repeatedly stress on the importance of weight and strength training, so that your body preserves lean body mass and burns fat.

Spend 30-40 minutes performing cardiovascular exercises, but make sure you spend another 30 minutes working your muscles by lifting weights. If you work out 5-6 days a week, make sure you lift weights on at least 3 of those days. Don't just work your arms and abs every second day because those are the body parts you want to see get bigger. You're going to have to work out proportionately. I understand that some people don't want to "GET HUGE", but trust me.. lifting a dumbbell isn't going to get you swole overnight. It takes years of training and eating right to achieve that kind of look. However, lifting weights and building strength will help you preserve your current lean body mass while burning fat.

I'm sorry if the truth hurts, but it isn't all that easy. Unless you want to look like this:

Personally, after educating myself on fitness and nutrition, I started cleaning up my diet and focusing on getting stronger, faster, more flexible and athletic. I took up Mixed Martial Arts, primarily Muay Thai & Jiu-Jitsu. I erased cardio from my gym routine because the intensity of the workout during my MMA training was so high that I didn't need it anymore. At the same time, I dedicated myself to getting stronger and lifting heavier weights at the gym also.

After the summer of 2013, I weighed approximately 63 kilos. By early 2014, I gained up to 72 kilos and then cut down to a steady 68. This goes to show that gaining muscle does in fact make you leaner and will only aide you in moving towards your goal.

I'm not against cardio. I still go for a run or hit the bicycle every now and then because it helps you stay healthy and lose fat. But, it'll only work if you combine it with a good weight training routine. That, plus a good diet and ample amounts of rest.

If you have specific questions or queries for me, feel free to post them on my ask.fm page (http://ask.fm/TheHealthNazi) and I'll be more than happy to answer them for you!