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HIT For Weight Loss

High Intensity Weight Training For Fat Loss

When it comes to the subject of weight loss, most do not know where to begin and as a consequence, how to remove it. The simple fact is this: people who are overweight have simply eaten more calories than what their body is able to spend. We truly are the sum of our parts. If you have ever poured water through a funnel, you will take note that you can only pour in a certain amount of water as the pouring takes place. If too much water is poured all at once, it will overflow and spill out because the cone and bottleneck of the funnel is not large enough to accommodate for the ever increasing water. Fat works in much the same way. When too many calories are eaten in combination with sedentary activity, it spills over and excess calories are converted to fat.

But the question is, what kind of calories are consumed that contributes to this? We can reduce the culprit to the following three categories: 1)protein 2)carbohydrates 3)fat. Protein is a wonderful muscle building tool as well as an insulin stabilizer when eaten with a portion of carbohydrates to keep blood sugar from dramatically spiking. Therefore, protein is exempt from the guilty verdict. It is the baked potatoes, the pastas and grains that have been eaten in overabundance and, as a result, have been converted to fat. This effect is quantified when eaten with large amounts of fat. Because the body already has a sufficient amount of energy to draw from, it assumes that it is in a period of overabundance and consequently stores the excess as fat as an alternative energy source when food becomes scarce. The problem is that we continue to eat and it is never given a reason to use what is stored.

Your body will rely on four different types of energy to keep it running efficiently: 1) carbohydrates 2) fat 3) muscle tissue or 4) protein. The key to weight loss is to persuade the body to switch to a different form of energy, namely, excess fat. When an overabundance of starchy carbohydrates are eaten, it will continue to run on this unless the daily amount taken in is lowered or better yet, is replaced with a better form of carbs, namely fibrous carbs with slow burning characteristics (glycemic index). This is what is referred to as a slow carb diet. In addition to this, raising fat intake while reducing carbohydrates allows for a rich fat burning environment. It is not simply taking in more fat that raises the obesity level in a person, it is the total amount of calories taken as a whole that contribute to this. When carbohydrates are lowered and fats raised in conjunction with a cap limit on total calories consumed, the body will now have a new source of energy in which excess fat can now be consumed.

Avoid Weight Loss Marketing Tactics

Companies claiming to have found the miracle cure with extravagant fees are endless. Most have either ulterior motives or they are simply well meaning people who are misinformed. The bottom line is that most are out to make a buck. I cannot tell you how much it grates on me to see the "instant weight loss" pills and infomercial junk that is being sold in the name of virtue.

Let's take a look at the infomercials. A product has just been created and is now out on the market and ready for sale. The makers of the product turn to a modeling agency and hire several well-built male and female models who can be seen on television working-out. The potential buyer reacts to this by thinking, "if they look like that then maybe so can I!" It seems alright, doesn't it? The only problem is that this product has just come out on the market! How could the well-built models seen working-out have achieved these results in such a quick turn-around? They are just models trying to help sell a product. That is all.

High Intensity Training for Weight Loss

One pound of fat is equivalent to 3,500 calories. If you were to eat only 100 extra calories a day for one month, that is almost one pound of newly created fat. Again, we are the sum of our parts. Reducing this to the lowest common denominator tells us so. Dr. M. Doug McGuff MD writes in his article, Body Fat: Hard Facts About Soft Tissue, the following: "Go to the health club and climb on a stair stepper or treadmill. Program the machine by plugging in your weight, select your speed or program and begin your workout. As you plod along on the apparatus you are driven along by the ever-increasing number on the screen that indicates the number of calories that you have burned. Eventually you go long enough to burn 300 calories and you are left with a feeling of accomplishment. Now, as you wipe the sweat from your brow and catch your breath, let me ask you a question. Why did the machine ask you to program in your weight? If you answered to calculate how many calories you burn you are right. What you most likely failed to consider is the main reason it needs your weight is to calculate your basal metabolic rate. The average male will maintain his weight on about 3200 calories a day. That is about 140 calories an hour at rest. So the 300 calories burned are not calories burned above your basal metabolic rate, they are calories burned including your basal metabolic rate. So for your time on the treadmill, you burned about 160 calories above your baseline. If you eat just 3 cookies, you have completely undone about an hour's worth of work."

The following points are effective weight loss reminders in conjunction with High Intensity Training:

As a passive means of fat reduction, the body must utilize an extra 250 calories a day for every one pound of newly added muscle in order to preserve it. Adding only one pound will burn 1750 calories a week while performing no additional "aerobic" work. Conversely, losing muscle tissue will slow the effectiveness of calorie burning. Adding merely two pounds of muscle will utilize 3500 calories per week with absolutely no "aerobic activity". A passive means of fat reduction!

High Intensity Training will add muscle tissue which in turn raises your basal metabolic rate and creates a larger storage capacity for glycogen. Weight training depletes glycogen storage and ensures that carbohydrates that are eaten are stored as glycogen in muscle rather than as a triglyceride in fat.

Running for an hour will only burn approximately 300 calories (that is including your basal metabolic rate). Keep in mind that one pound of fat is equal to 3500 calories. Assuming that someone actually has the tenacity to engage in such a rigorous "fat burning" program for seven days a week, that is only 2100 calories burned. Imagine going for a month straight, approximately thirty days of non-stop aerobic activity!

If you spend an hour a day doing "aerobic" work, that amounts to, obviously, 365 hours a year spent on a needless activity! That is a little over 2 solid weeks worth of waking activity that could have been spent elsewhere.

If you have any questions or comments, please email us.

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Disclaimer: This information is not presented by a medical practitioner and is for educational and informational purposes only. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read.

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