Lifting weights to help me lose weight
The simple answer to this question is that lifting weights may have a small impact on your attempt to lose weight – but it depends.
Indeed, one of our Gym 21 members used to drink five or six pints of beer every evening and because he worked out every day, he appeared to be in great shape – suggesting that lifting weights was keeping the flab at bay. However, as soon as he hit his forties, it was game over. He ended up with big smooth muscles and a huge pot belly to go with it!
If you are young, say in your twenties, you may be able to get away with consuming a not so good diet, while exercising like crazy. However, if you are aged forty or older, you might find that lifting weights and exercising in general is not helping you to lose weight – and if you are insulin resistant, losing weight may seem to be impossible – and here is the key reason that lifting weights will not help you to lose weight:
Weight Loss is attributed to 85% diet and only 15% exercise and in actual fact, we had a member at Gym 21 who lost 103 pounds of body weight with diet and zero exercise.
Obviously, exercise is a good idea for improving our health and lifting weights is a brilliant way to keep our muscles conditioned and our bones strong. However, I say this time and time again – you need to get healthy first and then the weight loss will follow.
What do I mean by 'get healthy first'?
Well, you might look okay from the outside but you might be unhealthy on the inside. In many cases, the poor western diet has lead to 60% of people developing a fatty-liver. This is where too much glucose has forced the liver to store fat inside itself. The liver expands and pushes through the abdomen – hence the big pot belly.
How can I lose weight then?
I recommend that you do the following:
1. Cut back on the sugar and carbs (bread, pasta, rice, noodles and potatoes) and increase the amount of healthy fats that you consume. Also, get rid of the inflammatory omega 6 oils – such as vegetable oil, margerine and trans fats in general.
2. Delay breakfast by one hour when you wake up. Eventually push this back by two hours, then three hours and then four. This will keep insulin low and you will burn fat – you will also be Intermittently Fasting.
3. Don’t snack in between meals and most of all, do not eat a thing after your final meal of the day. If you must snack during the day, choose healthy options such as walnuts, hazelnuts, avocado and other healthy fatty foods.
4. Carry on lifting weights and working out in general, but do this to strengthen muscles and bones, rather than lose weight.
In this great video, Doctor Berry admits why exercise will not cause you to lose weight.
