What is the best exercise modality for fat loss? (It may surprise you)
Losing weight can be confusing, and overwhelming.
How many of you have spent hours on an elliptical, your Peloton, or running, thinking it’s the best way for you to lose fat.
(Raises hand).
Well, we hate to burst your bubble, but excessive cardio is NOT what you should be doing if you want to lose fat.
Yes, cardiovascular training increases your heart rate, and improves your cardio vascular health, however, increasing your basal metabolic rate (BMR), boosts your metabolism, resulting in more calories burned at rest. Want to know what else it can do if you’re not focusing on building lean muscle mass?
This, combined with balanced nutrition, a high protein diet (one gram of protein per pound of your goal body weight per day), is key for fat loss.
And how do you increase your basal metabolic rate?
You increase your lean muscle mass through reistance training. Resistance, or strength training, builds muscle mass, which helps you burn more calories, even at rest.
Even better? About 60 to 70% of the calories you burn each day comes from your BMR. Your BMR is the energy your body expends just to keep essential functions going, like breathing, heart rate and organ function. The rest of the calories you burn in a day comes from exercise, food digestion and simply normal activity, like walking up and down stairs, vaccuming and fidgiting.
If you’re primarily doing only cardio, yes, the scale may go down, but so will your lean muscle mass. This means your metabolism is slowing down, making it easier to gain weight over time.
Take an honest look at the exercise you do in a week - is it clear that you’re doing more strength training than cardio? If not, it’s time to make some changes!
In our Elite Coaching program, we work with you to make a custom nutrition and exercise plan to help you achieve (and maintain) your fat loss goals - we’d love to work with you!