The Number One Secret That Burns More Fat

When it comes to living a healthy lifestyle, I encourage my clients to follow a healthy diet (as in daily intake, not restriction) and exercise plan to stay in good physical shape. The goal of nutritioulicious™ is to help you eat healthy food that also tastes good, but unfortunately I’m not a fitness expert, so my services in that department only go so far. Lucky for me, I know a fabulous personal trainer who can give you the guidance I can’t. TrainerDiva Elena Ciccotelli is here to help you burn fat without sacrificing delicious food!

The Number One Secret That Burns More Fat

By Elena Ciccotelli

As we embark upon our 2010 fitness resolutions many of us are weighing in. It’s happening right now all across America. Can you hear it? The resounding thud of countless resolution-ers all stepping onto the dreaded scale, surveying the damage, and facing the music. Sound familiar? Of course it does, because we’ve all been there! But before you go running to the nearest treadmill for an hour sweat-a-thon, remember that weight training sessions are a much more effective fat burner than cardio. Here’s why.

Muscle is much more metabolically active, burns more calories, than fat. Therefore, when you spend more time on a weight training routine and less time on a cardio regiment, you are building more lean muscle in your body. This will ultimately help you burn more calories at rest. Did you know that one pound of muscle burns up to 50 calories at rest? This means you can burn up to 50 calories while doing absolutely nothing! Let’s say you added 10 pounds of muscle to your body. In one week you will burn an extra 3,500 calories just by sitting on the sofa. Not too shabby! Even better, the extra 3,500 calories you just burned is equal to one pound of fat.

However, don’t expect the number on the scale to drop drastically at first. Many of us weigh ourselves on the scale to determine our success rate. But ironically, weighing yourself on a scale is not the best way to measure improvement in health and fitness levels. In fact, just using this method of measurement will discourage you when you find out that your weight has not changed significantly since you started weight training. What the scale doesn’t tell you is that while your weight has not changed, your body fat to lean muscle mass ratio has probably changed. Muscle tissue takes up less space in your body than fat, therefore the volume or size of one pound of fat is much larger than one pound of muscle tissue. This explains why you may have dropped a few inches around the waist, chest, and legs but your weight remains the same.

So before you judge yourself too harshly or resign yourself to just eating celery sticks and tuna for the start of 2010, make sure you include weight training into your exercise program. Also, be sure to get your body fat percentage and size measurements of body parts (i.e. waist, hips, thigh, etc.) taken in order to get a more accurate baseline analysis. Just remember: inches always come off before pounds and before long you’ll notice the waist in your jeans getting a bit loose.

Since 2008, Elena Ciccotelli has been helping busy professional women feel empowered, lose weight and improve their quality of life. Her personal training sessions focus on total body resistance exercises, weight training, and stretching to safely achieve faster results and remain motivated. Ms. Ciccotelli is a graduate of Marymount Manhattan College and a Certified Personal Fitness Trainer through the American Aerobic Association International & International Sports Medicine Association (AAI/ISMA). For more information, contact TrainerDiva, Inc. at trainerdiva.com.