Most women at some point want to lose weight in their lives. If you fall in to this category right now, then you’ve made up your mind that you need to eat a little healthier, and you need to exercise a little more.
Exercise is so broad though… what is your game plan? To walk, run, take an aerobics class? All of these are, of course, workouts but are they enough to help you lose your body fat?
Unfortunately for most women, the answer is no.
The best exercise to burn body fat and keep your body trim and tight is all in weight training. Don’t let this be intimidating… women are completely different than men in our composition so you don’t have to worry about bulking up.
In fact, weight lifting not only helps you lose fat during a workout by burning calories but your body works hard to recover afterwards by keeping your metabolism raised for up to 48 hours afterwards! Running and aerobic based workouts can’t claim this.
It gets better, for each pound of lean, sexy muscle you have your body will burn an extra 50 calories (roughly) daily, even if you’re sitting on the couch watching Dancing With The Stars. That is because it takes energy to keep muscle happy, it needs fuel and protein to keep it happy!
Another great thing about lifting weights is that it’s never boring. The number one reason a woman quits her workout regiment isn’t because she’s not getting results, it’s because she loses motivation. Stay motivated with weight training by changing up your exercises regularly, learning new moves, and watching your strength and confidence increase from workout to workout.
If you have never picked up a dumbbell before don’t let that stop you. There are several options, of course you can ask a personal trainer at your gym for a tour and sign up for a few sessions or for a fraction of the price you can look into online personal training which is growing in popularity due to the great price.
No matter what you want to do, remember if what you’re doing now isn’t working don’t you think it’s worth giving it a go?
All weights aren’t created equal though. Just like you don’t burn as many calories walking as you do running, you get different results from different weight training techniques.
Sure those weight machines span the floors of most gyms but these are small, isolated moves that create little calorie burn and little muscle toning. The best results come from total body workouts, and to get that from these machines you would have to spend a long time on all the machines available.
That is why free weights are great. Not only can you work several big muscles at once, you can great large range of motion moves that will blast more body fat and give you better results faster.
If you’re ready to give it a go, here are a few of my favorite exercises:
Dumbbell squats
Split squats
Bench press
Curl to press
Single arm dumbbell clean and presses
These are just a few examples but all of them work several big muscles and will have you out of breath by the end of your set. Which takes us to the next question… how many sets and reps should you be doing?
For fat burning results aim to do 2-3 sets of 13-15 reps. Use a weight that is challenging enough that you can’t go past 15 if you wanted. And that should get you great results!
Good luck!
If you enjoyed reading this post then follow this link to read 12 more great weight loss tips for women
i hope this helps me as my fat is all around my back where your bra fasens and them my tummy its just appeard ,through going the change help please .
I have had problems with keeping my weight down because as usual its harder to lose it than gain it, now I have started a new diet and workout plan and I will keep this one in mind the weight lifting one because I didnt know it had that type of effect so im definitely going to try it and I won’t be disappointed if it doesnt work because I know everyone’s body doesnt work the same, so I will try this one and still stick to my diet and workout plan. Thanks for posting the tips 🙂
i have failed to keep weight loose due to my laziness,sometimes i decide to work it out very seriously but i surrender when i feel the pains all over my body.thank you for posting this posts to me i promise to stick by the exercises hopping it will work out thank you in advance.
I have a chunky belly and back and, and I realy
want to get rid of it. Cause it is hard to do
my bra up.
Im having a really hard time losing weight due to medications I am on . The side effects are that you basically have no metabolisim and no energy. I weighed myself today , standing at only 4″11 I am 200 lbs at 25 years old. My BMI is 40.4 . Starting tomorrow I am hitting my tredmill , getting better sleep , and drinking lots of water , low sodium foods . Wish me luck, and good luck to all out there struggling , remember just please yourself. Its easier said then done as others views weigh heavily on your mind.
Jessica-New Brunswick Canada
I have joined the gjm last week thursday.To be honest, I thought weight lifting will make me look like a man because I’m tall and I I weight 96kg. I have a big stomach and I really want to lose it. I hope this works…
It is frequently thought there that people who slim much after course of time relatively more arrive than people who less weight verleizen. This idea is taken the edge off research of the RIVM. If it happens in a healthy manner the recommendation is as much get rid of kilo.
I know this works. I used to only wnat to do cardi, and refused to lift weights as I was afraid of bulking up. After deploying, the gym is the only time I get to really see my husband so we compromised half the days are cardio half are weights. Now we go 6 days a week and run for 30 minutes followed by a weight training routine. Before this I had been trying to lose weight for what feels like forever. I lost a pound or two, but nothing like what I have lost since I included weights. In 12 weeks I have lost 6″ off my waist and an overal of 20lbs (muscle weighs more than fat so I am not as cnoncerned with weight as inches).
Good luck to everyone
This was really helpful. Recently my sis-in-law and myself decided to weigh in every week together and once a month to take measurements of legs, arms, hips and stomach. Knowing that adding a weight training will prove more results then the treadmill alone is wonderful news. I have a young one at home and get nervous about running on the treadmill with her around, and with free style weight training, I can work out with her next to me!
You can do Zumba! I go to Zumba at least once a week and sweat alot and you work on your abs too and do weights. I really love Zumba! You should also limit yourself to small portions. Another thing I did was eat alot of grapefruit. Grapefruit burns of fat fast. I lost 10 pounds in one month mostly because of Zumba, portion control, and grapefruit. I started seeing results in the first week I did it. Oh and I personally like eating grapefruit in juice forms instead of eating it like a fruit. Becuase I find it less ‘sour’.