Calories are important when it comes to our physical appearance and our overall health. The calories we consume give us the energy we need to function on the daily basis. They also add fat in unwanted places when you are consuming more than you burn. The calories we burn are also important because we need to burn more than we consume in order to maintain a healthy weight.
However, too many people focus on burning calories making them participate in aerobic activity several hours a week. This is not necessary; it is a waste of your valuable time. Here’s how it works. Everything you consume has calories; everything you do burns calories. When you work out you burn the most calories. What many people ignore, or may not be aware of, is that working out does not just burn calories at that moment. Instead, you burn calories throughout the day.
Your metabolism is the rate at which your body burns fuel, also known as calories. The faster your metabolic rate, the faster your body will burn these calories for you. This being said, there are workout programs that will help you burn calories more efficiently. Rather than focusing on burning a bunch of calories during one work out – typically a cardiovascular workout – it is more important to focus on calories burned throughout a given day.
To increase your caloric burn you need to build muscle with strength training exercise rather than lose muscle and water weight with aerobic exercise. Strength training exercises help you to build and maintain lean muscle mass. When you have more lean muscle mass than you do fat mass, you will have the ideal body. But, you will also have a body that functions as it should.
Anyway, stop wasting hours running or swimming. Instead, find about 30 minutes at least 2-3 times a week to work, and challenge your muscles. This little bit of time will give you a faster metabolic rate, more energy, a much firmer physique, and can even add years to your life.
When muscle mass is greater than fat mass your body has a much better chance of fighting, or avoiding, many life-threatening diseases like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and even cancer. So, it is up to you. Do you want to sit on the couch and watch your life slip away? Do you want to spend 2 hours a day jogging, walking, or running just to try to lose a few pounds? Or do you want to spend 2 hours a week building muscle that will give you the life that you deserve?
Stop wasting your time on meaningless exercise and get yourself into a regular, proper strength training program. Start losing fat and start burning your way to that sexy physique that many only dream of. Stop sitting on the couch thinking there is nothing you can do about that flabby belly or those love handles. Change your life and lifestyle choices today.
