From Body by Science (my new Bible):
"the body burns at least 35 calories a day for every pound of lean muscle weight gained. This new tissue will burn more calories even while the subject is at rest. (Fat, by contrast requires about 2 calories a day per pound for the body to sustain.)3
And THAT is why I started and am staying with this Slow Burn strength training.
I’m such a sucker for books. Sounds like another I need to read. I will take care of two littles when school starts in the fall, so I won’t have freedom to go to the gym. Is this something I could accomplish at home (body weight workouts, my own hand weights and kettlebells) or will I need equipment?
Resistance exercise (and HIIT/sprints) are incredibly effective long-term fat loss and body comp tools.
Low-level cardio - though arguably the foundation of fitness - is not by itself going to get you very far in weight loss.
Outside of somewhat rare situations, exercise doesn’t cause weight loss by itself. Dietary management can cause weight loss without exercise though. That seems to establish a pretty clear hierarchy between the two IMO. Exercise is certainly supplemental to a good diet though.
Yes…that is what I’m doing now and they even have section for how to use free weights. You can’t get the full effect but you can get close, and for someone like me (50’s, long time steady state cardio babe!), I’m already seeing/ feeling benefits.
The book goes very in depth into the science behind exercise, cardo, strength training, weight loss, etc…right down to the chemical reactions that take place! It all makes so much more sense now.
Just like I knew there was an amswer to losing fat and found low carb/keto, I knew there was an "answer to “to workout or not, and how”. This book and routine IS the answer I sought.
Another great quote:
“…diet alone is not sufficient, because glucagon works on a nonamplifying mechanism, whereby one molecule of glucagon will affect one molecule of glucose. The true remedy is, once again, high-intensity exercise. Only it has a significant effect on insulin sensitivity, due to the amplification cascade it produces, which aggressively empties glycogen out of the muscles, creating a situation in which enhanced insulin sensitivity becomes a necessity.”
Because broken hormones rule all. Also, muscle gain is slow and difficult, it’s not a very effective way to approach energy expenditure. To me the slightly increased metabolic rate from having more lean mass is just a minor benefit to resistance training.
I go by the 80/20 axiom (though I’ve seen it as 90/10). 80% of weight control is what we eat. 20% exercise. You can’t exercise your way out of a bad diet, but in conjunction with a good one, I do think it can help marginally.
But there are so many other benifits to it besides weight loss, so anyone concerned with their overall health should consider adding it unless there are conditions that absolutly prohibit them from doing so.
I love weights and HIIT. Can never go wrong getting stronger, more capable, more mobile, etc.
The Slow Burn strength Training plus what I now call my re-keto-ing (measuring bg reactions to all foods, eliminating dairy, nuts,etc) has been a God send for me in so many ways, since I have chronic pain from 2 back surgeries an 3 others (knee and foot), so 15 minutes twice a week? I can do that! But you are right on. You can’t out run, exercise, supplement, vitamin, excuse, or pray a less-than-stellar diet, especially when you get close to your “goal”, or what your body decides is your best weight.
So are you mostly eating meats, fat, and veggies then? Sounds like a good plan. That plus weights should really get you in shape fast! I’ll check out that Slow burn. Right now I’m doing fitness blender free on YouTube and I love their HIIT and dumbbell routines! Glad to hear you are feeling good!
Yes on eating. If you told me 5 years ago ( or when I was a kid!) that I would be eating broccoli, cauliflower, and (OMG!) asparagus, I’d have told you you were crazy! Now I search veggie recipes and the 70 year old Serbian woman I work with is a wealth of recipes, and I in turn have gently begun to lend her some low carb recipes that family loves!
The Slow Burn has been an ABSOLUTE game-changer for me, in more ways than one. Since I am packing for vaca, I will take a selfie (tho I suck at it) and post. Although I still have, and always will, the older woman “wrinkly, bubbly-looking fat” (not smooth and pretty like a ypunger woman!), and I am (Unfortunately) blessed with my mother’s thighs, I am definitely in better shape than last year’s desperate fasting/calorie-restricted-induced 130.
I’ve heard the quote, and agree, that a person can’t exercise their way out of a bad diet. Unfortunately, people have tried to do that. They’ll eat anything they want (usually a lot of junk) and think that if they exercise enough, they’ll be able to lose weight.
Exercise is a good thing. And I believe it does help when added to an appropriate diet. But the diet is the king, not the exercise.
At least that’s my take…
I see it as a package deal. When I’m in shape I have more energy and I feel better about my body. This boost in confidence is a very positive emotional boost, and it also inspires me to 1. keep exercising and 2. go on watching what I eat. I Like being firm, strong, flexible, more well-proportioned and graceful (comparatively 
) and with plenty of breath left over after I climb a flight of stairs! I also can’t help but think I am healthier in that state than simply when I’m thinner.
@skinnyjeans13 are you still following this workout? I downloaded the kindle version of this book from my library and will be ordering the paper book. I think this is very doable by me, and my husband who has a heart condition will be able to gain some strength from this workout.
While I like BBS (Body by Science) and lift to failure, I think they vastly overestimate the calories per pound you’ll burn. I think Gary Taubes uses 5 or 10 calories per pound. Also, to gain 10 pounds of muscle, even if you’re a young man with great genetics, takes a while – a year? And if you’re not that, it takes a lot longer. According to DEXA scans, I gained 3.3 pounds of muscle in a year as a 52 year old man, and that’s when recovering from shoulder surgery (think a tremendous loss of muscle mass, starting from near “zero”.). Even if 35 calories/pound is correct, that’s a bite or two of extra food per day.
This is why exercise rarely helps with weight loss.
And everything vastly overestimates calories burnt. For instance, I have a stand up desk where I stand about 35 minutes and sit 55 minutes. At the end of a workday, it tells me I’ve burnt 700+ calories. That’s completely incorrect. I wouldn’t burn that amount (on top of just, say, sitting) if I jogged for two hours.
I do look better after lifting since my shoulder surgery. But I really can’t tell any ability to eat more since then without gaining weight (and even if I counted calories, which I don’t, the error in counting would be greater than the extra calories burnt, so it wouldn’t be possible to know what actually occurred).
I have always found that doing muscle-strengthening/building exercises has helped me with weight loss. I don’t know the mechanism behind it, but it works for me.
Weights + aerobic + proper diet is better than aerobic + proper diet, or either diet or aerobics alone, from my personal past experiences.
Maybe it is an increase in base resting metabolism from the added muscle mass, or a temporary increase in metabolism after working out, or the calories burned during the workout itself. Or maybe you are depleting glycogen stores in the muscles which diverts glucose back to the muscles to rebuild the stores which means glucose is going to a good purpose (restocking muscle energy supplies) instead of a bad one (making fat).
But you know what, even if it doesn’t help with weight loss, it makes me feel better, look better, and makes other daily life activities easier because I am stronger, and muscles used to exercise don’t get sore when you have to rake the yard. 