top tips for weight loss

The Number One Tip For Weight Loss (and It’s Not What You Think)

Weight loss trends come and go. Regardless of what’s popular at the moment, the ultimate goal is consistent: We need to burn more calories than we consume.

This is the foundational tip for weight loss. How we achieve this caloric deficit may vary, but the number one secret to weight loss will always be the same: build more muscle.

Does that sound contradictory? Well, read on.

Building Muscle Boosts Your Metabolism, Which Can Contribute to Weight Loss

Fat tissue stores energy, whereas muscle tissue burns it. Building muscle means building metabolically active tissue.

To understand the number one tip for weight loss, simply put, the more muscle mass you have, the more calories you require to maintain it. In other words, building muscle will boost your metabolism.

Having more muscle means burning more calories during workouts and burning more calories during recovery, turning you more and more into a fat-burning machine.

Both Men and Women Can Achieve Weight Loss Through Building Muscle

There are several common myths about muscle building and tips for weight loss. Many men and women alike believe that building muscle is only for gaining weight, but this isn’t always the case.

Often, it’s the opposite. Depending on your current body fat percentage, beginning a strategy of building more muscle could very well mean triggering measurable weight loss.

This applies to both men and women. Many women are afraid to focus on building more muscle because they don’t want to “bulk up” or gain weight. However, building muscle is a challenging endeavour for most people, regardless of gender. Genetics aside, women tend to have much less testosterone than men, which is a key factor for muscle growth. This means that the average woman has to work much harder than the average man to build the same pound of muscle.

The female fitness models and bodybuilders you see with rippling muscles are only able to achieve such physiques through advanced supplementation techniques and countless hours spent at the gym. The average women shouldn’t worry about building too much muscle. Having “too much” muscle is a nice problem to have, but most people will never get to that point, and certainly not by accident.

There are many advantages to building more muscle; weight loss is just one of them. Consider also being stronger, having better posture and flexibility, having less stress and anxiety, etc.

You Can Achieve Weight Loss While Burning Calories in Your Sleep

Building muscle triggers weight loss in two ways:

  1. Exhausted muscles need refuelling
  2. Muscle growth needs extra calories

The caloric requirements needed for muscle recovery and growth, in addition to the requirements needed for muscle maintenance in general, will help you lose weight, even in your sleep. Compare that to the limited fat burning that occurs during cardio exercise alone, which stops shortly after the workout is over.

How to Build Muscle and Lose Weight

This is another important tip for weight loss. The best way to build muscle is through resistance training. Consistently providing your muscles with enough work to stimulate growth will give you the results you want. But what does this look like?

For most people, this means engaging in full-body workouts. Stimulating all the major muscle groups multiple times a week is a great way to ensure you will build muscle over time. Exercising this way two or three times weekly will help you achieve measurable results.

But this doesn’t necessarily mean time spent in the gym lifting heavy weights. Even bodyweight exercises are effective if you perform them properly. Push-ups, squats, lunges, crunches, etc., are all movements that you can do with just the weight of your body, and they’re challenging in the right context. For example, in a typical martial arts class, whether it’s fitness kickboxing, Muay Thai, or hapkido, you will engage in bodyweight exercises that will challenge your muscles.

Overall, martial arts classes are a great way to engage in both resistance training and cardio training. It covers everything all in one class! This will help you both build muscle and lose weight.

Interested in trying a class at Evoke?

Click here to try one of our awesome programs. Get to know us better.

Achieve a leaner, stronger, and more alive body while developing amazing self protection skills.

Achieve a leaner, stronger, and more alive body while developing amazing self defense skills.

Training at Evoke has been a truly wonderful experience. As an adult engaging in martial arts for the first time, the environment has been ideal. All of the instructors have been motivating, knowledgeable, and supportive. The classes offer a great workout and a chance to feel a little bit badass. I look forward to continuing the journey!

Caitlin H.| Hapkido member