Lift Heavy Things
Muscle is more metabolically active than fat, and building muscle can help increase your metabolism (36, 37, 38, 39).
This means you will burn more calories each day, even at rest (40).
Lifting weights will also help you retain muscle and combat the drop in metabolism that can occur during weight loss (41, 42, 43, 44).
In one study, 48 overweight women were placed on a diet of 800 calories per day, along with either no exercise, aerobic exercise or resistance training (45).
After the diet, the women who did the resistance training maintained their muscle mass, metabolism and strength. The others lost weight, but also lost muscle mass and experienced a decrease in metabolism (45).
BOTTOM LINE:Lifting weights is important for building and retaining muscle. Higher amounts of muscle will result in a higher metabolism.
Stand up More
Sitting too much is bad for your health (46).
Some health commentators have even dubbed it "the new smoking." This is partly because long periods of sitting burn fewer calories and can lead to weight gain (47).
In fact, compared with sitting, an afternoon of standing up at work can burn an extra 174 calories (48). If you have a desk job, try standing up for short periods to break up the length of time you spend sitting down. You can also invest in a standing desk (49, 50, 51, 52).
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