Why we need muscle for weight loss

When people embark on a weight loss journey quite often they do so without thinking about muscle. This is especially true when dieting because we have all been taught to believe the simple fact that muscle is heavy, fat is light. Therefore it is easy to dismiss muscle as being useful when the goal is to lose weight and reduce heaviness.

This is a very big error to make when examining weight loss. Why? Because we need muscle to do much more than just help our bodies move and function! With the advent of semaglutide people are taking muscle for granted even more because they are successfully losing weight like never before! The injections are a fantastic solution to weightloss BUT I advise strongly people using the injections to have a good intake of protein to keep muscle tissue strong AND do strengthening exercise to make sure it remains healthy.

So why is muscle so crucial? It speeds up the Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR). This is the rate at which your body burns calories while at rest. When you do strength training as opposed to cardio workouts your muscles create heat. RMR so important for weight loss because it is responsible for burning up to 70% of the calories you consume in a day!

Using your muscles during strength weight training causes the muscles to use stored energy in the muscles and helps increase the muscle while cutting fat. More muscle = more fat burning at rest. Muscles create the Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) or after burn effect which is the body calming down after exercise and while doing so using LOTS of energy. The longer you train the longer the effect lasts and more fat you burn. None of which is possible without muscle. 

So now you see my point about why muscle is your friend and not your enemy!

Come in and see us at Invigorate Advanced Aesthetics in Centennial, Colorado to discuss a weight management routine including Semaglutide injections.