You see it everywhere. Lose 10 lbs, turn fat into muscle, trim inches from your waist line. Do these statements make sense? Are they possible?Well, yes you can lose 10 lbs of body weight. Yes you can make
circumference of your waist smaller. No you cannot turn fat into muscle. That one is not even physically possible. Now what about making sense part? Should your goal be to lose 10 lbs of body weight? I don't think so. Here's why.
Our bodies are made up of all kinds of matter but there are two things that have a lot to do with way we look, way we feel, and even way we live. These two things are muscle and fat. Our bodies must be made up of a certain percentage of fat in order for us to even survive. Of course most of us have that percentage plus quite a few percentage points more... Way more than we actually "need".
Anyway, when many people make weight loss their number one goal, they start by doing what I call "eating like a bird". They starve themselves and they may do aerobics like there is no tomorrow. I'll tell you right now. It's not right!
A few things happen when you eat like a bird. First, your body starts to use your fat stores and muscle stores for energy because you are not bringing in enough food to support life. Next, your body's metabolism, or rate at which it burns calories, begins to slow. You see, your body figures it's not getting enough food to support life so it better start conserving what it has stored away so that it can survive. And what do you think it conserves when you eat like a bird and do only cardio. That's right - fat.
Your body will conserve your fat and burn your muscle for energy it needs for a couple of reasons. First, muscle takes energy to preserve. Your body figures if it can get rid of some of that muscle then it can conserve more energy. Second, your body "thinks" it doesn't need "excess" muscle anyway because it is never put under a whole lot of resistance or stress. Cardio works heart and lungs, not so much muscles of legs, arms, and trunk. You might "feel burn" but you're really not putting muscles under enough resistance to make your body want to conserve those muscles.
