When we look in the mirror in the middle of January and see that our middle age spread is another year older and another inch wider we start to think about loosing some weight and getting in shape.  Most of us will immediately turn to a diet.  While it is true that most of us can afford to trim some excess sweets and snacks from our daily lives it is also true that diet alone is not enough.  Making exercise a regular part of our daily lives is as important in diet in helping to loose weight and keep it off.  In this article I will discuss some of the benefits of using your home gym to help you manage your weight.



The image that most people conjure up when they think about exercising to loose weight is of a large man in a gray sweat suit plugging away on a treadmill.  While cardiovascular exercise is important, strength training can help take off the pounds faster and help keep them off longer.

Unlike fat, muscle burns calories - on average every pound of muscle burns 35 calories a day.  As we grow older and more inactive we start to loose muscle mass.  The average inactive adult will loose about half a pound of muscle every year.  This is one of the main causes of middle age spread.  We keep eating like we did when we were 19 years old but our bodies actually require fewer calories.  By the time we reach 30 we need almost 200 fewer calories a day then we did when we were 19.  Each pound of fat is about equal to 3500 calories so with an extra 200 calories a day it does not take long to add 10, 15, 20 pounds to our waists!

Dieting and cardiovascular exercise can reduce our muscle mass as well.  Many popular low-calorie diets will result in 1 pound of muscle being lost for every 3 pounds of fat.  This will make it more likely that when the diet is over that we will gain the weight back.  Using your home gym to maintain and build muscle mass will speed weight lose and help keep it off. 

You do not need to exercise for hours upon hours or build up shoulders like Arnold Schwarzenegger to see these benefits.  Weight training for 30 minutes 3 or 4 times a week is great.  Ideally this can also be combined with some cardiovascular exercise as well to work on total fitness.  The result will be a slimmer, fitter you without the need to watch everything that you eat.  In fact some studies have shown that with a proper exercise routine it is possible to loose weight while increasing your daily caloric intake!

Setting up a proper diet and exercise routine will result in long term health benefits that will be with you for the rest of your life.  It is the key to stopping the yo-yo affect that so many of us face when we diet.