Why lifting weights is crucial to weight loss...

Weight loss occurs as a result of creating an energy deficit; more energy is expended than eaten over a period of time.

As I have covered before, this scenario is most easily created by reducing energy intake rather than trying to expend energy doing loads of exercise.

So why should lifting weights form part of your weight loss plan?

There are two key reasons for this.

First, without exercise, weight lost from dieting could be 22-46% muscle depending on your initial body composition and rate of weight loss.

To make matters worse, without exercise and sufficient protein intake muscle loss could spike to 60-80% if one is sleep-deprived and/or psychologically stressed.

This means that the majority of the weight you lose will be coming from lean mass (i.e. muscle) rather than fat. 

Additionally, weight regain after diet-induced muscle loss may result in something utterly terrible called a Fat Overshoot. A Fat Overshoot is where you potentially gain more fat than you originally had to get back your original level of fat-free mass.

Second, we have seen that exercise is critically important for long-term weight maintenance.

Whilst caloric restriction is effective for weight loss, it appears to be relatively ineffective as a sole strategy for long-term weight loss maintenance.

We consistently see that those who successfully maintain weight loss maintain higher levels of physical activity than those who don't (Ostendorf et al, 2019).

The FAST 28 Fat Loss Plan prioritises creating a calorie deficit by reducing calorie intake, but strength training 3 times per week and meeting a certain threshold of steps per day are huge parts of the plan.

Nutrition is the lynchpin for obtaining and maintaining fat-loss results, but without resistance training on a diet muscle loss will likely occur (Dr Ben House, 2021).