This week’s post is a guest article from Drew Stegman, the founder of How2GainMuscleFast.com, a premier fitness site for people who want to build muscle, lose weight, clean up their diets and overall live a healthier and happier life.  Despite the name of the website, they also specialize in helping people lose fat and improve their overall health.  Drew has TONS of fitness information on the website and updates his Facebook fans daily, so go like his page now. 

When Drew and I got in touch, I asked him to dispel the myth that women will “bulk up” too much if they lift weights, and I think he’s come up with just about the best counterpoint possible:  not only are women genetically predisposed NOT to bulk up, the muscle they can gain is healthy and promotes fat loss.  (Seriously, you wouldn’t believe what female bodybuilders actually have to go through in order to bulk up — if you’re not deliberately and methodically doing those things, you’ve no reason to fear the weights.)

photo, snapguide.com

See what Drew has to say:

Absolutely the Best Way to Lose Weight

When many people think of the best ways to lose weight, what comes to mind more than often are things like ridiculous fad diets, supplements, endless cardio and cutting calories. Although not all of these things are necessarily negative if your goal is to lose weight – the truth remains that there is a great way and easy way to lose weight, one that does not involve any of those things.

Before I get into this however, I want to go ahead and cover the basics of weight loss first.

The Process

Weight loss occurs because of one reason – a calorie deficit. In fact, you could eat as healthy as you want, but if you’re eating too many calories you will actually end up gaining weight – not losing weight. Although this might seem like common knowledge to some of you, many people often make the mistake of feeling that as long as they eat nutritious foods, they can eat as much of them as they want. What these people fail to realize is that weight loss is dictated by a simple matter of calories in vs. calories out.  [Jessica's note:  This is all true - but it's also useful to remember that truly healthy foods like naked veggies have many fewer calories per gram than processed foods.  No wonder it's easy to fall into believing you can eat as many as you want - because you CAN eat a LOT more of the healthy stuff.]

Overview of Metabolism

Your metabolism can be defined as how many calories your body burns on a daily basis, rather you are active or at rest. Your BMR (basal metabolic rate), is the amount of calories you burn at rest. So if you were to sit in bed all day and do absolutely nothing, this is the metabolism that would be at work. Nonetheless, many of us don’t sit around on the couch all day, so the number that we primarily want to figure out is our TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). Your TDEE can be defined as how many calories your body burns each day with the addition of daily activities – such as walking, working at your job, taking out the trash, etc.

The faster your BMR and TDEE are, the easier it will be for you to lose weight. This is typically why people with slow metabolisms find it difficult to lose weight and keep it off, since they are not able to consume as many calories without their body storing it as fat. Of course, you can always increase your metabolism to help you lose weight faster.

The Best Way To Lose Weight

Ready to learn the absolute best way to lose weight?

Here it is………

Build muscle mass! That’s right – start hitting the weight room and you’ll lose weight in no time. But I’m sure many of you are wondering why this occurs, so let me explain myself.

Just like fat, muscle is metabolically active tissue. What does this mean? You guessed it – muscle burns calories all day long. So the more muscle you can build, the more calories you’ll burn all day long as well, increasing your BMR and making it much easier to lose weight.

In addition to this, lifting weights in general will increase your TDEE, which means you’ll burn more calories on the days you workout. It’s a win-win situation.

How to Build Muscle Mass Fast

Here are a few tips to help get you steered in the right direction and start building muscle:

1. Lift heavy – Many females don’t like to hear this, since they feel that they’ll get big and muscular if they lift big. But the truth remains that lifting heavy is the ONLY way to build muscle mass. And besides, ladies can’t get big and muscular anyway, due to the fact that they have far less testosterone in their bodies – a crucial muscle-building hormone.

2. Eat Clean – You don’t have to be overly strict with your diet; the most important thing is to get enough protein in your diet on a daily basis. Start eating more chicken, turkey and fish and you’ll be good to go.  [Jessica's note:  also consider non-animal protein sources such as vegetables, ancient grains, beans, miracle seeds and others.]

3. Allow adequate rest & recovery – Many weightlifters make the mistake of working out every single day, but this can actually be counterintuitive to your results. Just stick to a basic, full-body weightlifting program three days per week and you’ll be golden.

4. Supplementation – You don’t NEED supplements to build muscle, but if you choose the right ones they can certainly help. If you do choose to use supplements, just stick with a basic whey protein, testosterone booster and creatine monohydrate. Just keep in mind that supplements are NOT a substitute for hard work in the gym and good nutrition, so always place those two things as a priority before you consider the use of dietary supplements.  [Jessica's note:  always check with your healthcare provider, just to be sure, before adding supplements.]

To Sum Things Up

If you’re trying to lose weight and you haven’t already, you should definitely start lifting weights and focusing on building additional muscle mass. It’s estimated that an extra pound of muscle burns about 8-12 additional calories per day, which is pretty significant if you ask me. And lifting weights by itself has many benefits as well, since it increases the amount of calories you burn on the days you workout. With all this in mind, you can’t afford NOT to start lifting weights and building muscle!

What do you think?  Have you heard this point of view before?

Have you tried any of Drew’s suggestions — or will you?

Have you been worried about gaining too much bulk if you lift weights?

Drew Stegman’s experience in the health/fitness niche began when he was 15 years old. For more muscle building, fat loss and metabolism boosting tricks, check out his website: http://how2gainmusclefast.com/