Health Product Guide

I was recently asked if it is safe to lift weights while on a diet. If you are in reasonably good health, then it is safe to lift weights while on a diet. But more importantly, it is good to lift weights while dieting to lose weight.

But let’s be more precise in stating your goal. You should not diet to lose weight, but you should diet to lose fat. Weight is not the enemy. Excess fat is the enemy. To permanently lose excess fat requires a combination of dietary changes and exercise. However, for permanent fat loss, you must make the right dietary changes and do the right exercises.

While dieting you are attempting to create a calorie deficit so that your body will burn stored calories. The trick is to get your body to burn the calories that are stored as fat. You want to maximize fat loss and minimize the loss of lean body tissue. You can be skinny and soft. The goal is to be lean and not skinny.

Have you wondered why so many people who lose weight while dieting gain back more weight when they end their diets? They ultimately fail because while dieting they lose muscle mass. It takes more calories to maintain muscle than to maintain fat, so the loss of muscle mass lowers their metabolism. After losing weight their metabolic rate is lower which means that it takes fewer calories for them to maintain their weight, so when they resume their normal eating habits they are taking in many more calories than they need and they accumulate fat again. They end up fatter than they were before they started dieting.

Dieting is not the only way to create a calorie deficit. You can create a calorie deficit by exercising. Strength training by lifting weights or by other means maintains and builds your muscles while you lose fat. This will maintain or increase your resting metabolic rate so that it becomes easier to control your weight.

Strength training has other benefits as well. By stressing your bones it increases bone density. Strengthening your muscles protects your joints. It increases stamina. Strength training can also help you sleep better. So in addition to losing fat, you will improve your health in other ways by lifting weights.

Yes, it is safe to lift weights while dieting, but it is not just safe. It is good to lift weights while dieting because it makes your fat loss program more effective. Even if you are using a diet plan that does not require exercise, you should add a strength building component. So get your doctor’s permission to do strength training and start lifting weights or doing other resistance exercises to preserve and build your lean muscle mass while you lose fat.