If you want to increase the amount of calories you burn each day, you just need to put on 2-4 lbs of lean body mass (muscles).
One of the biggest secrets to finding success in your weight loss program is your metabolic rate. If you can increase your metabolism, you can increase the amount of calories you burn each day. Ok, so how do you increase your metabolism?
This is the amazing thing about resistance training or, as you know it, weight training. Don’t get worried about weight training causing you to end up looking like a man. That doesn’t happen to women without some artificial influence (usually steroids).
Men are going to put on muscle faster than us women, because they naturally carry testosterone in their bodies. That’s what keeps you from looking like them, the lack of testosterone.
If you engage in a weight training program today, you should be able to put on an average of 2-4 lbs of lean muscle over 12 weeks. This will translate into a 3 – 7% increase in metabolic rate. Ok, so what’s that mean? That means you’re burning 100 more calories than you did before you started. But, don’t think you then can eat more or workout less. That will sabotage all the gains you’ve made.