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Do I Need to Lose Weight Before Bodybuilding?
Many people assume you need to get rid of those unwanted fatty pounds before starting a bodybuilding program. They often try to achieve this with cardio or the latest diet. However, it is completely unnecessary to lose weight before bodybuilding as this would take more effort than doing a bodybuilding program on its own. Let me explain.
In order to lose fat you must burn more calories than you intake. If you are on a sensible diet and nutritional plan that cuts your caloric intake and you include this as part of a bodybuilding program, you will be burning more calories than you are eating and in turn losing weight as you increase muscle mass.
This is why bodybuilding helps with weight loss. Your metabolism is determined by how your body is able to burn calories and how efficiently your body burns that energy.
Your body is more effective at burning calories the higher your metabolism is. Your metabolic rate is affected not only by your age and gender, but also by your lean body mass.
The more lean muscle your body has, the higher your metabolic rate is – therefore, as you are bodybuilding and following a diet program, your body will lose weight fatty inches because it is building lean muscle and increasing its metabolic rate.
To attempt to lose weight before bodybuilding is a complete waste of time. As you go through the right sort of bodybuilding program you will be able to see your fat disappear and your muscle mass and/or muscle tone increase.
In any sort of fitness regime many people often talk about your body mass index (BMI) reading to know if you are within a healthy weight range. However, as you build muscle mass and burn fat your BMI will not be an accurate indicator of health or your fat levels.
Muscle is dense and therefore heavy, so as you increase your muscle size via a bodybuilding workout program, your weight may not go down. This does not mean you haven’t lost fat, it means you are shifting your body’s composition and you are becoming learner, not lighter.
Since BMI is your height divided by your weight multiplied by 703, a person who regularly body builds could have a BMI similar to someone who is obese. To accurately gauge your body’s fat; you should use fat callipers or body fat analyzers.
Everyone wants a permanent weight loss program that will keep the fat off for good, but many look for a miracle pill or a fad diet. Forget that nonsense; a bodybuilding program designed specifically around your goals is by far the best way to lose fat forever.
As you progress with your bodybuilding program you will notice the fat inches begin to disappear and your muscle tone starts to show. And remember, you do not need to lose weight before bodybuilding, but you do need a good bodybuilding program to help lose fat and feel great permanently.