Weight Loss Tips
Ten of our experts' weight loss tips plus, our newly published 101 Weight Loss Tips, free.

10 Best Weight Loss Food Rules
Here are our favorite rules on eating for weight loss. Simple, easy and effective!

Glycemic Index
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5 Ways to Boost Your Metabolism
Learn how to fire up your calorie-burning engine.

10 Foods That Will Help You Lose Weight
Check out these delicious foods, which contribute to weight loss, metabolism regulation, blood sugar balance, or fat burning

Best Weight Loss Diets
What are the best weight loss diets? We researched medical studies to get an unbiased perspective on the best weight loss diets.

How to Get Rid of Puffy Eyes
Here's our evening and morning routine to help prevent and get rid of puffy eyes

Aging and Stress
Research shows that stress speeds the aging process by harming DNA. But don't stress out about this, girls. There are ways to prevent the damage.

Spa Treatments to Enjoy at Home
It can be costly and time-consuming to visit a spa regularly. But you can easily incorporate some treatments and indulgences into a daily or weekly routine right at home, and at a fraction of the cost. Our staff offers tips on how to create a spa at home.

Women’s weight loss — effective, long-term weight loss — is a matter of two essential functions: fat loss and muscle gain. Both are accomplished through strength training exercises.

Mere fat loss should never be the goal of a women’s weight loss program. Building muscle is vital to long-term weight loss because muscle strength directly affects our metabolic rate, the speed at which our bodies burn the calories we consume. Women on a weight loss program that does not include muscle building will do little to significantly (and permanently) increase their metabolism. According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, the higher your metabolism, the more calories you burn as you do ordinary daily activities — washing dishes, driving, showering, brushing your teeth, talking on the phone.

Women undertaking strength training programs for weight loss should not be concerned about developing unattractive bulging muscles. It is just about impossible for women to build that degree of muscle mass. Testosterone is responsible for such muscularity, and while all women have some testosterone coursing through their body, it is an insignificant amount relative to building muscle mass for weight loss.

From a weight loss perspective, strength training is far superior to aerobics, walking, running, swimming, and even cardio. One hour of strength training burns more energy (and fat) than one hour of cardio exercise. This doesn’t mean we should abandon those forms of exercise for weight loss. Be willing to do them all for a well-rounded weight loss exercise program. I recommend choosing those forms of exercise you most enjoy. Just be sure to create variety in your repertoire of weight loss exercises. Vary your exercise from day to day, focusing one day on strength training, another day on cardio, another day on walking.

How to Maximize Your Strength Training

Increase your muscle-building, fat-zapping burn with faster repetitions and more of them. According to the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, the keys to building muscle most effectively, in order of effectiveness, are:

1. speed of reps – pick up your pace and go for faster reps
   
2. number of reps – the more reps, the more burn, it’s simple math
   
3. weight of resistance – stay in a comfortable weight range and slowly increase to maintain a challenging edge
   

Whether you use free weights, Nautilus equipment, a Boflex or similar workout machine, kettlebells, or rubber resistance bands for your strength training, remember that it’s the speed and number of movements that count.