We often associate weight loss with endless cardio sessions. However, according to a specialist doctor, this would be far from being the most effective lever for burning calories.
When it comes to losing weight, the image that immediately comes to mind is that of a person who runs, sweats and racks up the miles. Running, cycling or long sessions on a cardio mat remain the most common reflexes in weight loss programs. However, this model is not always the best.
Dr. Eleonora Fedonenko, board-certified internist and medical director of Your Laser Skin Care, explains that this cardio-centric view misses a critical mechanism of metabolism. According to her, patients who follow this logic end up seeing their efforts stagnate. Running does burn calories during exercise, but energy expenditure is not limited to what happens during a sports session. It also depends on the basic metabolism, that is to say the energy that the body uses each day to breathe, digest, and keep the organs in activity. And this expenditure varies depending on the composition of the body.
Muscles, for example, require more energy from the body than fat to maintain. “The truth is that skeletal muscle is metabolically expensive, which means your body burns more calories to maintain your skeletal muscle even at rest.”explains the health professional. In other words, the more muscle mass a person has, the more energy their body naturally consumes on a daily basis, even when they are not exercising. As the doctor reminds us, the muscles “permanently increase the minimum amount of calories your body burns daily.”
This logic also explains why very strict diets rarely work in the long term. When calorie intake drops sharply, the body interprets the situation as a threat and slows down its metabolism. “Aggressive calorie restriction signals a threat to your body, leading to a decrease in your metabolism and an increased ability of your body to function with less energy”explains the specialist. Appetite hormones also change: leptin, linked to satiety, decreases, while ghrelin, which stimulates hunger, increases. The body then pushes you to eat more and return to your initial weight.
In this context, the expert is clear, the patients who succeed in stabilizing their weight over time are those who practice bodybuilding. For what ? Because bodybuilding allows you to increase or preserve muscle mass. By developing muscles, the body spends more energy on a daily basis, including at rest. Unlike cardio, which mainly burns calories during exercise, muscle strengthening also acts in the long term by maintaining a more active metabolism.
It is this mechanism that helps avoid plateaus and limit weight regain. Over several decades of practice, Eleonora Fedonenko says she has observed this same pattern in many patients. Information to remember.
