Weight loss and muscle building??

Q: I want to lose weight the natural way without supplements. First of all I am 5ft 9in and I weigh 240 and I want to lose weight and build muscle. I don't want big muscles but lean body muscle and I asked a trainer and they said I need to do more reps and less weight on the machines.

My question is what do you recommend? How many reps should I do? how much weight should I use? How long should I do this for? (like how many minutes) please help me.

A: While bodybuilders do high reps and low weight to lose the last bit of fat and keep the muscle they have this isn't your best option. You still need to build muscle first and you have way more fat to lose than they do.

For every pound of muscle you have your metabolism increases enough to burn an extra 50 calories a day. If you added just 5 pounds of muscle that is 91250 calories burned or about 26 pounds that's without diet or cardio!

You can see how important strength training is, but using heavier weights (something you can lift 6 to 12 reps is better for you) since you are not a bodybuilder and have more muscle to build and more fat to burn than the average bodybuilder. Use a weight you can do at least six times but no more than 12 times per set. Lift for 45 minutes three times per week.

For best results do squats, deadlifts, bench press, military press, barbell rows, and lat pulls to get the most bang for your buck because these work the largest muscles and build muscle quicker and burn way more fat.

For additional fat burning try cardio intervals such as the backyard cardio circuit after weight training or on other days.