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Weight Lifting For Weight Loss – Female Workout Plan For Losing Weight At Home 2024

Emma

Updated on - Written by
Medically reviewed by Kathy Shattler, MS, RDN

Weight Lifting For Weight Loss Female
Weight Training Can Help You Create A Calorie Deficit And Increase Your Basal Metabolic Rate For Weight Loss. Photo: Shutterstock & Team Design

A strength training workout program is one of the most efficient and effective ways to improve one’s body composition, burn fat, and maintain muscle mass. Some women may worry that weight-lifting and other rugged activities may leave them too big and bulky. We’re here to assure you that this will be far from the case, with the right weight management plan and diet and weight lifting for weight loss for females who want to plan at home.

If you’re hoping to lose body fat, a weight-lifting workout routine can and will help you lose fat throughout your entire body. Here’s our guide to weight lifting for weight loss, female anatomy-inspired and approved.

Weight Lifting For Weight Loss- Female Training Plan

Lifting weights to lose weight is great for much more than just a simple fat-loss program. Weight lifting for weight loss may offer you a wide range of health benefits, especially in the long term.

What’s the best way to try out strength training for weight loss? Here are a few suggestions to try for weight lifting for weight loss, female plan, or otherwise.

  1. A Daily Weight Loss Program
  2. A 4-Week Weight Loss Challenge
  3. A 12-Week Plan
  4. Finding the Perfect Diet for Your Strength Training Routine

Does Weight Lifting Burn Fat For Women?

Weight lifting for burn fat, female-specific, looks a lot like weight lifting for fat loss in any case. Cardio is the fat loss approach preferred by many women, but studies show that a strength training regimen and healthy eating habits are extremely effective[1] when it comes to losing fat mass per week.

One of the most important ways that weight training may be able to assist you in creating a calorie deficit has got to be the way that an increase in muscle tissue elevates your BMR or basal metabolic rate[2]. It takes more calories to maintain a pound of muscle than it does a pound of pure fat. Because muscle tissue burns more calories than body fat, your weight loss journey continues well after your gym session every day.

Moreover, a high resistance training volume allows you to achieve a lean physique and gain strength without packing on more weight as you progress. As you build muscle, you retain strength while also losing weight. Losing weight alone leaves you exhausted and less capable for your next set of repetitions (reps) it’s a self-perpetuating cycle, allowing you to sustain a healthy lifestyle[3] for years to come, eliminating fatty adiposity and even making you less likely to develop chronic illnesses of age, such as heart disease and diabetes.

At the end of the day, your calorie intake alone determines whether or not you’re losing weight or gaining it[4]. Because weight training and strategies like HIIT, high-intensity interval training may be able to burn more calories per hour[5] than a traditional jog or bike ride, it’s often a more efficient use of your time. If you have an hour to spare for exercise every day, why not use the power of strength training to maximize your workout?

Benefits Of Weight Lifting For Weight Loss

It Improves Multiple Muscle Groups

We love cardio, but unassisted by things like wrist or ankle weights and other accessories, it, in many cases, may only be working out your lower body.

Weight training is one of the broadest, most diverse categories of exercise—there are workouts for every single part of your body, from your feet to the base of your neck (and everything in between, of course!). 

Whether you’re actively targeting specific muscle groups or instead prefer a well-rounded strength training regime that impacts your entire body, you can lift weights for an improved upper body, lower body, core, back, and chest.

It Builds Lean Muscle

Unless you’re bulking heavily through a diet designed for gains, lifting weights will act a lot like cardio when it comes to the way that you’ll end up losing weight. 

Lean muscle mass is the secret behind the sexiest bodies and the fittest individuals. Exercising in this way allows you to gain muscle in every muscle group without becoming too big. Both high-frequency and low-frequency strength training[6] offer you this benefit, making weight lifting excellent for beginners just starting to get their feet wet.

It’s Safe And Low-Impact

Those with joint issues may have difficulty sticking with a traditional treadmill routine. If you suffer from shin splints or a previous knee injury, running won’t always be comfortable or safe, even running with good form. The same goes for the elderly why not prevent a potential fall whenever possible without compromising your weight loss goals or metabolic health in the process?

Many weight training exercises take you off your feet entirely, allowing you to improve your body composition without more wear and tear on your limbs and bones. Any type of physical activity offers you weight loss potential. If you need to keep things light and low-impact, you can still burn plenty of calories without putting yourself at risk of further injury.

Weight Lifting For Weight Loss- Female Plan At Home

A Daily Weight Loss Program

A Daily Weight Loss Program
Beginners should do at least one quick and basic exercise every day to build strength gradually. Photo: Shutterstock

If you’re just starting, we recommend beginning with the basics and working your way up. Push-ups, pull-ups, and simple dumbbell exercises can all help you build your strength gradually without injuring yourself or falling off the wagon.

A pull-up bar, a resistance band, and a manageable set of beginner weights are all you need to get started. Chest presses, squats, deadlifts, rows, curls, and lateral dips are all extremely easy for a novice. After following any workout guide you can find online, you’ll be ready for more in as little as a week or so.

Try to plan for at least one quick workout per day, focusing on your form and the way each exercise makes your body feel. If something’s too easy, add more weight. If it’s too hard, try the move out without any weight at all. Adjust as needed, and continue to find new ways to move to keep things as interesting and exciting as possible.

A 4-Week Weight Loss Challenge

With an entire month on your calendar, many experts recommend trying out a split training workout routine instead of a full-body workout daily. What is a split training schedule? If you’ve ever heard of “leg day,” you might already be familiar with this particular strategy each day, you’ll focus on one major muscle group, allowing you to hone in and hunker down without spreading yourself too thin across the gym floor.

There are many different ways you can divide and conquer through a split training regimen. Upper and lower body days are one common split to choose from, as a split between pushing and pulling exercises. A three-day split gives your upper body two days to each day spent on the lower body, the former often divided by pushing and pulling exercises chest presses vs. rowing, for example.

Finally, our favorite way to split up your workouts: allocate one day for each of your muscle groups. It’s easy to plan your weekdays around your chest, back, arms, legs, and shoulders, giving yourself at least one rest day over the weekend. If the notion of engaging in a full-on strength training program intimidates you, splitting your workouts is one of the best ways to ensure that no part of your body is left out of the equation. You’ll save time, and you’ll likely experience a much more thorough and comprehensive routine, with results to match.

A 12-Week Plan

After you’ve finally found your stride, you’ll be able to get some idea as to what you love in the gym and the stuff that still leaves you breathless. Our best advice is to do plenty of your favorite exercises but to also make time for long-term improvement goals in any of the areas you find yourself struggling in time and time again.

Balance is key to long-term success. The stronger you become, the more in tune with your body’s needs you’ll end up being. Try to lean into this intuition and choose workouts that challenge you continuously—there’s always another rep to do and another set of barbell weights you can pile on top of what you’re already used to. Push yourself to go further, and do what you can to aim for stamina, endurance, and growth, as opposed to simply going through the motions.

Living well will become a natural way of being for you; always be on the lookout for something new to try, and team up with others in your dojo if you happen to be into the same things. After losing the weight you sought to lose from the get-go, you’ll find an entire world to explore as you dive deeper and deeper into one of the greatest hobbies of all time.

Finding The Perfect Diet For Your Strength Training Routine

Perfect Diet For Your Strength Training Routine
A regular weight-lifting plan and healthy eating habits are extremely effective for weight loss. Photo: Shutterstock

Does what you eat on a weight training plan matter? Absolutely when you burn clean fuel, you’ll end up doing more and feeling better for it. The occasional cheat day doesn’t matter as long as your normal diet is nutritionally sound, full of healthy foods, and rarely in excess of your caloric goals for weight loss.

How many calories should you eat when trying to lose weight through strength training? The answer may be obvious—if weight loss is your goal, you should aim to eat fewer calories than you can expend through your chosen routine. 

A nutritious diet includes whole foods, lean proteins, healthy fats, and every essential amino acid for optimal performance. Beyond that, the rest is truly up to you.

Conclusion

The best way to start weight-lifting for beginners? The simple answer: start today. Even if you have no dumbbells or other workout gear at home, you can use things like gallons of water to get you by before your Amazon order hits your front porch.

Weight training for women is an incredible way to improve both their health and their physical appearance. It doesn’t take much to make a huge difference—anybody hoping to slim down can benefit from these simple and affordable practices, even at home.


+ 6 sources

Health Canal avoids using tertiary references. We have strict sourcing guidelines and rely on peer-reviewed studies, academic researches from medical associations and institutions. To ensure the accuracy of articles in Health Canal, you can read more about the editorial process here

  1. Miller, T.D., Mull, S., Aragon, A.A., Krieger, J. and Schoenfeld, B.J. (2018). Resistance Training Combined With Diet Decreases Body Fat While Preserving Lean Mass Independent of Resting Metabolic Rate: A Randomized Trial. [online] 28(1), pp.46–54. doi:https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsnem.2017-0221.
  2. ‌Taaffe, D.R., Pruitt, L.A., Reim, J., Butterfield, G.E. and Marcus, R. (1995). Effect of Sustained Resistance Training on Basal Metabolic Rate in Older Women. [online] 43(5), pp.465–471. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-5415.1995.tb06090.x.
  3. ‌Bellicha, A., Marleen, Battista, F., Beaulieu, K., Blundell, J.E., Luca Busetto, Carraça, E.V., Dicker, D., Encantado, J., Ermolao, A., Farpour-Lambert, N., Adriyan Pramono, Woodward, E. and Jean-Michel Oppert (2021). Effect of exercise training on weight loss, body composition changes, and weight maintenance in adults with overweight or obesity: An overview of 12 systematic reviews and 149 studies. [online] doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.13256.
  4. ‌Howell, S.L. and Kones, R. (2017). ‘Calories in, calories out’ and macronutrient intake: the hope, hype, and science of calories. [online] 313(5), pp.E608–E612. doi:https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpendo.00156.2017.
  5. Falcone, P.H., Tai, C.-Y., Carson, L., Joy, J.M., Mosman, M.M., McCann, T.S., Crona, K.P., Kim, M.P. and Moon, J.R. (2015). Caloric Expenditure of Aerobic, Resistance, or Combined High-Intensity Interval Training Using a Hydraulic Resistance System in Healthy Men. [online] 29(3), pp.779–785. doi:https://doi.org/10.1519/jsc.0000000000000661.
  6. ‌Thomas, M.H. and Burns, S.P. (2016). Increasing Lean Mass and Strength: A Comparison of High Frequency Strength Training to Lower Frequency Strength Training. International journal of exercise science, [online] 9(2), pp.159–167. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4836564/.
Emma

Medically reviewed by:

Kathy Shattler

Emma Garofalo is a writer based in Pittsburgh, PA. A lover of science, art, and all things culinary, few things excite her more than the opportunity to learn about something new." It is now in the sheet in the onboarding paperwork, apologies!!

Medically reviewed by:

Kathy Shattler

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