Many adults today struggle with weight. Recent studies indicate that up to sixty percent of adults today in the United States are either overweight or obese. But we don’t need a government report to tell us we could lose a few pounds, right?

Most people are aware that in order to lose weight, it can help dramatically if you reduce the amount of calories you eat, and increase the amount of calories that you burn.

Reducing the amount of calories that you eat seems simple enough, right? Less sugar, less fat, less trips to the ice cream shop that seem to pop up whenever you get the urge. Less fried foods.

But what about exercise? This is where many people get confused. Most women are under the impression that cardiovascular exercise is good, and weight training, or strength training is bad. Many are under the impression that strength training will increase muscle size. And since we want to decrease our body size, that seems like a bad thing.

In reality, building big bulky muscles is very difficult for women. It’s much easier for men to do this, simply because of our respective genetic makeup.

And when you build up your lean muscle mass, that actually increases your resting metabolism. Your resting metabolism is responsible or how much you burn when you are just sitting around. If you have a good amount of lean muscle mass, you can burn calories while you are watching TV.

The best way to increase your lean muscle mass is to do strength training that targets large muscle groups. Also it helps to use light weights, with high repetitions.

The best way to do this is through body weight exercises. Push-ups, sit-ups, yoga, and squats are great. Especially squats. Squats work your legs, your bottom, and your lower back.

When you combine a sensible exercise program that aims to increase your lean muscle mass, along with decent eating habits, it will be almost automatic to quickly get into fantastic shape.