Fat Loss Strategies: The Importance of Resistance Training for Men Over 50

Craig McBreen • May 21, 2024

Is Cardio the best way to lose weight?

Cardio, often glorified as the ultimate fat-burning exercise, holds a special place in many fitness routines. It's true—I love cardio too. But here's the thing: Cardio is not the best way to lose body fat.

Many people think that moving more is how you lose weight. Sounds like common sense, right?

Well, the reality is a bit more nuanced. Relying on activities like walking or running is not the best way to lose body fat.

Consider the Hadza, a traditional hunter-gatherer tribe in Tanzania. They lead incredibly active lives, walking and running vast distances on foot.

Yet, despite their highly active lifestyle, researchers were stunned to find that the Hadza burned roughly the same calories as their sedentary counterparts in more industrialized societies.

Crazy, right?

But why the discrepancy?

Introducing Metabolic Adaptation

It boils down to metabolic adaptation: the body's survival mechanism to ensure we have enough energy to perform essential functions.

Metabolic adaptation, the body's response to changes in energy intake and expenditure, can hinder weight loss efforts.

Recent research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham highlights this phenomenon in their study titled "Weight loss may take longer than expected due to metabolic adaptation." The study highlights the weight loss challenge, especially when attempting to shed the final pounds over time.

So back to the Hadza:

The Hadza's bodies have adjusted to their active lifestyle by slowing their metabolism, allowing them to thrive on fewer calories than expected.

This revelation challenges the common belief that obesity stems solely from inactivity (The Exercise Paradox). Instead, it shows the limitations of basic cardio as an effective weight-loss tool.

While physical activity undoubtedly plays a role in overall health, it's only one piece of the puzzle. The real culprit behind weight gain is consuming more calories than your body expends.

Traditional cardio activities like walking or jogging contribute only a fraction of your daily calorie burn.

In contrast, resistance training enhances muscle strength, promotes fat loss, and boosts metabolism.

Resistance training, often overlooked for its fat-burning potential, builds muscle strength, endurance, and size through resistance like weights, bands, bodyweight exercises, machines, kettlebells, and more. Plus, it aids in calorie-burning and body fat loss.

People are often led to prioritize cardio over resistance training and proper nutrition.

But to get stronger, lose body fat, and speed up your metabolism, this is the order you should follow:

Nutrition
Resistance training
Cardio

Prioritizing things in this order, nutrition, resistance, and cardio, is your fitness formula.

Resistance training and heart health

But you might ask: Does resistance training benefit heart health?

While many prioritize cardio for cardiovascular health, resistance training offers unique advantages and is excellent for your heart.

Resistance training heart health benefits:

Improves blood pressure:

According to this study, resistance exercise leads to a longer-lasting drop in blood pressure after exercise compared to aerobic exercise.

Lowers cholesterol:

A study from UCLA indicates that regular weight training can enhance HDL (Good cholesterol) function, safeguarding against heart disease, even among overweight individuals.

Reduces dangerous fat:

Visceral fat, found around organs including the heart, poses serious health risks like heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Resistance training can help you lose it.

Not to mention, it does the following:

Increases bone density:

Regular resistance training stimulates bone growth and density, reducing the risk of osteoporosis and fractures.

Boosts metabolism:

Building lean muscle mass through resistance training elevates resting metabolic rate, leading to more efficient calorie burning.

Improves insulin sensitivity:

Resistance training enhances insulin sensitivity, helping regulate blood sugar levels and reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes.

So, resistance training is full of nice surprises, eh? It's the foundation of my fitness routine and it should be yours.

Your Success Strategies for Losing Weight

Setting realistic goals, lifting weights, and making gradual nutrition improvements are key strategies for effective weight loss.

It’s how you achieve lasting results.

Set Realistic Goals:

Focus on small, realistic goals to maintain motivation and track progress. Celebrate smaller victories to stay committed to your weight loss mission without feeling overwhelmed.

Start Resistance Training:

Begin your resistance training journey focusing on bodyweight exercises and resistance bands or dumbbells. Then, integrate compound movements like squats, deadlifts, rows, and bench presses. These methods effectively reduce body fat percentage and enhance metabolism, accelerating weight loss through muscle building.

Make Gradual Nutrition Improvements:

Start by swapping high-calorie snacks for healthier alternatives and gradually reducing portions to create a sustainable calorie deficit. Small, sustainable changes in your diet lead to long-term success. Get your nutrition right.

Maximize Fat Loss with Resistance Training

Consistent resistance training helps lose stubborn body fat and dangerous visceral fat. It transforms body composition, boosts metabolism, and supports overall health and wellness.

Don’t Stop!

Celebrate milestones and maintain healthy habits to sustain weight loss in the long term. Consistency with exercise and nutrition is key to achieving and maintaining your weight loss goals.

Take Control Weight Loss: Let's Design Your Customized Training Plan!

Contact me today and let's create a personalized fat-loss training program tailored specifically for men over 50, focusing on the power of resistance training to unlock your full potential!

Disclaimer:

This individual personal training program is designed and overseen by a certified personal trainer and is for informational purposes only. I am not a certified pickleball coach, and this program is not created or endorsed by a certified pickleball coach.

Please consult your doctor before starting any exercise program, especially if you have any existing health conditions.

While this program focuses on building strength, mobility, and agility, which can complement your pickleball game, it is not designed to replace professional pickleball coaching.

Remember to listen to your body, modify exercises as needed, and prioritize safety.

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Can You Build Muscle in a Calorie Deficit?

By Craig McBreen • October 4, 2026

Yes. BUT… it depends on who you are. You might be new to lifting, starting after years off, or carrying some extra fat. If so, you can build muscle and lose fat at the same time. But if you’re lean and have been training. Well, let’s just say it’ll be a wee bit more difficult. Regardless, your goal should be to keep every pound of muscle while losing fat. That’s me being honest, but here’s what decides it… Why most men over 50 lose muscle when they diet You cut calories, the scale drops, and you feel like all is good. Then you look in the mirror months later, and you’re a smaller version of the same soft body. Lighter, not leaner. So, what the heck happened? Your body needed energy, and it took it from where it could. Some from fat. Some from muscle. And after 50, muscle is something you can't afford to lose. I lived this. At 36, I was 240 lbs. In my 40s, I got “fit” by running. I was addicted to endless cardio , ate whatever, and lost the same 20-30 lbs several times. I also felt like crap, lacked energy, and was, frankly, a little soft. I wasn’t lazy. I was burning away the one thing that would have fixed me. Muscle. The four things that decide it 1- Don’t cut too hard: This is where most men go wrong. A 1,200-calorie crash diet doesn’t build anything and isn’t sustainable. It strips muscle and wrecks your training. Been there, done that! Aim for a moderate deficit. Roughly 300 calories below what you burn. That’s about half a pound per week. Sounds slow because it is, and that’s the point. Lose faster than about 1 percent of your body weight a week, and you might start losing muscle too. I watch this number with clients who drop too fast. I raise their calories. This sounds counterintuitive and really surprises people, but it shouldn’t. 2- Protein goes up, not down When calories come down, protein goes up. And it’s the one thing that doesn’t get cut. Target 0.8 to 1 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight. At 190 lbs, that’s 150-190 grams. In a deficit, lean toward the top of that range. And the daily total isn’t the whole story. Your muscles only build when a single meal is big enough to trigger it, which after 50, means roughly 35-40 grams each meal. You can hit 150 grams a day in snacks and small plates and trigger almost nothing. I wrote about why here: You Hit Your Protein Target and Still Aren’t Gaining Muscle . Three to four meals a day. And no grazing. 3- Lift and get stronger Protein is the raw material. Lifting is the signal that tells your body to spend it on muscle instead of burning it. Without the lifting signal, a high-protein diet is just expensive food. Start with three sessions a week. Forty minutes. Progressive overload, which means the weight or intensity goes up over time. In a deficit, you may not add much. That’s fine. Holding your numbers while the scale drops means you’re keeping muscle, and that’s a win. Don’t chase soreness. Don’t add extra cardio because you want faster results. Yes, cardio burns calories, but it doesn’t send the “build” signal. And it interferes with recovery. 4- Sleep, or none of it works Repair happens while you sleep. Cut sleep short and you lose more muscle and less fat. 6.5 to 7+ hours of sleep. Who gets the best results? Four groups do well at building muscle and losing fat at once: Men new to lifting. Your body responds to a stimulus it’s never seen. Men coming back after years off. You’re rebuilding muscle you had, and that happens faster than building new muscle. Men carrying extra body fat. You have plenty of stored energy to fuel the work. Men who have been under-eating protein. Fixing that alone changes things. Most men over 50 who come to me are in at least two of these groups. That's why the first few months often look better than the research would predict. What does progress look like? The scale is the worst tool for this. If you’re building muscle and losing fat at the same time, your weight might barely move for a month. The scale says nothing is happening. Your clothes say otherwise. So track more than one thing: Weekly average bodyweight Waist measurement, once a week Photos every 2-3 weeks Your training log, every session A single number is noise. Your pattern over time is the information you want to pay attention to. Then what? You don’t stay in a deficit forever. When you hit your target, calories come back up slowly. Call it 100 a week until you’re back at maintenance. Protein stays. Lifting stays. Done gradually, you hold the muscle and most of the fat loss. Drop back into how you used to eat overnight, and you’ll get the weight back fast. What I’d tell you Stop trying to lose weight. Start trying to lose fat while keeping muscle. These two sound the same but aren’t. One has you eating less and running more. The other has you lifting three times a week, eating protein at every meal, and dropping weight slowly enough that your body has no reason to raid your muscle for fuel. At 62, I’m stronger and leaner than I was at 32. Not because I found something clever, but because I stopped doing things costing me muscle and started doing things to build muscle. The real goal isn’t the number on the scale. It’s that the habit runs without you thinking about it. Where to start Take the strength score . Two minutes. It maps your protein, sleep, stress, and training against what your body actually needs after 50, and tells you which one is costing you the most right now. Before the plan comes the score .