{"id":328469,"date":"2026-03-04T13:19:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T13:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/328469\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T13:19:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T13:19:08","slug":"doctor-names-the-single-most-ignored-tool-for-shedding-body-fat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/328469\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctor names ‘the single most ignored tool’ for shedding body fat"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it comes to shedding fat, most of us picture hours on the treadmill. However, this cardio-first approach overlooks several key principles of weight loss.<\/p>\n

Board-certified internist and medical director of Your Laser Skin Care, Dr Eleonora Fedonenko, is adamant cardio is not the full picture. <\/p>\n

She told GB News: “I get it, and spent years watching patients run themselves into a plateau before I started pushing resistance training instead.”<\/p>\n

Strength training is what she now considers “the single most ignored fat loss tool” available.<\/p>\n

\"STRENGTH<\/p>\n

The body burns more calories maintaining skeletal muscle at rest<\/p>\n

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GETTY<\/p>\n

The reason lifting weights beats running for burning fat comes down to how metabolically demanding muscle tissue actually is.<\/p>\n

“The truth is skeletal muscle is metabolically expensive, meaning that your body burns more calories maintaining your skeletal muscle even at rest,” Dr Fedonenko explained.<\/p>\n

Research suggests muscle burns roughly four to six calories per pound daily, while fat tissue only uses about two calories per pound.<\/p>\n

While this difference might sound small, it adds up quickly over time. As Dr Fedonenko put it: “Muscle permanently increases the floor on how much your body burns daily.”<\/p>\n

She also points out for anyone who has ever lost weight only to gain it back, it is not about lacking willpower.<\/p>\n

“Aggressive caloric restriction signals a threat to your body, and thus your metabolic rate decreases, and your body becomes more efficient at running on less fuel,” Dr Fedonenko explained.<\/p>\n

When you diet hard, leptin \u2013 the hormone that tells humans they are full \u2013 plummets. Meanwhile, ghrelin, which triggers hunger, shoots up. <\/p>\n

In other words, hormones end up working against people as the body is essentially fighting to return you to your previous weight.<\/p>\n

\"WAIST<\/p>\n

Aggressive caloric restriction causes the metabolic rate to plummet <\/p>\n

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GETTY<\/p>\n

As a smarter approach, Dr Fedonenko recommends gradual weight loss while keeping muscle intact, which gives your hormones time to adjust to a new normal rather than constantly fighting against you.<\/p>\n

Dr Fedonenko has observed repeated cycles of restriction and re-feeding can accelerate oxidative stress and damage collagen integrity \u2013 something she sees reflected in the physical appearance of patients at her clinic.<\/p>\n

In her decades of practice, the patients who kept weight off long-term were almost always those who made strength training part of their routine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When it comes to shedding fat, most of us picture hours on the treadmill. However, this cardio-first approach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328470,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[493,499,103,61,60,166],"class_list":["post-328469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-diet","tag-fitness","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}