Since your body now has less muscle and burns fewer calories on average, the weight returns and is composed entirely of fat. Most people who go on diets regain their weight within a year. The only cure for being overweight is exercise combined with sensible eating. Cardiovascular exercise such as walking, biking, jogging, and swimming are excellent activities for burning extra calories and burning fat. Success should be measured in inches, not pounds.
Muscle weighs more than fat, but it is active, compact tissue.
Muscle also burns calories, whereas fat does not. The author is corporate wellness coordinator at Healthplex of Bay Medical Center.