Many people assume you need to get rid of those unwanted fatty pounds before starting a bodybuilding program. They often try to achieve this with cardio or the latest diet. However, it is completely unnecessary to lose weight before bodybuilding as this would take more effort than doing a bodybuilding program on its own. Let me explain.

In order to lose weight and reduce body fat you must burn more calories than you eat. If you are on a good diet that doesn't involve eating too many calories and you take up a bodybuilding program, you will be able to burn more calories than you are eating. This will result in fat loss and an increase in muscle size and definition.

A bodybuilding program will drastically help with weight loss. Your body's metabolism is determined by how your body is capable of burning calories and how efficiently your body burns that energy.

The higher your metabolism is the more efficiently your body is burning calories. Your metabolic rate is affected not only by your age and gender but also by your lean body mass.

The more lean muscle your body has, the higher your metabolic rate is. This means that if you follow a bodybuilding program and a healthy diet, your body will burn away those extra pounds and inches because adding muscle mass will increase your metabolic rate.

So people attempt to actually lose weight before bodybuilding, but this is counter-productive. Doing the right sort of bodybuilding program will see an amazing transformation in your body composition. Your body fat will disappear and your muscle tone will increase.

Many people rely on their body mass index (BMI) to know if they are within a healthy weight range; however, as you work through a bodybuilding program, you will notice that this is no longer a valid indicator of obesity or health.

Muscle is naturally heavy and as you add lean muscle to your body with a bodybuilding program you can see an increase in your actual weight - this does not mean you have gained weight in the typical sense of the word.

BMI is a basic calculation that doesn't tell you much: it's simply your height divided by your weight multiplied by 703. Therefore, a body builder could have a BMI similar to someone who is obese, but the bodybuilder may be less than 10% body fat. To accurately gauge your body fat you should use fat callipers or specialist body fat analyzer.

The only real permanent weight loss programs that work over and over again are those centred around a fitness regime, and a bodybuilding program is by far the best way to lose fat, so this should give you even more incentive to start a program.

As you progress with your bodybuilding program you will notice the fat inches begin to disappear and your muscle tone starts to show. And remember, you do not need to lose weight before bodybuilding, but you do need a good bodybuilding program to help lose fat and feel great permanently.