The most reliable way to lose weight through exercise is by doing aerobic exercise, which is any activity that elevates your heart and breathing rates while working large muscle groups for a sustained period of time. According to the American Council on Exercise, aerobic exercises include brisk walking, jogging, cycling, dancing, cross-country skiing and swimming. Such sports as basketball and soccer are also good aerobic activities, but bowling and golf---unless you are doing a lot of walking and carrying your own clubs---are not. You need to push your heart, lungs and muscles simultaneously in order to burn enough calories to lose weight.
Calculate Rates
In order to lose a pound in one week, you have to burn 3,500 more calories than you consume. Assuming you continue to eat at your current levels, that means you have to burn up 500 extra calories a day than you do now. The amount of calories burned is determined by your size, the type of exercise your doing, and how long and how hard you do the exercise. According to the Centers for Disease Control, a 154 lb. person will burn about 280 calories an hour walking at 3.5 miles per hour, so at that rate you'll need to walk a little less than two hours a day to lose a pound a week.
Without Equipment
You don't need fancy equipment to lose weight by exercising. Jogging burns calories much more quickly. The CDC says a 154-pound person burns about 140 calories walking about 3.5 miles per hour for 30 minutes but the same person jogging at 5 mph will burn nearly 300 calories in a half hour. You can increase the calories burned by walking faster; a brisk 4.5-mph walking pace burns about 230 calories in half an hour, but walking--even walking uphill--will never burn as many calories as running.
Cycling Options
Cycling, unlike walking or hiking, is known as a non-weight-bearing exercise, which makes it appealing to people whose feet or knees hurt while walking or jogging. Cycling at a leisurely pace of less than 10 miles per hour burns nearly 300 calories an hour, but pedaling at more than 10 mph burns nearly 600 calories an hour--about as much as jogging at 5 mph, according to the CDC. Cycling exercises your thighs, hips and buttocks, and mountain biking incorporates muscle groups in your torso, arms and shoulders, allowing you to burn even more calories.
Add Weightlifting
Weight training, such as lifting weights, doing push-ups or working out on a weight machine, doesn't typically provide the kind of sustained aerobic exercise that other activities provide. But lifting weights will burn more than 400 calories an hour, and according to the American Council on Exercise will keep your calorie-burning metabolic rate elevated long after you're done lifting.
Sneaking in Exercise
According to the American Council on Exercise, it's easy to add other calorie-burning activities to your daily life. You can take the stairs instead of the elevator. Park farther away from a store than you need to and walk. If you don't have time for a sustained 30- or 60-minute workout, "accumulate" your exercise in 10-minute increments throughout the day. It all adds up.
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