Committing to a training routine of exercise and smart eating habits will help anyone with the goal of weight loss maintain a healthy weight and ultimately a healthier lifestyle. Maintenance of a healthy body weight is important for physical and emotional well-being, and can have a major impact on staving off adverse medical conditions.
Cardio Exercise
The American College of Sports Medicine recommends moderate cardio activity 30 minutes a day, five days a week; or vigorous cardio activity 20 minutes a day, three times a week. Begin with three days of cardio exercise per week, working your way up to five days a week. Examples of cardio exercise include walking, running, biking, swimming, skiing, rowing and stair stepping.
Interval Training
An alternative to lengthy cardio programs is interval training, which consists of alternating bursts of intense activity with intervals of lighter activity. An interval session may only take 15 minutes, but the amount of work exerted is greater than moderate activity for an extended period of time. An example of a 15-minute interval training session might be running at a high speed for 30 seconds, alternated with one minute of walking.
According to Martin Gibala and Sean McGee in the April 2008 issue of “Exercise & Sport Science Reviews,” as little as six sessions of high-intensity interval training over two weeks can increase the body’s metabolic rate and ability to burn fat.
Strength Training
Strength training increases resting metabolic rate, which is the amount of energy expended by the body at rest that enhances fat loss. If you’re new to strength training, start with one set of ten to 15 repetitions of each exercise using light resistance or body weight only. Gradually work up to three sets of five to eight repetitions of each exercise with increasingly greater resistance.
Jeffrey L. Alexander argues that maintaining muscle mass during and after weight loss is an important component to any weight loss program. In the February 2002 issue of “Strength and Conditioning Journal,” Alexander wrote that increasing muscle mass aids the body’s ability to burn fat by increasing resting metabolic rate.
Extra Steps
Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) is energy spent on activities other than exercise. According to James Levine from the Mayo Clinic, a person could expend additional calories per day if they were to adopt NEAT into their lifestyle.
Activities include walking the stairs instead of taking the elevator, riding a bike to work instead of driving, cleaning the house, gardening, and even something as simple as pacing while chatting with a friend on the phone. Levine suggests incorporating some of these ideas into your daily life, which could help burn 500 to 1,000 additional calories.
Rest and Recovery
Rest is essential in any training program so that your body can mend itself and become stronger in preparation for the next training session. Rest prevents overtraining while reducing stress on the body, and is necessary for muscles to repair, rebuild and strengthen.
Nutrition
Proper nutrition is an important component of a training routine for weight loss. The United States Department of Agriculture posted a study where researchers compared four weight-loss diets and found that participants that stuck to a single plan lost weight regardless of what plan they followed. Find a plan that works for you, and stick to it.
It’s important to eat a balanced diet comprised of healthy and diverse foods. You don’t have to deprive yourself of foods you love, but you do have to keep moderation and portion size in mind if your goal is to lose weight. When more calories are consumed than burned, energy balance is tipped toward weight gain.
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