Exercise is an essential part of losing weight. Many people enjoy dancing more than other forms of exercise, and exercise habits are easier to maintain when you're having fun. While weight loss is usually a gradual process, you can lose weight more quickly with a concentrated effort. Dancing has many health benefits in addition to weight loss, such as improving cardiovascular fitness and reducing stress. Dancing can provide an effective method for quick weight loss when combined with healthy diet and resistance training.
Step 1
Increase the intensity of your dance workouts. Some high-intensity forms of dancing include salsa, hip-hop, zumba and belly dancing. Maintaining an elevated heart rate boosts the amount of calories you burn. To measure heart rate, find your pulse by holding one finger on a pressure point in your wrist, neck or temple and count the number of beats for 60 seconds. You want to exercise at 50 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate; the maximum heart rate is generally 220 minus your age.
Step 2
Raise the amount of time you spend dancing each day. Whether you choose to work out more than once a day or to increase the duration of your workout, you will burn more calories.
Step 3
Add muscle-building exercises. Exercising with small hand weights, each weighing between 2 and 5 pounds, develops muscle tone. Muscle burns more calories, even while you're at rest. As long as you use light weights, you should not get bulky muscles that would increase your body weight.
Step 4
Combine diet with your dancing workouts. According to MayoClinic.com, the combination of diet and exercise is the best way to lose weight. Reduce your intake of fatty foods, processed carbohydrates and sodium. Cut out soft drinks and drink at least eight glasses of water a day. Limit your total calorie intake to between 1,200 and 1,500 calories per day.
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