As there are with almost every other activity, there are right and wrong ways to lose weight. Drastically cutting calories or starving yourself can lead to excessive loss of muscle and more dangerous health problems. To keep yourself in the best shape possible while losing weight, combine a balanced diet with a consistent resistance training routine and cardio program.
Step 1
Clean up your diet by removing foods with little nutritional value and adding foods that will keep you healthy. Fast and processed foods offer very little benefit to the human body; start by eliminating these from your diet. Aim to balance each meal with protein, carbohydrates and healthy fats. Eat protein in the form of lean meat, fish and eggs. Take in complex carbohydrates like whole wheat bread and tortillas, sweet potatoes and quinoa. Snack on low calorie, high nutrient fruits and vegetables. Round off your diet with healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats found in avocados, peanut butter, almond butter, cooking oils and nuts.
Step 2
Consistently follow a resistance training routine. This routine should include primarily compound exercises like bench presses, squats, lunges, deadlifts, overhead presses and rows. Balance your routine evenly between upper and lower body, and don't forget to include abdominal exercises such as crunch twists, Russian twists, leg raises and ball crunches. Start with three sets of 10 per exercise. Aim to hit the gym two or three times per week, but allow your body at least 48 hours of rest between sessions.
Step 3
Perform both aerobic and anaerobic cardio. Running, cycling and swimming are all types of aerobic cardio. This type of exercise is typically low intensity and high in duration. Spend at least 30 minutes a few days per week performing aerobic cardio. For those with a little more experience, anaerobic cardio is a good fat burning option. This type of exercise is quick, but very high intensity. Using sprints as an example, sprint for 15 seconds and rest for 45 seconds. Repeat 10 times. To make it more difficult, either cut your rest or up your work.
Tips and Warnings
- When you feel comfortable, start to play around with your reps and sets in the gym. Low reps are great for building strength, while high reps elicit muscle growth. Rotate your cardio exercises to avoid boredom and ensure that you maintain a balance of aerobic and anaerobic activity. Circuit training, a specific type of resistance training, is a viable option for those short on time but still desiring the results of weight training.
- Use caution when exercising for the first time. Find someone to teach you the ropes and limit the intensity you work at to avoid injury.
Things You'll Need
- Gym access
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