Successful weight loss requires eating fewer calories than you burn. You can diet to reduce the calories you eat, and you can increase your physical activity to burn more calories. Aerobic dance, or aerobics, gets you moving by putting dance-inspired steps to music. Incorporating aerobics into your overall weight loss program can help you lose weight by burning extra calories.
Recommendations
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that physical activity such as aerobics can increase weight loss. To maintain weight, the CDC recommends that you work up to a minimum of 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity activity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity. To lose weight and get additional cardiovascular and mental health benefits, you can increase this amount. You can use aerobics to meet your physical activity recommendations for weight loss by keeping it at an aerobic intensity.
Aerobic Exercise
Aerobic exercise is physical activity that increases your heart rate. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, you should be able to talk but not sing if you are doing moderate intensity aerobic exercise. More vigorous physical activity burns more calories per minute, but moderate physical activity is easier to sustain for longer periods of time. If you are starting an aerobics program for weight loss, starting with moderate aerobics will allow you to burn more calories per workout if you are only able to maintain a vigorous effort for short periods of time. As your fitness increases, you can progress to vigorous aerobics for faster weight loss.
Low-Impact
The Exercise and Physical Fitness Page from Georgia State University classifies the types of aerobics as low-impact, high-impact and step. In low-impact aerobics, at least one foot always remains on the floor. People who are injury-prone or seniors or pregnant women will benefit from low-impact aerobics because the injury risk is lower. Low-impact aerobics can be good for weight loss because obese individuals can safely participate after getting clearance from their doctors.
Higher Intensity
If you are already in good shape, you might want to lose weight faster by performing high-impact or step aerobics. Both of these choices burn more calories than low-impact aerobics. High-impact aerobics involves jumping moves in which both feet leave the ground. Your body uses about seven times as many calories doing high-impact aerobics than when you are at rest. Step aerobics uses a step, or platform and you can vary the exercise intensity by changing the step's height. If you use a high step, you can burn about ten times as many calories doing step aerobics as you burn while resting. Doing high-impact or step aerobics can speed up your weight loss by burning extra calories.
Tips
Consistency is a primary factor in whether aerobics is good for weight loss. A strategy for making aerobics part of your routine is to make it fun. Choose an aerobics program that you enjoy. Various factors to consider include the type of aerobics, whether you prefer group classes or individual exercise DVDs and whether you like the music that you will be dancing to. For aerobics to be good for weight loss, it should be part of an overall plan to lose weight that includes a healthful diet and your doctor's approval.
References
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Physical Activity for Everyone: How Much Physical Activity Do Adults Need?
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Physical Activity for a Healthy Weight
- Georgia State University: The Exercise and Physical Fitness Page: Aerobic Dance
- University of South Carolina: The Compendium of Physical Acitivities Tracking Guide
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