Exercise can make a significant impact on your weight loss success. Cardiovascular exercise activities such as running and swimming allow you to burn a significant amount of calories in a short time. If you eat a healthy diet and consistently participate in cardiovascular exercise, you are likely to see weight loss. If you're actively trying to lose weight, be consistent with your workouts and make each session long enough so that you're burning adequate calories to reach your goals.
Losing Weight
Exercise contributes to weight loss because it significantly increases the amount of calories that you overall burn in a day. To lose weight, you must burn more calories than you consume. The more you exercise, the more total calories you burn, and therefore the more weight you will lose.
Intensity
How many minutes you need to exercise to lose weight depends on the intensity of the activity that you're participating in. Some activities are more efficient than others and burn more calories in the same amount of time. Mayo Clinic.com states that running, rollerblading and jumping rope are three of the most effective in burning calories. Other less-intense activities such as walking and golfing don't burn nearly as many. Use an online calorie calculator, such as one provided by Cancer.org, to choose activities that burn the most calories and you will maximize your workout sessions.
Exercise Minutes
The U.S Department of Health and Human Services states that you should complete 2 ½ hours of moderately intense cardiovascular exercise or 1 ½ hours of vigorous cardiovascular exercise per week. The American Council on Exercise recommends to instead focus on burning 500 calories per day by using a calorie calculator to determine what duration of your specific exercise activity that will equate to burning that total every day.
Considerations
The more you currently weigh, the more calories you'll burn during your workout and will therefore have an easier time losing weight. Those who are smaller and don't have too much weight to lose may need to increase their amount of exercise time to continue to lose weight.
Burning Calories When Not Working Out
The most effective way to lose weight is to set yourself up to increase the amount of calories you're burning even when you're not working out. You can do this by incorporating weight training into your fitness routine. The more lean muscle you possess, the faster your resting metabolism will be. This means you'll burn more calories at all times, even when you're sleeping.
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