To lose a pound of fat, your body must burn 3,500 calories more than it takes in. Contrary to what you see on late-night TV, you don't need expensive gym equipment to achieve this. In fact, you don't need any equipment at all. If you follow the right steps, you can achieve lasting weight loss over the summer without using any gym equipment at all. You might even find that it's a lot of fun.
Step 1
Watch what you eat. You don't have to become a diet fanatic--that's hard to maintain--but if you substitute nutrient- and fiber-rich foods like fruits and vegetables in the place of refined foods high in calories but low in vitamins and minerals, your body will have better fuel to burn (read: more energy) but be taking in less calories overall, which means you won't have to burn off the extra calories from those cream puffs before you start burning off the weight.
Step 2
Get your heart rate up. Cardiovascular exercise--anything that gets your major muscle groups in your chest, back, arms or legs moving and keeps them moving over a prolonged period--is the best way to burn calories fast. You can tell if you're working hard enough because you'll be able to speak short sentences, but you won't have enough breath to sing or carry on long conversations.
Step 3
Choose from a wide range of summertime outdoor cardiovascular activities that won't just help you lose weight; they're also a lot of fun. Consider trying new activities like rowing, canoeing or kayaking, outdoor swimming, hiking, bicycling and rollerblading.
Step 4
Add strength training to your routine. This helps add lean muscle, which in turn increases how many calories you burn by just existing. Think of muscles as fires that burn the calories up, whereas fat just sits there.
Step 5
Do squats and lunges anywhere outside without any equipment. Use stairs, low benches or even curbs to do step-ups and calf raises.
Step 6
Perform pull-ups off convenient tree branches--check to make sure they're alive, healthy and sturdy first--or playground equipment, and push-ups on the ground. If you're just getting started, do wall push-ups off horizontal rails or benches or thick tree trunks, and use those benches to do bench dips as well.
Step 7
Be consistent. Fad diets that promise instant results with no effort are usually either outright lies or unsustainable; the weight typically comes right back because you're unable to keep up the "fad" lifestyle modifications for a long time. The key to getting the weight off and keeping it off is making changes that you can maintain. Losing about a pound a week is considered good progress.
Tips and Warnings
- The American Heart Association recommends that healthy individuals between the ages of 18 and 65 should get at least 30 minutes of moderate activity five days per week. Wall push-ups are just like normal push-ups except that instead of resting your hands on the ground, you rest them on a slightly elevated surface. This makes the exercise easier. The higher the surface, the easier the push-ups will be. Bench dips are much the same as regular dips, except that instead of the lower half of your body dangling free, being supported by your arm muscles, your lower body rests on the ground. Usually you're in a squatting or sitting position in front of the bench while your hands rest behind you on the bench; this way you can use your leg strength to help your arms press you up and then lower you back down until your shoulders are even with your elbows. Keep your hips close to the bench when you perform this exercise; stretching your hips away from the bench will put your shoulders in a position where it's very easy to injure them.
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