The Right Exercises To Lose Weight

There are two kinds of exercises: aerobic and anaerobic. Aerobic exercises such as bicycling and swimming are better weight-loss exercises because they continuously require you to expend energy, while stop-and-start anaerobic exercises such as baseball and golf don't, according to "Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease." Prominent exercise expert Dr. Kenneth Cooper ranks bicycling, cross-country skiing, running and swimming as the four best aerobic exercises.

Bicycling

Cooper and co-author William Proctor tout outdoor and indoor bicycling in "Controlling Cholesterol The Natural Way." Their outdoor bicycling program for previously inactive people who want to lose weight recommends bicycling seven miles four times per week, and their stationary bicycling program recommends bicycling 25 minutes five times weekly. Bicycling more than 20 mph is tied with running 10 mph as the best weight-loss exercise, according to a Harvard Heart Letter study of 158 activities. You burn 1,228 calories per hour bicycling this fast if you weigh 155 pounds. Stationary bicycling is the Number 1 gym activity for weight loss because it burns 782 calories per hour.

Cross-Country Skiing

The Merck Manuals Online Medical Library's "Choosing the Right Exercise" report praises cross-country skiing and also suggests using machines that will allow you to simulate the sport indoors. Uphill cross-country skiing ranks second, behind fast running, among 175 weight-loss activities analyzed in the state of Wisconsin's "Calories Burned Per Hour" report. You burn 1,161 calories per hour doing this activity if you weigh 155 pounds.

Running

Running exercises rank very high on the Harvard Heart Letter list of weight-loss activities. Running 10 miles per hour, or a six-minute mile, burns the same amount of calories as the fastest bicycling exercise. Running a seven-minute mile burns 1,078 calories per hour if you're 155 pounds, while running an eight-minute mile burns 930 calories, and running a nine-minute mile burns 818 calories. "Controlling Cholesterol" recommends running three miles four times weekly if your primary interest is losing weight; you should run "long and slow" instead of "short and fast" if your first interest is cardiovascular conditioning.

Swimming

Swimming has a lot of advantages. Merck's "Choosing the Right Exercise" report says the sport is "recommended for people who have muscle and joint problems" and notes that it exercises your whole body, including your arms, back and legs. The sport also gives you a chance to strengthen several muscle groups because you can swim the back, breast, butterfly and freestyle strokes. Swimming the freestyle and butterfly burns 818 calories per hour if you weigh 155 pounds, while the breaststroke and backstroke burn 744 and 596 calories, respectively, according to Harvard's study. "Controlling Cholesterol" recommends swimming 900 yards four times weekly if you want to lose a lot of weight.