If you want to lose weight fast, disregard the never-ending miracle diet ads and sink your teeth into a healthy eating and exercise plan. Exercise is the key to burning calories, and there are a variety of exercises you can do for fast weight-loss results that last. Knowing which types of exercises burn the most fat and calories will help you get started on the right track to success.
Cardiovascular Exercise
Cardio exercises elevate your heart rate and burn calories by speeding up your metabolism. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends doing moderately intense cardio for 30 minutes a day, five days a week to stay healthy. Using these guidelines as a starting point, you can add duration and intensity to your workouts to burn more calories and lose weight faster. For example, a 150-lb. person who runs for 30 minutes at 10-minute mile pace burns about 342 calories; if she runs for 45 minutes at the same pace, she burns about 513 calories. By increasing the intensity and running for 30 minutes at 7:30-minute mile pace, she will burn 458 calories.
Interval Training
Interval workouts involve intense bursts of speed alternating with periods of rest. Interval training boosts calorie burning because the more vigorously you exercise, the more calories you'll burn, according to MayoClinic.com. To do intervals, add intensity to your regular cardio workouts once or twice a week. If you normally walk, for instance, add a few minutes of jogging to the mix. Rest for about twice as long as each interval between each burst. So if you run for three minutes, for instance, walk for six minutes to rest and then repeat the cycle. You can also do intervals for cycling, swimming, stair climbing and elliptical workouts.
Resistance Training
Strength training raises your metabolism, which will help you burn more calories even while resting. A resistance training routine also builds lean muscle mass, which burns more calories than fat. The American College of Exercise recommends doing a strength-training program twice a week with eight to 12 reps of eight to 10 exercises. Choose exercises that target all of your major muscle groups, including the torso, arms and legs. If you want to add intensity to your resistance training to burn more calories, increase the amount of weight you are lifting and do a lower number of repetitions.
Circuit Training
Circuit training combines cardio and resistance training for a high-intensity workout that burns calories and fat. There are many options for circuit-training exercises, using the basic guidelines of alternating strengthening exercises with high-intensity aerobics and little rest between sets. A circuit training program may include jumping jacks, sprints, jumping rope or box jumps for cardio. For resistance training, do exercises that work major muscles, such as pushups, crunches, bench press, triceps extensions, squats or lunges. A sample circuit training plan includes a set of 15 reps on the bench press, a 400-meter run, 30 crunches, two minutes of jumping rope, 20 pushups, a two-minute run and 20 squats with dumbbells.
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