Using exercise to control your weight will not only give you a slimmer waistline, but also will provide you with many health benefits as well. Losing five pounds with exercise is a goal that is fairly easy to achieve. The more intense the exercise you undertake, the faster you will see the numbers on the scale move in a favorable direction.
The Right Regimen for You
If you're just starting out on an exercise program, don't overdo it, or you will have a hard time motivating yourself to keep doing it. You also put yourself at risk for injury, and nothing adds pounds faster than being laid up with a pulled muscle or painful stress fracture. Start with walking or biking at an easy pace, and gradually add time and increase your level of exertion. Add in additional exercises that you enjoy to avoid falling into a rut.
Types of Exercise
All exercise is not created equal when it comes to losing weight. To burn the most calories, choose an intense aerobic exercise such as running, which for a 150 lb. person can burn 600 or more calories an hour. Swimming, biking and doing aerobics are also good exercises for maximum calorie burn. Add resistance training with weights or calisthenics to your routine as well. You will get an "afterburn" effect that can burn fat calories for as long as 48 hours after you have completed the exercise.
Diet
While you don't have to necessarily change your diet if you are planning to use exercise to lose such a small amount of weight, doing so might give you more energy to do the exercise that you want to do. Load your plate with vegetables, lean protein and complex carbohydrates, such as brown rice and barley, and you'll find that you will have more energy than if you eat a diet of nutrient-poor fast food.
The Math
To lose five pounds, you need to burn 17,500 calories above what you consume over the period of time during which you are losing weight. If you weigh 150 pounds and walk at a 3 mph pace every day, it will likely take you more than two months to lose the weight. On the other hand, if you run for an hour every day at a 6 mph pace, it will take you under a month. This is why the intensity of the exercise you choose is important -- at least if you want to lose the weight fairly quickly.
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