How Often Should You Work Out To Lose Weight?

Calorie control is essential for weight loss, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. You can control calories by controlling the amount and types of food you eat and by participating in regular exercise. The amount of exercise you need to lose weight depends on the types of exercise you choose and the amount of food you eat. Include regular aerobic and strength-training exercises in your workout routine.

Aerobic Exercise

Aerobic exercise includes activities that use your large muscle groups to get your heart rate elevated for awhile. Popular aerobic exercises include brisk walking, swimming, running and cycling. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends working your way up to 60 minutes of aerobic exercise on five days each week to promote and sustain weight loss. The amount of calories you burn during your aerobic exercise sessions is influenced by your weight, exercise intensity and exercise duration.

Strength Training

Strength-training workouts can help you build muscle and increase your metabolism. An increased metabolism means that your body burns more calories, even while you are not exercising. This makes it easier to maintain a healthy body weight. The American Council on Exercise recommends strength-training exercises for your major muscle groups at least two times each week. This helps control your weight and can strengthen your bones, helping improve your total fitness.

Interval Training

Interval training workouts can be a way to spice up your aerobic exercise workout and break through a weight-loss plateau. Interval training includes alternating short intervals of higher-intensity activity with lighter-intensity activity and may help you burn more calories than less-intense exercise at a steady pace. You can add interval training to any aerobic exercise by increasing the speed, incline or resistance on your exercise machine or by walking, running or cycling faster or up a hill for a brief period. Including interval training one time each week is a good place to start if it's a new type of workout for you, says the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Considerations

You should always begin and end your exercise sessions with a warm-up and cool down. Also, doing too much exercise too soon can lead to potential injuries, so you should slowly and gradually work your way up to the recommended amounts of exercise. Consult your doctor before starting an exercise routine if you have a condition that may affect your ability to safely exercise, or if you have been sedentary for some time.