An hour-long workout at vigorous intensity yields a minuscule amount of weight loss, but the accumulated calorie deficit you can establish with regular exercise makes your hard work worthwhile. The amount of weight you lose through exercise depends on how many calories you burn versus how many you take in. Therefore, both your diet and your physical activity determine your weight loss.
Basics
One workout will not yield significant weight loss because it takes a deficit of 3,500 calories to lose 1 lb. of body fat. If you're working out at high intensity, you can burn 600 calories in an hour. That's the equivalent of 0.17 lb. It would take nearly six hours of exercise at this intensity to yield 1 lb. of weight loss. Performing six hours of physical activity over the course of a week gives you a healthy and effective strategy to reach your weight goals gradually. However, don't expect the scale to budge after one workout.
Moderation
Even if you're physically fit, you need to moderate your level of physical activity to prevent over-training. Too much exercise in a short period of time can lead to injury and weaken your immune system. Instead, seek balance in your exercise regimen, building up to longer and more intense workouts over the course of several weeks. This way, you can use your workouts to boost weight loss at a healthy, steady pace. If you exercise at vigorous-intensity regularly five to six days per week for 30 minutes to an hour, you can burn 250 to 600 calories per workout. This level of activity can produce weight loss of 1.7 to 4.1 lb. per month, as long as you don't increase your calorie intake, according to Bodybuilding.com.
Diet Factor
Although your workouts can lead to moderate weight loss, using exercise as a complement to a healthful, calorie-conscious diet will produce more substantial weight loss over time. Cutting your calorie intake by just 250 calories per day will result in an additional 2 lb. of weight loss during the course of a month. Switching from sweetened beverages to water is a simple way to cut calories and live healthier. Other small, but effective changes, include reducing your portion sizes, eating sweet treats less often or in smaller portions, limiting protein to 6 oz. per day and replacing fried foods with baked, grilled or broiled versions.
Considerations
The idea of fast weight loss through intense workouts may sound motivating, but can in reality lead to disappointment and injury. Just as severe calorie restriction causes your body's metabolism to slow down and compensate for the lack of incoming energy, bursts of intense exercise when you haven't trained appropriately can interfere with your weight goals and cause physical damage. Start slowly and commit to a healthy weight loss process through exercise and healthy eating. You'll lose weight and maintain it over time if your approach is realistic and health-centered.
References
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Physical Activity for a Healthy Weight
- Bodybuilding: What You Don't Know About Overtraining
- MayoClinic.com: Metabolism and Weight Loss: How You Burn Calories
- American Council on Exercise: Trimming Off the Fat
- American Council on Exercise: Physical Activity Calorie Calculator
- MayoClinic.com: Fast Weight Loss -- What's Wrong With It?
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