What Is the Best Exercise to Lose a Lot of Weight?

What Is the Best Exercise to Lose a Lot of Weight?
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Intense aerobic exercise makes your heart beat faster and can leave you dripping with sweat. During aerobic exercise, your muscles use energy to move your limbs. This burns calories and promotes weight loss. Although one single exercise isn't guaranteed to bring quick weight loss, certain exercises burn more calories than others.

Calorie Calculations

Weight loss occurs when you develop a deficit between the number of calories you consume and how many your body burns. Use a calorie calculator to determine your estimated caloric needs based on your sex, height, weight, age and physical activity level. Subtract 1,000 calories each day from this estimate to drop 2 lb. each week. In addition to exercises to burn calories, reduce calorie and fat consumption.

Aerobic Exercise

Work out for 30 to 45 minutes on most days each week to burn fat and improve your cardiovascular health. Choose high-intensity activities that boost your heart rate and make you sweat. A 160 lb. person burns more than 500 calories per hour when ice skating, jogging, downhill skiing, using a stair treadmill, doing tae kwon do, swimming and playing tennis. Rollerblading and running burn more than 900 calories per hour, making them excellent exercise choices for individuals trying to lose weight.

Target Heart Rate

To maximize your workout, use target heart rate zones to judge your exercise intensity. Determine your maximum heart rate using an online calculator. To burn calories and fat efficiently, maintain a heart rate between 60 percent and 70 percent of maximum for the duration of your workout. Increasing your heart rate to 70 percent to 80 percent of maximum burns more calories and improves aerobic endurance.

Considerations

Although certain aerobic exercises burn more calories and promote weight loss, choose an activity you enjoy over one that burns a lot of calories. Many people trying to lose weight quit exercising because it is too difficult or boring. Any activity that gets your heart pumping faster burns calories and helps you lose weight. Try dancing, gardening or a team sport to keep yourself motivated to stick with your weight loss program.

References

Article reviewed by Kirk Ericson Last updated on: Feb 10, 2011

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