To lose weight, expend more calories than you take in, and exercise is a cornerstone of achieving this goal. Exercise of any kind will help, but making an effort to include certain types can boost your calorie-burning power. If you have been sedentary up until this point, take things slowly and ease into activity. Get a clearance from your doctor if you have any medical conditions.
Interval Training
Interval training involves switching between bouts of high- and low-intensity activity. Examples include alternating between walking and sprinting or adding sprinting to your usual jog.
A 2007 study conducted at New South Wales University in Australia, compared the effects of interval training vs. steady, continuous exercise, both on bicycles. The high-intensity training group alternated between pedaling as hard as they could for eight seconds and riding slowly for 12 seconds for a total of 20 minutes three days a week for 15 weeks. The second group cycled at a steady pace for 40 minutes. At the end of the study, the interval group lost three times more fat. If you want to boost fat burning, consider adding interval training to your routine two to three times a week in addition to cardiovascular exercise.
Strength Training
One of the keys to losing weight and keeping it off lies in increasing your resting metabolic rate, or RMR, the number of calories your body burns continuously throughout the day to support your body and its various functions. These at-rest calories can account for 60 to 75 percent of the total calories you burn daily, according to the Spine Universe website.
To increase your RMR, increase the amount of muscle you have. Muscle is highly active tissue, and your body must expend more energy to maintain it. Do strength training, such as free weights, pushups, squats and lunges, about two times a week for 30 minutes.
Cardiovascular Exercise
Any exercise that uses the large muscles of your body and gets your heart and breathing rate up is cardiovascular exercise. Examples include step aerobics, running, jogging, dancing, walking and sports like basketball and tennis. While any type of cardiovascular activity will help burn calories, some burn more than others; focusing on these exercises can maximize fat loss.
According to MayoClinic.com, 160-lb. person burns at least 500 to 600 calories an hour doing activities like high-impact step aerobics, playing a game of racquetball or basketball, ice skating, jogging at 5 mph, stationary rowing or swimming laps. Tae kwon do and jumping rope can burn over 700, while running at 8 mph can burn over 900. The more you weigh, the more calories your body will burn.
Recommended Exercise Time
Aim for 30 minutes of moderately intense exercise five days a week. If you include interval training, you could probably do less cardio for weight loss. If you do only moderately intense cardiovascular exercise, you might need between 60 and 90 minutes of activity to lose weight. For strength training, do eight to 10 exercises for eight to 12 repetitions each, twice a week.
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