Though the most effective way to lose weight is through diet, you can still shed those excess pounds by other means. One of the more beneficial is exercise. Exercise allows you to increase the number of calories you burn within a given day. To successfully lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you consume, so the amount of exercise you need will vary from person to person based on the activity.
Step 1
Walk for 30 to 60 minutes a day. Walking at a rate of 2 miles per hour (mph) can burn anywhere between 150 and 200 calories each hour. Up your speed to 3 mph to burn between 200 and 300 calories in an hour.
Step 2
Take up jogging for 30 to 60 minutes most days of the week. As with biking, the rate at which you run and the pounds you weigh dictates the amount of calories you burn, so not everyone burns the same amount of calories when hitting the track. But running a 12 minute mile over the course of an hour can burn anywhere between 450 and almost 700 calories. Increase your effort and you'll burn more.
Step 3
Start biking between 30 to 60 minutes most days of the week. On average, a leisurely bike ride of 10 mph can burn upwards of 300 calories. If you increase your effort, you can burn anywhere from 400 to 1,000 calories within an hour.
Step 4
Try swimming for 30 to 60 minutes most days of the week. On average, moderate laps of the breaststroke can burn an additional 600 to 850 calories in an hour. Cut that in half, and you've burned 300 to 425 calories in 30 minutes.
Step 5
Sign up for an aerobics class. High impact aerobics can expend as much as 400 to 600 calories in 60 minutes. Take the class twice a week, and you've burned 800 to 1,200 calories for that week alone.
Step 6
Play a competitive sport with friends. Just shooting hoops for an hour can burn 250 to almost 400 calories in an hour, so just imagine if you were really exerting yourself. An hour of tennis can burn 400 to 600 calories, an hour of racquetball can burn 600 to 850 calories or an hour of football can burn 450 to 700 calories.
Step 7
Lift weights or other strength training activities. The more muscle you have on your body, the more calories you tend to burn. Increasing your muscles mass can greatly influence weight loss, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Tips and Warnings
- To lose 1 pound of fat, you need to burn a total of 3,500 calories.
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