How Much Should You Exercise To Lose Weight?

Losing weight and keeping it of for good involves a change in lifestyle -- but the changes don't need to be sudden, drastic or painful. In fact, if they are, your chances of giving up and failing to lose weight at all are greater. Diet and exercise are important elements of the lifestyle change you'll need to make. The amount of time and energy you need to spend exercising depends on how much you adjust your caloric intake.

Diet and Exercise

For weight loss, you'll need at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise five days a week, according to the Pennington Biomedical Research Center. Your exercise needs for weight loss may be greater or smaller, depending on how many calories you consume each day. To maximize weight loss results from exercise, reduce your caloric intake. If giving up your favorite fattening foods is more painful to you than putting more effort into exercise, increase the intensity of your aerobic activity or spend 60 minutes exercising at moderate intensity each day to compensate for your dietary indulgences.

Fat Burning Zone

Your body goes directly to fat calories for fuel when you engage in moderate exercise, but it doesn't burn many of these calories. For weight loss to happen, you must raise your heart rate until it's beating 70 to 80 percent of your maximum beats per minute. To estimate your maximum rate, subtract your age from 220. Periodically stop in the middle of exercise, take your pulse for 10 seconds and multiply the number by 6 to see if your beats per minute are in the fat-burning zone.

Break It Up

If the prospect of exercising for 30 minutes straight fills you with dread, break it up into 10-minute intervals. You don't even have to set aside time from your schedule to get all your exercise in. Keep a notebook with you and find opportunities to exercise throughout your day. For example, park further away from work or the grocery store and walk briskly to your destination, making a note of how much time you spent doing so.

Have Fun

Time flies when you're having fun. Focusing on the duration of time you spend exercising may be dispiriting, but if you find an exercise you enjoy you won't need to worry about it so much. If swimming or water aerobics give you a kick, jump in the pool. Try something you haven't done for years, such as rollerskating or rollerblading. Dance or yoga classes will keep you occupied until the instructor lets you go, so that you don't have to be your own timekeeper.