How Much Weight Will I Lose From Exercise?

How much weight you will lose from exercising depends on the type of exercise, how intensely you exercise and how much you weigh. Exercise helps you lose weight during the exercise --- and also helps you lose weight when you're not exercising, because exercise increases your muscle mass and metabolism. Muscle burns more calories than fat. Exercise's impact on metabolism means that it's better to lose weight via exercise than diets, which slow metabolism.

Best Exercises

The best types of exercises for weight loss are aerobic exercises because they require continuous movement. Dr. Kenneth Cooper, who founded the Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas and has written several books on aerobic exercises, wrote that the best aerobic exercises are cross country skiing, outdoor bicycling, stationary bicycling, running, swimming and walking. Cooper recommends doing these aerobic exercises three times weekly at the start of your exercise program and building up to five times weekly. Non-aerobic exercises, also known as anaerobic exercises, usually result in less weight loss than the more vigorous aerobic exercises because they are stop-and-start activities. Weightlifting and baseball are examples of anaerobic exercises.

Moderate Aerobic Exercises

You're exercising moderately if your heart rate is between 55 and 69 percent of your maximum heart rate. You can figure out your maximum heart rate by subtracting your age from your birth maximum heart rate of 220 beats per minute. Among Cooper's recommended aerobic exercises, you will lose the most weight by running and bicycling and the least by walking. Moderate outdoor and stationary bicycling burn 563 and 493 calories per hour, respectively, in a 155-pound person, according to the state of Wisconsin's Department of Health Services' "Calories Burned Per Hour" chart. Moderate walking burns 246 calories per hour. Given that 1 pound equals 3,500 calories, a 155-pound person will take 6.2 hours to lose 1 pound outdoor bicycling, seven hours to lose 1 pound stationary bicycling and 14.2 hours to lose 1 pound walking. A 190-pound person, meanwhile, burns 690, 604 and 302 calories per hour outdoor bicycling, stationary bicycling and walking, respectively.

Vigorous Aerobic Exercises

You're exercising vigorously if your heart rate is between 70 and 89 percent of your maximum. Vigorous outdoor bicycling burns 863 and 704 calories per hour in 190- and 155-pound people. Vigorous stationary bicycling burns 906 and 739 calories per hour in the same people, while vigorous walking burns 345 and 281 calories per hour. A 155-pound will take almost five hours to lose 1 pound via vigorous outdoor bicycling, 4.7 hours to lose 1 pound stationary bicycling and 12.5 hours to lose 1 pound via walking.

Non-Aerobic Exercises

Exercises that require the participation of at least two people aren't considered aerobic exercises because they're stop-and-start exercises. Nevertheless, many people prefer exercising with other people, and a few non-aerobic exercises help you lose as much weight as aerobic exercises. Competitive racquetball and martial arts burn the same amount of calories as bicycling 14 to 15.9 miles per hour, according to a "Harvard Heart Letter" report. It burns 744 calories per hour in 155-pound people. Boxing and football burn 670 calories per hour, while basketball and hockey burn 596 and soccer and tennis burn 520.