Exercise is critical to losing weight successfully, and in addition to its fat-burning benefits, regular exercise also helps you control emotional eating, kick-starts other healthy habits, curbs your appetite and increases your energy levels throughout the day. There is no single exercise that is more beneficial for weight loss than any other. Instead, choose an exercise program that you enjoy and will stick with in the long run.
Aerobic Exercise
There's a reason why every gym you walk into has rows and rows of treadmills, ellipticals and stationary bikes. Aerobic exercise not only gets your heart pumping, it burns a bunch of calories in one go. You need to burn more calories than you eat each day to lose weight, and 30 to 60 minutes of cardio each day can help create this deficit. You don't need to spend money on a gym membership or exercise equipment to enjoy the weight loss benefits of aerobics. You burn about 260 calories playing soccer for 30 minutes or 223 calories going for a 30-minute hike.
High-Intensity Interval Training
High-intensity interval training involves alternating between short bursts of high-intensity exercise and periods of moderate-intensity exercise. For example, you may alternate between one minute of sprinting and two minutes of light jogging or walking. A study in a 2006 issue of the "Journal of Applied Physiology" found that two weeks of HIIT sessions increased the ability of eight healthy adult women to oxidize fat during exercise. If you want to get the most out of your exercise time, HIIT may burn fat more effectively than traditional cardio.
Strength Training
Building muscle and losing fat may seem mutually exclusive, but incorporating strength training into your fitness routine can actually help you boost your metabolism and increase your caloric deficit. Without strength training, you lose about 1 lb. of muscle for every 3 lbs. of fat, warns NetWellness, a consumer health information website. Strength training not only helps you preserve your existing muscle, it helps you add new muscle; the more muscle you have, the more calories you'll burn even while you sleep.
What's Best for You
Ultimately, the best exercises for weight loss are the ones you enjoy. If you love rollerblading or biking, you're much more likely to stick with it than if you force yourself to run on a treadmill every day. Try to strike a balance between strength training and some form of cardiovascular exercise. Switch things up when you get bored, and recruit a friend to exercise with you for added motivation and accountability.
References
- "Fitness" magazine: 10 Reasons Why Exercise Makes You Thin (Or Why TIME Magazine Got It Wrong); Holly Pevzner; August 2009
- NetWellness: Build Strength and Use it to Lose Weight; The Ohio State University; Jackie Buell, PhD; May 10, 2009
- Harvard Health Publications: Calories Burned in 30 Minutes for People of Three Different Weights; July 2004
- "Journal of Applied Physiology"; Two Weeks of High-Intensity Aerobic Interval Training Increases the Capacity for Fat Oxidation During Exercise in Women; Jason L. Talanian, et al.; Dec. 7, 2006
- Health Services at Columbia: Cardio Workouts Bad for Losing Fat; Oct. 31, 2008
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