Understanding the facts of good nutrition and regular exercise can be daunting. But you don't have to buy into the latest home gym craze or other fitness gadgetry to slim down, trim excess pounds or be physically fit. Dancing is an enjoyable activity that burns calories in the same way that other full-body exercises do.
Basics
Weight loss happens when you take in fewer calories than your body burns. Fad diets and weight-burning products often confuse those seeking to lose extra pounds and don't always produce the promised results. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends moderate physical activity performed for at least 150 minutes each week to maintain caloric balance in your body. Increases in intensity and duration of this recommendation aids in weight loss.
Dancing as Exercise
Dancing is a physical activity that benefits your body in many healthy ways -- both physically and psychologically. Dancing addresses heart health by being an aerobic activity and is bone-strengthening exercise because it is a weight-bearing activity. Dancing is aids in stress release and can be a social activity. The American Council on Exercise's physical activity calculator reveals that a 150 lb. person engaging in casual aerobic dancing will expend 170 calories in 30 minutes. That same person doing moderate aerobic dancing will burn 221 calories in 30 minutes. Performing intense aerobic dance for 30 minutes will utilize 238 calories -- the same calories used as in 30 minutes of jogging or casual swimming.
Time
The time of day you exercise does not have an affect on calories burned, explains the CDC. Just as it is a myth that eating late in the evening leads to weight gain, it is also a myth that the time of day you exercise will result in greater weight loss. What counts the most are the total calories taken in during a 24-hour period and the total calories expended in that same period.
Considerations
Before beginning a dance class, focus on improving your balance and flexibility, both important aspects of your success and enjoyment of dance. As with any exercise, you don't have to do 30 or 60 minutes all at one time in the day. Build up your time and tolerance with 10 to 15 minute intervals throughout the day. Dancing is an activity that people of all ages enjoy. The benefits of doing a physical activity that you enjoy will be that you are more likely to keep at it than an activity less enjoyable.
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