Most people know that regular exercise, in addition to a well-balanced diet, is a vital part of losing and maintaining a healthy body weight. Yet according to the Weight-Control Information Network, 68 percent of adults in the United States are overweight or obese. Excessive caloric intake and not enough exercise are the biggest contributing factors to weight gain. To shed those unwanted pounds, exercise more frequently.
Aerobic Exercise
Metabolism, the chemical process by which your body converts food into energy, is only partly responsible for weight gain. Although people tend to link weight and metabolism, this natural chemical reaction has little to do with how thin or heavy you are. You cannot control your metabolism, but you can control how often you exercise. One way to burn extra pounds is through aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise is any physical activity that makes the heart and lungs work harder, typically involving a total body workout. The Mayo Clinic recommends at least 30 minutes of aerobic activity each day to maintain a healthy weight and even longer if you're trying to lose weight. If you cannot exercise for 30 minutes at a time, divide your workout routine into three 10-minute intervals. Aerobic activities you can do alone or with a supportive friend include, but are not limited to, walking, jogging, swimming, biking, tennis and rowing.
Strength Training
Lean muscle burns more calories than fat, making strength training another way to lose weight. You tend to lose muscle mass as you age, which accounts for older people's excess weight gain. The good news is that you don't have to go to the gym and begin a weight-lifting regimen. Many of the aerobic activities you participate in strengthen muscles, too. Teens Health recommends rowing or cross-country skiing to strengthen arms, or even basic push-ups and pull-ups. Skating, biking and squats strengthen leg muscles. Julia Valentour, exercise physiologist of the American Council on Exercise, suggests increasing the incline the next time you're on the treadmill to help strengthen your legs and burn more calories. At a 5.0 incline, a 3-mph walk burns 346 calories.
Flexibility Training
When you're exercising to lose weight, flexibility training probably doesn't come to mind. But the more flexible you are, the less prone your body is to muscle strains and sprains, and the more you are able to participate in regular daily exercise. Baron Baptiste, founder of Power Yoga, suggests incorporating a Yoga class into your workout regimen. Not only does Yoga strengthen and elongate your muscles, it promotes flexibility and a greater sense of life-balance and discipline. Baptiste believes weight loss is just one positive side effect of Yoga. Other flexibility training activities include ballet and karate.
Member Comments