What is the Best Exercise for Weight Loss?

Sunday, February 5th, 2012

If you want to lose weight, it’s vital that you burn more calories than you consume throughout the day. The best exercises for weight loss will burn fat efficiently. Weight loss exercise thus falls into two main categories:

• Aerobic (cardio)

• Anaerobic (strength training)

Each type of exercise affects your body in a different way, so they should be looked at separately to determine which is best for weight loss.

An aerobic exercise program consists of various forms of cardiovascular exercise performed three to five days per week. For each session lasting 30 minutes at moderate intensity, you will burn around 300 calories.

On the other hand, a strength-training session will burn about half the calories of the cardio session. The reason is that while doing aerobics, your heart and muscles are working continuously, whereas in the strength training session you are resting between sets.

Aerobic classes are popular for middle-aged men and women trying to lose weight. However if a person is overweight or out of shape, the class may become too intense for proper fat burning, especially if you are trying to keep up with the other class members.

If you are trying to do too much, heavy breathing will result, which means carbohydrates become the body’s predominant fuel, reducing the percentage of fat burn.

Exercise to Boost Your Metabolism

When choosing the best exercises for weight loss for men, a good balance between the percentage of fat and the total calories is key. In addition, it’s important to raise your overall metabolic rate.

Resting metabolic rate (RMR) is the minimum number of calories needed to fuel the body functions required for daily life. When you exercise, your RMR increases due to chemical and hormonal changes and remains elevated for awhile after you are finished.

Anaerobic exercise like weight training creates more muscle mass, which means a higher resting metabolic rate. In other words, your metabolism gradually becomes fat-burning.

While cardiovascular activities like jogging burn more calories immediately, strength training raises your body’s overall resting metabolic rate, allowing you to burn more fat.

Best Exercise Plan for Seniors?

For seniors, the best exercise for weight loss and toning can be a combination of walking and stretching. This is something that can be done anywhere, and is often the best exercise for weight loss at home.

Walking to lose weight not only burns a good proportion of stored fat it can also burn a large amount of calories if the walks are long or done at a brisk pace.

Walking is a great place to start for men or women of any age wanting to improve their health. As your endurance increases, you can add in more challenging aerobic and anaerobic exercises like those described above.

At the end of the day, balance is key. When choosing an exercise plan, it’s best to include a combination of both cardio and strength training. This way you will receive both calorie burn and metabolism boost, which will enable you to achieve weight loss more quickly.

In addition, be sure to eat a balanced diet of healthy carbohydrates, protein and fat. Exercise burns carbs, so don’t skimp on this important area of nutrition. Here’s wishing you weight loss success!