There’s a cliché in the fitness world that the best weight-loss exercises are “fork putdowns and plate pushaways.” I hate when people turn fitness goals into restrictive eating goals, so this framing irritates me, but there is a grain of truth to it.
But that’s only part of the picture. Technically, you can lose weight just by eating less food, without adding exercise at all. But is that a good idea? Not at all. Exercise is good for us, in terms of heart health, mental health, ability to stay functional as you age, and a hundred more reasons. Those benefits apply whether we’re losing weight or not.
How exercise helps you to eat healthier
Let’s say we have a pair of twins who don’t exercise much, and they each burn about 2,000 calories a day. One decides to lose weight by eating 1,500 calories, changing nothing else. The other adds enough exercise each day to burn about 500 calories, and thus gets to continue eating 2,000. Both twins are now in a 500 calorie deficit, and should lose about a pound a week. Same thing, right? Not quite.
Who’s more likely to be able to have their favorite dessert from time to time, instead of cutting it out for the length of the diet? The person who’s eating 2,000.
So because both twins are using the same 500-calorie deficit, by the numbers you could say these approaches are equivalent. But the people taking these two approaches will have drastically different experiences.
This includes any type of exercise where the goal is to build strength and muscle. Lifting weights in a gym is the most straightforward example, but you can do strength building exercises with other types of equipment or, in some cases, with no equipment at all. I have a list here of 12 bodyweight exercises that will actually build strength, once you get strong enough that the basics like pushups and air squats get too easy. In general, if you can do more than 15 of something before your muscles fatigue, you should move on to a heavier weight or a harder exercise.
When we lose weight, we’re usually hoping to lose fat, but muscle often goes along with it. Losing muscle means we’re more likely to regain the weight lost. It also means we’ll have a harder time doing other types of exercise; better to run on strong legs than weak legs. And it can also make us weaker when it comes to everyday activities. Muscle loss is a huge problem for older adults, but strength training can slow or reverse it.
Try to work every body part, including upper and lower body muscles, with pushing and pulling motions.
These rules of thumb match the general exercise guidelines we should all be following anyway. If you enjoy strength training and want to do more, that’s great! The guidelines are just a minimum.
The second most important type of exercise for weight loss: low to medium intensity cardio
Research shows that people who exercise regularly have an easier time losing weight, and an easier time keeping the weight off, than people who don’t exercise. For example, this study had people burn 400 or 600 calories per supervised cardio session, five times a week, but didn’t restrict their diet or give them any diet advice at all. Most of the participants lost weight, averaging about 10 pounds lost at the end of 10 months. By contrast, non-exercising controls, on average, finished the study within about a pound of where they started.
Low and moderate intensity exercise makes the most sense for weight loss because it doesn’t cause a lot of fatigue (so you can do plenty of exercise without feeling too tired) and it tends not to spike hunger as much as intense exercise. If you’re a beginner, walking can count as cardio. As you get fitter, you may want to switch to jogging or another exercise like cycling.
How much low and medium intensity cardio to do when losing weight:
First try to hit the guidelines of 150 minutes/week (about 30 minutes, five times a week) and then see if you can ramp up to 300 minutes/week (about an hour, five times a week).
Aim for “zone 2-3” intensity. It should feel like work, but not torture. The thought of working at that intensity for 45 minutes should inspire a sense of “OK, let’s get this done,” not “oh my god, I’m going to die.”
The worst type of exercise for weight loss: HIIT
I’m going to say something that will sound controversial here, although I don’t think many legit fitness professionals would disagree. HIIT is overrated.
HIIT is basically the opposite of the low intensity cardio I talked about above. HIIT is too fatiguing to do for more than a very short workout, and you probably won’t want to do it every day. If you’re doing a ton of HIIT and wondering why you feel exhausted, that’s why. It also tends to make some people hungrier, which counteracts the calorie-burning benefits. (That said, people react differently to this, so feel free to try it and see whether hunger is an issue for you or not.)
All that said: You can do some HIIT if you enjoy HIIT or if you’re interested in the aerobic benefits. Just don’t make it your bread-and-butter. Runners often use an 80/20 rule: 80% of your workouts should be easy intensity; the other 20% can include harder stuff. And no, HIIT isn’t going to spike your cortisol, at least not in a bad way. That’s a whole ’nother myth.
Hence then, the article about these are the best kinds of exercise for losing weight was published today ( ) and is available on Live Hacker ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( These Are the Best Kinds of Exercise for Losing Weight )
Also on site :