Weight Loss Exercise Ideas

Proper nutrition and weight management are both important factors in a successful weight loss program. Essentially, a balanced diet and regular exercise can enhance your body’s chances of losing weight. The key is discipline. Weight loss exercises are behavioral activities and their success level is highly dependent on your commitment toward weight reduction. Consulting your doctor should ensure a safe and well-monitored weight loss program.

Walking

Walking, whether done outdoors or on a treadmill, is an exercise that is effective if you are trying to lose weight and if you suffer from a heart condition. A 2003 study conducted by Yale University School of Medicine, published by the National Institutes of Health, showed that regular exercise, such as brisk walking, resulted in reduced body weight and body fat on overweight or obese postmenopausal women.

Walking is an example of low- to moderate-impact exercises, which also include swimming, stair climbing, step classes, rowing and cross-country skiing. Almost anyone in reasonable health can engage in walking. Brisk walking burns as many calories as jogging, a form of high-impact exercise, for the same distance and poses less risk for injury to muscle and bone.

A treadmill offers different settings and speeds and provides leg strengthening training programs as well. It is effective in stabilizing oxygen consumption needed in promoting better body metabolism. A minimum of 30 minutes of walking daily, combined with a good nutritional diet, should show good results within a span of 12 weeks.

Running or Jogging

High-intensity jogging or running is a high fat-burning aerobics exercise that is one of the most effective ways of losing weight and shedding unwanted pounds. If you are considering this type of exercise to lose weight, you should first consult your attending physician or physical therapist to avoid injuries or stress-related conditions, such as increased heart rate or high blood pressure.

According to University of Maryland Medical Center, you should only perform high-impact exercises (running, dancing exercises, tennis, racquetball or squash) no more often than every other day. In addition, people who are overweight, elderly, out of condition, injured or suffer from medical problems should run or jog less often.

An average intensity jogging (about 10 to 15 miles per week) or high-intensity jogging (about 20 miles per week) will greatly improve the body’s chances of losing fat and reducing bad cholesterol.

Cycling

Cycling, whether on a stationary bike or a bike outdoors, is not only an excellent form of moderate aerobic exercise routines, but it is also recreational. Cycling lets you sweat it out and keeps the thighs lean and strong. It improves the body’s stamina and flexibility. Cycling will increase your daily caloric output and lead to weight loss. You will use energy to move your bicycle. When done outdoors, you are working against the resistance of air and gravity. Cycling exercises will increase your sense of vigor and well-being.

However, like all exercises, you should not overdo this type of exercise. Try cycling progressively from low- to high-impact performance levels, or the body will suffer from fatigue and exhaustion. Thirty minutes a day, done in short intervals during the day, can control and maintain a healthy heart rate level without skimping on the routine.