Good Exercises to Help Lose Weight Fast

There is a simple formula for losing weight: burn more calories than you consume each day and the pounds will shed. This makes exercise a crucial part of any weight-loss plan. However, not all exercises are created equally. If you are looking to lose weight fast, you will want to understand how exercises will benefit you.

Moderate Activities

Moderate activities are those activities that burn between 150 and 350 calories an hour, according to the President’s Council on Physical Activity and Sports. These are the sorts of activities that people do more for fun or as a chore than for exercise: leisurely bike riding, house cleaning, walking, couples dancing, canoeing and horseback riding, to name a few. While conventional wisdom dictates that two and a half to three hours of moderate exercise a week is enough, this is only true if you are looking to maintain your weight. If you want to lose weight fast, you will need to amp this up to around five hours a week.

Vigourous Activities

Most often, vigorous activities are those exercises that really tax the body: running, rock climbing, roller skating, aerobic dancing and vigorous bicycling. These activities burn more than 350 calories an hour and, therefore, have the ability to work much faster than moderate exercise. All the same, you will need anywhere from an hour and 15 minutes to two and a half hours of vigorous exercise a week to lose weight. Fortunately, the Weight-Control Information Network, an information service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, maintains that these activities can be accomplished in 10-minute segments throughout the week and not necessarily all at once. This makes it easy to squeeze exercise into any day.

Weightlifting

Whether you choose moderate exercise, vigorous exercise or a combination of both, each week there is one exercise that is hardly optional when it comes to weight loss. Weightlifting is crucial to weight loss, according to the Mayo Clinic. Aim for two weightlifting sessions a week. These sessions will increase in duration as your strength grows.

Non-Exercises

If you are sincerely looking to lose weight fast, add a few steps to your day to interject exercise everywhere. Park in the back of the parking lot and take a brisk walk to the door. Avoid elevators–find the stairs. These small actions will not produce huge results; however, in combination with other activities, it will aid the speed in which you lose weight.