You don't have to wait until your workout to burn calories and fat. All movement burns calories.
Walking at a moderate pace for 30 minutes at least 5 times a week can lower your risk of heart disease by about 40%. This will get you started and progressing to higher intensity exercise which will lower your risks even more.
Once you have advanced, begin 20 minutes of cardio exercise, 2-3 times a week. Progress to 20-minute interval cardio sessions after 1 week. Also, include 3 days of full body strength training to build muscle, burn fat and lose weight.
On your days off, walk at least 30 minutes during the day to remain active.
Have you been trying to lose weight without much success? Maybe you need a more active lifestyle. Pick up hobbies that require movement like soccer, hiking, biking or swimming.
Basic physical fitness contains the following:
- Aerobic (cardiovascular) Fitness: The ability to take in and supply your body with oxygen during exercise. Interval cardio exercise has been proven to burn more body fat and improve heart health more than slow, long cardio sessions. All it takes is 20 minutes per cardio session.
Too many long, slow cardio sessions (like 60 minutes) also waste away your precious muscle mass.
- Muscular Fitness: Muscle strength, power and endurance. This includes core strengh. All movement begins with the core so it is essential to strengthen it.
- Flexibility: The ability to stretch muscles and move joints through a full range of motion. You will also avoid injuries with more flexible muscles.
- Body Composition: The proportion of body-fat mass to lean body mass. Increase your lean mass (increased muscle mass) and burn body fat with consistent weight training and healthy, managed nutrition.
More muscle mass will help speed up your metabolism because your body has to work harder to maintain metabolically active muscle mass.
To be at your best physically, include all of these basic components in your fitness program.
The Law of Thermodynamics
What puts on weight? Consume more calories than you burn. Want to lose weight? Create a caloric deficit (burn more calories than you consume) on most days. That is the law of thermodynamics. So what makes this such a complex process? Nothing. Just watch what and how much you eat and exercise.
Starvation diets (like eating just 1,000 calories a day for too long) will cause your body to store fat as a survival tactic. Your body thinks you are starving it so your metabolism slows and fat is stored. Calorie deficits of 400-600 calories a day is generally sufficient to burn fat and lose weight.
Calculate your metabolic rate and calorie needs here.
Calories are Not Your Enemy
Calories are just units of energy in the form of food and drink. Consider these facts:
one gram of protein provides 4 calories
one gram of carbohydrates provides 4 calories
one gram of fat provides 9 calories
one gram of alcohol provides 7 calories
vitamins and minerals don't provide any calories
Depending on your goals, you may want to gain weight (such as athletes) or lose weight. Proper weight training will allow you to do either without losing critical muscle mass.
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"Exercise is not my life.....exercise makes my life better!"
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