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General Weight Loss Tips

The Best Aerobic Exercises for Achieving Weight Loss

It’s no secret that people these days are getting fatter. The modern world, with all its technological advances and easy access to fast food, has caused waist lines to expand. Most people are aware of this, but not everyone actually does something to stop it. A big reason for this is people are unsure of the type of exercises they should do. The best exercises for weight loss are aerobic. In order to sustain itself during aerobic exercise, your body needs to use massive amounts of energy. It gets this energy from your fat. As long as you do some aerobic activity for at least 30 minutes, 3-4 times a week, you can stop fat gain in its tracks and start on the road to a lean sexy body. Let’s look at the best aerobic exercises for achieving weight loss.

Bike Riding

If you haven’t been on a bicycle since you were a kid, you are missing out on one of the best fat burning exercises out there. The only thing you need to watch out for is the temptation to coast on a flat stretch of road instead of pedaling. You want to make sure you are putting in a constant effort. If you don’t like the idea of riding a bike all over the road or on trails you can also use a stationary bike set up in your home or the gym. These give the exact same benefit of a real bike with the added bonus that it is impossible to coast.

Stair Climbing

As anyone who has had to stop and catch their breath after going up a flight of stairs can tell you, stair climbing can be hard work. But the benefits are amazing. In addition to the calorie burn, you will also help develop your balance and coordination. Stairs also have the added benefit of giving you a built in rest period while still working out: Going up the stairs is tough and going down the stairs gives you time to catch your breath while still moving. If you want to maximize your fat loss with this exercise, you can also try the stair climbing machine at your local gym, which mimics the experience of only going up stairs thereby accelerating the amount of calories burned.

Swimming


There is a reason all the Olympic swimmers you see on TV look so lean and fit. Swimming may not look like a fat burning exercise, but it is a secret fat burning tool that many people never take advantage of. Because you are in the water, you don’t work up a sweat, and therefore don’t feel you have worked as hard. Swimming uses both your arms and legs and, when done consistently, helps them to look lean and toned. One word of caution; swimming may look easy, but if you haven’t learned correct form, you may tire yourself out too soon and therefore not get all the benefits you should. If you have not had any swimming instruction since you were a kid, you should look for a qualified instructor to give you a few lessons and perfect your form before you try working out alone.

Dancing

This is not social or ballroom dancing. This is dancing that uses the whole body and keeps it moving for a sustained period of time. Think hip hop or Latin style. A current trend in many gyms right now is Zumba, which is a specially designed dance program that focuses on weight loss and improving fitness. And above all, dancing is fun.
Running
For the absolute best calorie burn that results in the most fat burned of any aerobic exercise, all you need to do is literally lace up you sneakers and put one foot in front of the other. Running is the oldest of human aerobic activities. It is what we are built to do. There is no special equipment to buy, (except maybe a good pair of comfortable running shoes) and you can literally start seeing results in a few weeks time.
These aerobic exercises are the best they are at what they do. And what they do is burn fat and help keep it off. But the best part is that you don’t have to choose one. Do as many as you like and mix it up. The more options you have the less likely you are to get bored and quit. Put these aerobic exercises to work for you and soon you too will be the proud owner of a lean, healthy body.

Mayo Clinic has a page which lists types of exercises and the amount of calories you can burn off doing each one in your weight class. Check it out Exercise for weight loss: Calories burned in 1 hour .

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General Weight Loss Tips

Weekend Success

I’m up today and full of energy to get stuff done and prepare for a new week! Thank you so, so much again for your comments- there are some truly wonderful (intelligent, kind, thoughtful) people reading this blog and I’m so grateful for that. Truly thankful.

It’s Saturday morning and I don’t have a big post planned, but I have so much I want to do and want to share for a little bit of accountability.

Today I’m going to a seminar about local bee’s with a friend and then going to her house after. This will include a little bit of bridal shower planning that I’ve got going on.

But before that, I want to really get a lot done in the kitchen. My goal is to create an environment for weight loss success. This will involve cabinet organizing, and food prep. I dream of being able to reach in the refrigerator and have lots of fixings for a salad at my finger tips.

Todays exercise will involve a visit with Billy Blanks and tomorrow we’re headed to the gym for strength and the treadmill.

I want to do some menu planning for the week, some bread baking. I want a meal plan for the week and I want to make it as easy as possible for myself.

I want to start organizing the bedroom and start garden planning. Yes folks, this year (like the past two years) I’m going to have a successful garden. I will have a garden. I’m saying this over and over. I have NO idea how to garden and this is always so scary for me. I want to top this off by saying that I live in a town and I don’t have a lot of yard space for such adventures. BUT, we do have small spaces that can be turned into a garden. Urban gardening in a small town. I want to do this for the food, but also for the exercise and the feeling of making it happen. Eating food that we grew, there is some sort of satisfaction in that. So planning is happening. Planning and learning.

What else? I have some freelance work to finish, and some jewelry orders to get out. Other than that I want to catch up my reading, and relax a little too.

Here’s to a very good weekend! See you tomorrow…

Feel free to share your big weekend plans in the comments, I’d love to hear them.

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It’s Time

I gave myself three weeks to get over not eating sugar by allowing myself to eat pretty much what I want in the amount that I wanted. What did I discover? I can still eat a lot of calories even when sugar isn’t involved. But I already knew that and I bet you did too.

What else? white bread + real butter is crack. For real, I love bread with butter, just as much as I love a good brownie- if not more. I think.

So while I love that I’m not eating sugar, not eating it alone won’t tackle this excess weight. And that is kind of the point. I’ve been having serious conversations with myself lately in the form of:

  • How am I going to lose this weight?
  • What am I willing to sacrifice/change in order to make it happen?
  • Am I ready? (thanks to Roni for that one)
  • Why is weight my struggle?
  • And finally: WHY do I want to lose weight?

A lot of you comment/email me and mention how honest and candid I am, and I really try to keep that in my blog. I try to be as real and as honest with what I’m dealing with as possible (without totally embarrassing myself or my family) and I want to be more of that. Why?

Because I think there is a certain level of denial that goes into being a fat person. There are things I tell myself to make it okay. And why shouldn’t I? I have to function in this world, and to constantly be “woah is me” about my weight can be a waste of time. Besides, who wants to hear it? I’ve realized that few people in life care as much about my weight as I do.

I make an effort in my real life to not put myself down about my weight. I don’t play the “I’m so fat” “I have no willpower” “I’ll never be thin” “I’m off the wagon–again” card with anyone. I used to, in college, but I’m too old for that now. Nor do I praise those who seem to be effortlessly thin.

I say this all to say: denial is a big word. It’s huge, and it means something different to everyone. So I’m asking myself lately to really dig deep:

What am I telling myself to make this lifestyle okay?

How do I justify sabotage?

How do I explain eating four thousand calories in a day?

I don’t have immediate, easy, or uncomplicated answers for these questions. I’m not even sure there is one answer to them. What I do know is this: I sabotage myself out of fear. Fear of greatness. Fear of accomplishment. Fear of what other people will think. Fear that bad things will happen once I lose weight.

Illogical fear, that right now, I cannot explain. Remember that episode of Seinfeld where George says to his therapist :”God would never let me be successful; he’d kill me first. He’d never let me be happy.” Therapist: “I thought you didn’t believe in God?” George: “I do for the bad things.” It’s as crazy as that. For some reason I believe that I’m not worth caring for myself on that level. And as I type this, I know that is very silly and in my case George’s God would be me.

This is what I came up with:

How am I going to lose my excess weight? According to those often debated BMI charts I need to weigh somewhere between 108-145 lbs. The 108 made me laugh. I have no interest in weighing 108 lbs. I haven’t weighed that since I was in 4th grade. This means that I need to lose 160 pounds to be in a normal weight range for my body.

And according to the basal metabolic calculators I need to eat (at my current weight) about 1,700 calories a day with 5-6 days of exercise a week to lose a minimum of two pounds a week. And those are the mathematics of it all. I’ve discussed this here before.

But how do I make this happen? The answer leads me to…

What am I willing to sacrifice/change in order to lose weight? This is a good question and one that I’ve avoided answering for a long time. Making my weight loss a priority rather than an option is one mental shift I need to change. I want to lose weight, that is a given, but I’m not willing to do it by eating foods I don’t love, that is also a given. But what I have to understand and implement in my life is that I don’t need so much food to be a healthy, functioning adult. I don’t have to eat 100 calorie packs of popcorn for lunch to be thin. I don’t have to skip meals, drink diet soda, eat frozen meals or drink meal replacement shakes to lose weight.

But I do have to plan. I do have to be prepared. I do have to compromise and stop believing that I deserve to eat so much food instead of feeling pain. That is something that I need to come to terms with.

My next answer touches on the Am I ready? question. Am I ready to plan my meals out the day before? Am I ready to stop bringing trigger foods into the house? Am I ready to make dinner even if it’s easier to order pizza? Am I ready to take care of myself on days when it’s hard to get out of bed? Am I ready to choose the smaller portion? Am I ready not to give in to any desire to overeat? Am I ready to take the time to count calories? Am I ready to keep a journal? Am I ready to become a healthier person? Am I ready to believe I deserve to become this person? Am I ready to exercise even when I’m tired or too busy?

Up until now…I don’t think I was ready. I know I wasn’t ready, or I’d be there. I would have done this. I wanted it to be easy. I wanted to eat whatever I wanted in the amounts that I wanted and still be thin. I wanted to make few changes if any at all. I wanted to rely on a diet or a program to change me. I wanted to just buy the book, or the exercise dvd or the gym membership. I wanted the results, but I did not want to change my actions the get them.

Why do I want to lose 160+ pounds?

I truly, truly want to know what it’s like not to be fat. Not to feel overweight, not to squeeze my thighs into chairs. I want to know what it feels like to make this happen.

I want to be accepted into a health care plan. Right now, I would be denied and I couldn’t afford it. I’ve tried.

I want to get pregnant and not be fearful. I don’t want to be fat and pregnant. I don’t want to worry about a c-section, or being a high risk pregnancy. I don’t want to be exposed on the table in front of people at this weight. The thought is absolutely terrifying.

I want to be a better wife. My husband deserves a healthy wife- long term. He deserves to not worry about me having a stroke, cancer or heart attack when I’m in my 50’s.

I want to be able to run for three miles without having to stop and walk. Or having my feet go numb.

I want to go to the doctor and not have the weight talk. I want to go to the doctor and not have everything be about my weight. Like the time I had an ingrown toenail and the nurse practitioner was convinced it was because I was pre-diabetic. I wasn’t, I just needed the toenail removed.

So there you have it. I’ll be back tomorrow. It’s time to make this happen…