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| The Best Workout For Weight Loss |
The best workout for weight loss is the one which maximizes your calorie burning, without reducing your resting metabolism. Workout For Weight Loss It is possible for some exercise regimes to reduce your resting metabolism, so that you actually need fewer calories to live. Then you may stop losing weight, even though you are getting fitter.
The human
body, for all its wonders, controls its weight pretty simply. Workout For
Weight Loss Consume more calories than you use and you gain weight. Use more
calories than you eat and you lose weight. So why is it so difficult to find a
diet and exercise regime that really works?
The simple
answer is that there are competing factors at work. For example, if you starve
yourself on a really harsh diet, you consume a lot less calories. But, you will
also start losing muscle mass. Then your resting metabolism, the calories which
you use just to keep your body going each day, will decrease.
As this
resting metabolism uses a huge 65% - 75% of your total daily use of calories, a
reduction can soon mean that you need less calories each day to live, so the
diet will not have the same effect. Dieters often find the so-called 'plateau',
where initial Best Workout weight loss levels out, despite severe calorie
restriction in their diet.
The same
effect can be seen with exercise. There has been much talk about the increase
in resting metabolism after exercising. The theory is that, after exercise your
metabolism stays at a higher rate, causing you to burn more calories even when
you have finished your Best Workout
The length
of time that this continues running depends on how hard and for how long you
exercised. However, most people who aren't athletes don't work hard enough for
the effect to last more than an hour - so the total amount of extra calories
burned after exercising finishes may be less than 50 calories. A drop in the
ocean when most of us consume 2000 - 3000 calories per day!
Clearly a
more coordinated approach is required. Many studies have found that the
combination of controlling the diet with a good exercise regime produces the maximum
weight loss, and helps to maintain the reduction. The key things to achieve are:
Restriction
of the intake of calories.
Some
exercise that increases muscle mass, which increases resting metabolism.
Other
exercise which uses calories while you are doing it, and keeps your metabolism
at a higher level for as long as possible when you stop.
The first
point is fairly obvious, although there has been more work done recently
studying how the make up of the calorie intake affects Workout For Weight Loss
The best workout
for weight loss must include some resistance exercises to increase muscle mass.
Basically you want to push your main muscle groups to the level where the body
feels the need to build them up.
One way to
build muscle is to lift weights which are so heavy that after a certain number
of repetitions you tire, and can't manage any more. What happens is that your
body responds to this 'overload' by adding muscle mass. Then you do the same
again, and again, slowly increasing the level of resistance, with the muscle
mass increasing all of the time.
It is
important to remember that the body carries out this 'bulking up maintenance' when
you are resting. After doing some resistance exercises, you need to rest. That
means no more resistance exercises on the same muscle group for at least 48
hours. Failure to observe this simple rule can easily lead to injury.
Ideally you
will follow a program which exercises each of the main muscle groups in the
body - arms, legs, abdomen, etc. You don't need any special equipment, or to
join a gym if you don't want to, as all the muscle groups can be exercised with
so-called 'body weight' exercises. However, beginners are advised to be very
cautious to avoid over-straining, or to get good quality guidance from a
reputable guide or fitness instructor.
Many people,
me included, find muscle-building exercises a bit of a drag. But don't forget
that a suitably trim and muscular body looks much more attractive than a thin, wasting-away
one. You want to lose weight, but you don't want to travel by fax, do you?
Thirdly, you
need to introduce the calorie burning part. Here's where you can have most fun -
maybe you like running, maybe you don't. There must be some form of endurance
exercise (i.e. one takes some time and gets you sweating) that you like. Swimming?
Playing basketball? Or tennis? There are so many possibilities. The key thing
is that you really enjoy doing them. If you enjoy doing something you are much
more likely to stick with it than if you find it a drudge. Newlyweds probably
won't need any help with ideas in this area!
So if you
want to lose weight and get fitter, you need to combine controlling your diet
with doing some exercise. And the best workout for weight loss is to do
something you really enjoy. Then add some muscle building exercises for maximum
calorie burning.
