Fat Burning Exercise

For people who are struggling to lose weight, the point of exercise is not only to increase cardiovascular fitness, but also to burn as much fat as possible. In order to burn fat, there are several factors that come into play.

When Should I Exercise?

You should exercise at the time of day that you are most likely to stick with the program. However, there is some evidence that morning workouts use up the most fat. The reason for this possibility is that the body is inclined to utilize carbohydrates before beginning to utilize fat.

How Long Should My Routine Be?

Although some say that morning activity is preferable, exercise at any time of the day is beneficial, but you must stick with it for a significant amount of time. Although you will increase your metabolism and use extra calories by doing exercise in short ten to fifteen minutes spurts during the day, the real fat burning will come after you have been exercising for half an hour to an hour. The first twenty minutes of a workout may be your body burning carbohydrates. However, this is not to be completely discounted, since carbohydrates are calories, and a calorie lost is good for weight loss. However, to really get down to serious fat loss or conversion to muscle, you’ve have to keep it up. This is one reason why I subscribe to the “any time of day that you will do it” theory of exercise timing. The longer you are able to keep going and the consistency of your program will strongly influence your success.

What Activity is Best?

Your choice of fitness methods depends on the shape you are in and the environment in which you are most comfortable. Again, the most important thing is that you keep going for over half an hour. If you can walk for more than half an hour, but not run for that long, then walking is what you will want to do. If you can run for a few minutes, by all means, work it into your walking workout: run, walk, run, walk. The more intense the movement, the more fat you will burn. Part of this is simple math. While you may burn 250 calories with an hour of walking, you can use up 500 calories an hour by jogging.

You will also want to mix it up. After a while, your body becomes accustomed to a specific sort of exercise, and as your muscles adapt, your body will utilize fewer calories. Then you may find yourself on a weight-loss plateau. After you have gotten into the habit of exercising, and it generally takes six weeks to develop a lasting habit, you will want to explore other activities. If you have been cycling, try jogging a couple of days a week and a nice swim on the weekend. If you normally stick to the treadmill, mix in a couple of Pilates classes.

You will also want to do weightlifting in order to build muscle. What this does is essentially replace fat with muscle. You may not lose a pound by lifting weights, but the looser your jeans fit will certainly be noticeable! What’s more, by gaining muscle, your metabolism is working at a higher rate and requiring more calories even while you are sitting still. Muscle burns calories at a higher rate than fat, so do yourself a favor and work in a weightlifting routine. It needn’t be long—only 20 minutes a day can do the trick.

Combined with a diet program such as Weight Watchers, you can watch the pounds fly off when you combine fat-burning exercise with your weight-loss efforts. It is so encouraging to see results quickly, and when you burn off fat and add muscle, the pounds are sure to come off faster.