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 The
seemingly logical answer to that question is that aerobic
activities such as jogging, swimming or cycling burn the most
calories and therefore are most effective for healthy
weight loss. But while aerobic activity is important,
combining it with strength training produces the best results.
How Aerobic Exercise Produces Healthy
Weight Loss
Aerobic or cardiovascular activity is any activity that uses
the large muscles of the body in movements that are continuous
and rhythmical. According to the American College of Sports
Medicine (ACSM), an individual should participate in this
type of activity for at least 30 minutes per day, 5 times
per week at a moderate intensity. If you want to get the same
benefit in less time, the ACSM says to increase the intensity
to vigorous, and 20 minutes a day, 3 times a week will do
it.
For most efficient fat burning to occur during cardiovascular
activity, work out in your Target Heart Rate (THR) zone, which
is between 60 and 90 percent of your maximum heart rate (calculate
your target
heart rate here). Performing aerobic activities in your
THR will best ensure you achieve healthy
weight loss.
How Strength Training Produces Healthy
Weight Loss
After aerobic activity, your metabolism is elevated for anywhere
between a few minutes to a few hours depending on the intensity
of your workout. That means you're burning calories
at a higher rate than you normally do. With strength or resistance
training, however, you build lean muscle mass, which permanently
increases your metabolism. You burn more calories whether
at work or rest. The more lean muscle mass you have, the higher
your metabolic rate and therefore the quicker you can reach
your goals.
The ACSM recommends between 8 and 10 strength training exercises
of 8 to 12 repetitions of each exercise at least twice per
week.
How Having Fun Helps Produce Healthy
Weight Loss
Exercise tips for healthy
weight loss underscore the combination of cardiovascular
training with regular strength training to get optimal results.
Remember, too, that if you don't enjoy it, it's
not likely you'll continue doing it. None of us want
to lose weight only to regain it shortly thereafter. A healthy
lifestyle leads to lasting results, and adopting that lifestyle
is much more easily achieved when it's fun.
Ways you can increase the fun factor in your exercise
routine include having family join in, taking it
outdoors to enjoy the scenery, good music, joining classes
to make it more of a social event and changing up your routine
(also important to avoid fitness plateaus). And remember,
if you don't enjoy it, don't do it! Find something else.
Finally, we can't let a discussion of healthy
weight loss go by without some mention of the fact
that weight loss as a goal in itself can be counterproductive.
Even if we're trying to better manage PCOS
or type
2 diabetes or some other reason that legitimately
has to do with our health, focusing on getting healthy, and
living healthfully, holds much greater promise for achieving
our goals.
Written by Samantha Rowland, BS
Fitness & Health Promotion Specialist at Green Mountain
at Fox Run
For 37 years, Green
Mountain at Fox Run has developed and refined a life-changing
program exclusively for women seeking permanent strategies
from a healthy weight
loss program. Based on a combination of proven science
and what works in the real world, our innovative non-diet
lifestyle program offers an integrated curriculum of practical,
liveable techniques that helps women take charge of their
eating, their bodies and their health. Our
approach is not focused on just losing weight but on how
to keep it off for a lifetime. Our participants' long-term
weight loss results are among the highest of any program,
as documented in peer-reviewed scientific literature. Learn
more about our fitness
and healthy weight loss spa
©2007 Green Mountain at Fox Run, Ludlow,
Vermont. This information is the property of Green Mountain
at Fox Run. Permission to use single copies for personal,
noncommercial use is authorized. For all other purposes,
please see details.
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