How to Lose Weight Fast [PART V]

 Exercising to Lose Weight

1Make time for exercise. Exercising might actually make you gain a few pounds of muscle when you first start, but it's an essential component of any long-term, sustainable weight loss plan. Regardless of how busy you are, it is essential that you make time to exercise each day if you actually want to lose weight and keep it off. Even little things like walking instead of driving to the store can affect how quickly you lose weight.

• Exercise while doing chores. Make as many trips upstairs as possible, walk the dog three times a day, and dust, sweep, and mop with vigor.
• Increase the amount of walking you do. Choose the stairs over the escalator and park as far from the store as you possibly can.
• Start a hobby that involves moving around a bit, even if it doesn't sound like "exercise." Gardening, building small projects, working on cars, or playing with animals are all great ways to burn calories.

2 Try out a circuit training program. If you are trying to lose weight quickly for a particular event and don’t care about keeping the weight off, you can try a condensed workout routine. Many women’s and health magazines as well as personal trainers offer similar condensed workout routines designed to maximize weight loss and visible physical slimming within only a few days of beginning the regimen.

3 Be realistic about the type of exercise you can do when starting a new program. If you are hoping to lose weight and keep it off, you will have to do more than a condensed fitness program. The best way to get into exercising is by picking exercises that you are actually going to do and, hopefully, enjoy. If you hate running, don’t make it your main form of exercise--you will need much more motivation each day than if you picked an exercise that you actually enjoy. Instead, try out different exercises until you find a few that you really love, like swimming, biking, or even Zumba.

• Remember that games like volleyball, tennis, and even Frisbee can help you burn calories while having a blast, making exercise a social and fun activity you will want to enjoy everyday.

4

Take up cardio training. While a combination of cardio and resistance training are important for overall body health, cardiovascular training is what will help you shed those pounds quickly. In particular, doing aerobic base-building workouts--workouts that vary between moderate and high intensity--are the best form of cardio training.

• Fat-burning cardio routines can help you lose fat quickly, while weight and resistance training can trigger your metabolism to use energy more efficiently.

5 Keep your exercise regimen interesting. Variety is the key to both promoting a healthier you and keeping you motivated. When you do the same exercise day in and day out, you put yourself at a higher risk of injuring yourself. You are also more likely to become bored, thus making it harder to find the motivation to keep exercising. While at the gym, switch between machines, join a fitness class, and add some resistance training into your schedule.

• Perform low impact aerobic activities. Moderate aerobic workouts incorporating brisk walking, cycling, aerobic machines, or swimming not only burn calories they also keep your heart healthy.

Pump some iron. Resistance training, weight training, can help both men and women stay lean by building muscle and raising metabolism for a constant passive benefit. Weight loss strategies that incorporate both aerobic and weight training boost calorie burn significantly.

6

Choose workouts that require your entire body to exert an effort. This way, you work every muscle group and burn calories with more muscles at one time, like multi-tasking with your exercise. For instance, combine a form of resistance training (try raising small dumbbells overhead as you work) with your arms while you jog or cycle with your legs.^[31]

• Rest at least 24 to 48 hours between strength training sessions on the same muscle group (for instance, work out your biceps and abs on alternating days), and take one to two days off from exercising each week.

7

Get enough rest. Being properly rested will help you maintain sufficient energy throughout the day, making you less likely to overeat and less prone to injury during physical activity. Sleep deficiency has actually been linked to an inability to lose fat, so getting enough sleep can really help you on your path to losing weight

=> Fast weight loss for a specific event may be good temporary motivation, but developing a few specific goals for your long-term weight loss plans is also helpful and may keep you accountable for a weight loss plan after you achieve your initial goal.

• The goal is to lose fat, not just weight in general. If you are doing strength training during your weight loss (which you should be), you might actually see an initial gain in weight. If this is the case, don't worry! You have probably lost fat and gained muscle, which is denser than fat and is much healthier.
• Weight lost can take time but it will be worth it.
• The healthiest way to lose weight quickly combines a healthy and nutritious diet, proper hydration, and a moderate and varied exercise routine. If you use a fad diet or other rapid weight loss technique to drop a few pounds very quickly, switch after a few days or weeks to a long-term weight loss plan that promotes healthier weight loss to protect your health and promote sustainable weight loss.
• Identify your source of motivation and your ultimate weight loss goals. Try writing down the exact reasons that stimulate you to reduce your weight so that you have a constant visual reminder of your goals, and be confident that you can succeed.
• Health professionals recommend a slow and steady weight loss of 1 to 2 pounds per week. This is through a combination of healthy diet and moderate exercise.
• You may be able to reduce your caloric intake by eating slowly; your brain needs about 20 minutes to get the signal that you are not hungry anymore. Taking a breather in between bites can help prevent overeating, provided you pay attention to how full you feel and stop after you are satisfied.
• Keep in mind that one mistake doesn't mean you have failed. If you have taken a step backwards, re-center yourself and get right back into the habit of following your plans.
• No matter what a magazine article says, spot improving is a myth! When your body burns fat, it takes it from all over your body, even if all you do are crunches. No amount of crunches will get rid of that gut if they are not backed up by proper aerobic exercise and diet! Washboard abs do not come from millions of sit ups; they come from having low levels of body fat. So if that is your goal, make sure you do plenty of aerobic exercise in addition to your ab routine.
• Remember that healthy weight loss takes effort, dedication, and consistency.