Do you have to exercise for weight loss?

Good things come to those who sweat!

Exercising is about testing your limits while enjoying some extra perks that come along. When it specifically comes to weight loss, you need to blend your weight loss diet with an interesting exercising session. It is just not your diet alone or your exercise alone that will get you there. You must have heard, “You need to burn more calories than you consume,” where burning is all about going through those sweat sessions at the gym. 

Dieting should be about creating a recommended calorie deficit that should be somewhere around 500 calories and exercise should be about creating the metabolism triggering muscle mass. There are a lot many negative facts about exercising that are doing rounds when it comes to losing weight. But, not all of that is true. Before you dwell in a mindset, having your thoughts clear is never a waste practice. 

Here’s how exercising helps you with effective weight loss. 

The Concept of Working with Calories 

There are two different concepts of achieving a desired number on the weighing scale. One is cutting calories from your food so that only a limited portion gets to the system. And, the other is burning calories to eliminate the excess that has made its way into the system. Clearly, exercising relates to burning calories! 

However, there is a catch here! Exercising is nearly equal to zero if you do not maintain your planned weight loss diet. If you think that you can have anything and exercising would negate its impact on the body, you are wrong. And, if you think that you will starve yourself and exercise to get fit, you are wrong again. You will only be putting efforts to gain even more weight than what you were trying to lose in the first place. 

Building Muscles vs. Shedding Muscles

In a quest to reach the chiselled body physique, an individual needs to retain and build some lean muscle mass. While you may still have some doubts on how many calories an exercise session burns, you can’t doubt its capability to shed the extra fat that is bothering you. A satisfactory session of workout makes sure that you lose fat instead of muscles, which, in turn, forms the basis of a chiselled body. 

In case, you choose to diet alone when it comes to successful weight loss; you’ll be far away from that perfectly toned body. How you may ask? The fact says that you will lose weight, but you will also lose around 30 to 40 percent of lean muscle mass for every 10 pounds of weight lost. And, when there will be no muscle mass, how can you expect your metabolism to keep up with your workouts? 

A Positive Life Makes For a Fit Life

A good session of physical activity stimulates positive vibes instantly! Sometimes lethargy and negative feelings make way into life, which, in turn, sabotages the passion and enthusiasm to achieve anything. This isn’t the way you live life! That is why; following a regular exercising plan is all you need to keep you motivated and inspired. 

If you need to make a change, today is the day you start. Never delay your start towards something that promises you a healthy and fit life. Even if exercising were not beneficial to weight loss, it is the best practice to motivate you to follow a lifestyle that leads to success. After all, a good habit is what it takes to get your life and figure in shape. 

Acts As an Appetite Suppressor 

Your exercising intensity and the form of exercise is known to have an effect on your hunger. There are times when your exercising sessions may stimulate the hunger hormones making you feel empty all the time. What do you end up doing in this case? Eating more and more and filling up the calorie gap created by exercising. 

On the other hand, a study points out the fact that intense form of exercise that revs up your heart rate markedly aids in suppressing hunger. In simple words, exercising affects appetite hormone ghrelin that, in turn, helps in keeping hunger at bay. The fact is; heavy exercising diverts the blood flow from the stomach and the intestines towards the muscles, thus leading you to feel satisfied. 

Assistance with Keeping Your Weight Off

Exercise is not only essential to building muscle mass, but it also aids in maintaining a constant weight once you have reached your goals. When you handle a good diet plan and accompany it with a regular exercise plan, you reach your destination sooner than you ever expected. 

Maintaining a weight loss diet is the first thing to incorporate in your lifestyle. And, as soon as you start feeling a little better and adjust with your new diet; exercise steps in. A good and exciting workout session at the gym aids in meeting your weight loss goals and keeping it maintained for the rest of your life. It means that no matter where you are and what you do, you’ll be able to keep your ideal weight number constant. One thing is for sure, dieting and exercising should always go hand in hand.

Six Tips To Efficient Exercising 

It is rightly said, “Everything you have ever wanted, is one step outside your comfort zone.” The same rule applies to exercise, i.e., putting your body through physical activity. The FITT principle stands for frequency, intensity, time, and type, which are the four essential factors that define a workout style. 

When you exercise daily while you keep all the FIIT parameters constant, you are not making any changes to your weight. It is like a regular undertaking for your body that it has become used to. The idea is to rise above the bar and keep experimenting with the parameters. If you keep modifying one or more FIIT parameters once in a while, you’ll definitely shed some extra pounds. 

HIIT stands for “High Intensity Interval Training.” This implies, going through a vigorous exercising session with short breaks in-between. You need to rev up your heart rate while exercising beyond your normal capability. The key is not to stop as a study suggests that even a 20 minutes HIIT workout can lead to burning down 15 calories per minute, which is at least twice more than what an individual burns while running. 

Another adds on benefit; HIIT also aids in “After Burn” effect, the excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC). A simple explanation to this could be the need of excess oxygen by the body to get your body to the resting or its original state after the intense workout. In turn, the body uses more oxygen and as a result; the metabolism takes an upturn to facilitate better calorie burn. 

When you are new to HIIT, it is evident to feel all consumed and exhausted while adjusting with the new changes. If you are choosing to rest for longer intervals, you need to change your ways. It is not easy keeping up with the vigorous exercising sessions, but who said that weight loss is easy? In order to reach an intended weight loss milestone, you need to maintain a reasonable work-to-rest ratio.

The best strategy is to rev up your heart rate to about 80 percent of your maximum heart rate for about 30 seconds and resting for about another 30 seconds at around 70 percent of your maximum heart rate. Repeat the cycle for about another 4-5 rounds to make for a good session at the gym. Never maintain a steady pace while exercising as your average efforts would lead you hanging in between with no progress.

Eating your favourite donuts every day and working out hoping to lose your weight, is not worth a damn. Technically, you will be burning a certain amount of calories and filling the gap all over again. Would there be any point? There is always a balance that you need to maintain to reach your dream weight. 

You can’t diet alone and think about losing weight as it will also burn the muscle weight needed for better metabolism. On the other hand, you can’t exercise alone to lose weight for it will not make much difference. The best way would be to follow a HIIT principle and munch on the lean protein diet, fresh fruits, and green vegetables. Adding the protein powder diet after a workout session is another best way to keep up with your energy levels. 

Calories burned are directly proportional to muscle mass! You can’t expect burning calories from fats alone as a single kilogram of fats is capable of burning only around two calories in a day’s time. Surprisingly enough, a kilogram of muscles holds the power to burn around six calories. Now that is something huge! 

So why not include strength training in your fitness regime, which can also make up for that perfectly toned chiselled body? Prefer adding at least 20 minutes of strength training to your gym session at least three times a week and notice the difference! You will be overwhelmed when you see your weight loss endeavours coming to your doorstep and actually staying. 

You always need a good dose of nutrition to keep up with your exercising session. Pre-workout and post-workout nutrition makes it possible to strive through vigorous physical activity. Research states that having a cup of coffee before your workout can help heighten the caloric burn by nearly fifteen percent owing to the muscle pump it offers. You could also munch on an apple or your regular box of yogurt. 

On the other hand, having protein powder is also a good idea before and after the workout. However, you need to also cover up the carbs which make up for 40 percent of intake and fats that make up for 20 percent of intake after the workout. This post-workout diet helps in regaining your strength back by filling up for the lost energy levels. 

How Much Should You Exercise?

For a record, an individual needs to burn 3500 calories to lose one kilogram. That, in turn, could mean losing about 300 calories in a single workout session, thus you might require around 12 sessions to lose a kilogram. The following chart clears how much you should be exercising to reach your weight loss goals. 

Tips To Introduce Exercise to Your Routine

There are three tips to help you get acquainted with a lifestyle you will fall in love with for a lifetime. 

1. Tag along a Meal Plan

Eating a well defined diet is the first step towards reaching your weight   loss goal. Sometimes, people who are new to fitness end up consuming more calories than they burn. The point is; if you do not manage your calorie intake, you’ll never lose a kilogram. 

The right way would be to keep a track of your meals so that you know what you eat and how strictly you are following your diet plan. In case, you find yourself giving in to your desires, make extra efforts to adjust the extra calories consumed through exercising. 

2. Vigorous Strength Training

The best way to lose fat while retaining muscles narrows down to strength training. Not only that; strength training also aids in increasing the energy levels and in making an individual satisfied and full. The best thing about this type of training is that it targets almost every essential muscle in your body. 

When looking for some great forms of strength training exercises, you could place your bets on push pull legs form of exercise. For more recommendations, the best strategy would be to seek help from a fitness expert for they know better than anyone. 

3. Cut down the Cardio Sessions

It would be wrong to say that cardio has nothing to do with weight loss. However, giving priority to cardio over strength training is not a good practice. The right trick is to incorporate light cardio into a routine fitness program so that it does not intermingle with the strength training session. 

Cardio helps in making you move and staying active. The best part of cardio is that it stops you from running to the old and lethargic you. On the contrary, it doesn’t help much with weight loss unless accompanied by strength training. Because when strength training is compared with cardio, the former takes away the brownie points. 

Exercising is essential for weight loss when you choose the right way to do it. If someone tells you otherwise; only listen to what your trainer has to say. The perfect recipe for weight loss is a satisfactory weight loss diet accompanied by a stringent session of strength training. Lastly, never overlook the need to give your body the rest it needs. If you have had two days of continuous strength training, resting for a day will do you no harm. 

A low calorie, high protein diet accompanied by strength training is what is going to contribute to effective weight loss efforts.