While it’s true that both diet and exercise are crucial to weight loss, exercise has plenty of benefits on its own. Not only can it help you burn more calories and boost your metabolism, but it also helps reduce stress, build muscle and improve your overall fitness level. And luckily, there are tons of exercises that will help you lose weight quickly, giving you an extra edge when trying to reach your goals! Let’s take a look at the 8 best exercises for weight loss:
1) Burning calories to lose weight
If you want to lose weight, you’re going to have to burn more calories than you consume. Exercise is a great way to do that, but not all exercises are created equal when it comes to fat burning. Focus on high-intensity activities like running and strength training—it will be worth it! (Related: The Best Exercises for Weight Loss in 2018)
2) Resistance exercise, how it helps you burn fat
Resistance training (weight lifting) builds muscle mass and increases your basal metabolic rate. In other words, it makes you naturally burn more calories—even when you’re at rest. Resistance training allows you to increase strength in your major muscle groups and burn fat at a rapid pace. If weight loss is one of your goals, resistance training is key to improving body composition and losing fat.
3) Running; One of the best workouts
Running is one of many weight-loss friendly exercises. The aerobic exercise strengthens your heart, lungs and legs while also increasing your metabolism so you burn more calories all day long. A 2012 study published in BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation found that a group of runners who started a program three times per week lost more weight than their non-running counterparts after 10 weeks.
4) Walking; A good way to start your weight loss journey
Walking is easy, it’s simple, and it can really boost your weight loss efforts. Research shows that just 30 minutes of walking per day can increase your life expectancy by as much as three years. It also has a host of other benefits for your health: It can lower your blood pressure and cholesterol, improves insulin sensitivity in diabetics, helps reduce menstrual pain in women with endometriosis, and reduces risk of Alzheimer’s disease in senior citizens.
5) Swimming; A great cardio workout
Swimming is one of, if not thee best cardio workout around. Not only does it work your entire body – chest, back, arms and legs but it’s also low impact on your joints. It’s a great workout for weight loss because you can burn up to 1,000 calories per hour without sacrificing muscle mass. And since water is 800 times denser than air you get that added resistance helping tone and strengthen muscles much faster.
6) Keto diet exercise
Why would you want to do keto and exercise? It’s simple: Keto and exercise are two of your best friends when it comes to weight loss. In fact, according to a study in Nutrition Journal, overweight women who worked out four days per week for six months on a keto diet lost more fat than those who didn’t exercise. The best part? They had no idea they were burning more fat because they thought they were just doing cardio.
7) Walking on an incline
While walking is a great form of exercise and movement, using an incline can help you lose weight even faster. Walking on an incline adds more resistance to your steps, increasing your heart rate for a more intense workout. It also forces you to work your glutes and quads more. Keep in mind that it’s important to keep a steady pace on any kind of uphill walk or jog to avoid stressing your joints, especially in your knees. And don’t forget to breathe!
8) High-intensity interval training (HIIT); A safe way to lose weight fast
HIIT involves short bursts of high-intensity exercise, followed by short rest periods. It’s an efficient workout for weight loss, burning more calories in less time than many other workouts. Start off with a HIIT session two to three times per week, and then build up to five or six as you become more fit. Each session should last from 20 to 30 minutes.