How much exercise to lose weight?
So you are thinking
about starting an exercise routine and you are wondering how
much exercise you will have to do to lose weight – this
article should get you started on the right path.
First off – a pound of
fat is representative of about 3500 stored calories or
stored energy. In order to lose this extra stored energy you
would have to burn 3500 more calories than you consume.
Obviously this cannot be done in a day. Some experts agree
that a pound per week is a safe goal to shoot for – let’s
make that our goal.
Theoretically you could
keep eating the same diet and add in an exercise routine
that burns 3500 calories over the course of the week and you
would lose a pound per week. The problem with this is that
most people have an increase in appetite when they start
exercising. This makes it very important to be aware of the
foods you are eating and the nutrition count contained in
those foods.
Second – Figure the
amount of calories needed for you. You can use the following
sites in order to find the amount of calories you will need
to maintain your ideal weight. Notice I said ideal weight.
(This will make sense in a moment)
Find your ideal weight
by using this
healthy weight chart:
Enter your ideal
weight (not your current weight) and
current activity level into this chart:
Third – The plan will be
to cut 500 calories per day from the number the above steps
have given you. We will achieve this from half diet and half
exercise. Since the topic of this article is “how much
exercise to lose weight” we will only concentrate on the 250
calories per day from exercise. (I would like to encourage
you to research healthy ways to eliminate 250 calories per
day from your diet before beginning this program.)
Fourth – The exercises.
Here are some exercises and the amounts of calories they
burn. Keep in mind they are approximate and based upon a 190
pound person. Adjust them accordingly.
