Planning to start burning fat and lose weight
Losing weight is one of the main reasons people join the gym, although it is not always known which is the best way to do it.
Which is the most effective way to lose weight: dieting or physical activity? Which exercises are the most appropriate? Is it true that muscular exercise does not help you lose weight and that it makes you gain weight? These are some of the most common questions.
But if you don’t know the basic rules for losing weight, it’s very easy to be disappointed when you see that the results are not as evident as they might seem at first. It is even common that at the beginning of the training you gain some weight, due to an increase in muscles, or that during the first weeks the task in the gym makes you wake up the appetite.
Regular physical activity and eating fewer calories are the key elements to lose weight. The American College of Sports Medicine, the most prestigious scientific society in the field of health and physical exercise, recommends exercising three times a week to achieve between two and a half to three hours of physical activity per week.
Weight Loss Guidelines
The first thing you need to know in order to lose weight is to know which exercises are the most suitable to do it. In this way, the work will be much more effective, faster and safer.
The American College of Sports Medicine emphasizes the importance of combining long-duration, moderate-intensity cardiovascular work with muscle exercises to promote fat elimination and increase basal metabolism.
Cardiovascular work is undoubtedly the most important to lose fat in the short term. In fact, it is what burns the most calories by itself and studies show that it is the exercise that consumes the most energy per unit of time thanks to its continuous character.
Between 45 minutes and an hour three times a week of this type of exercise make the fat fade quickly. Running, cycling, dancing, there are many possibilities to do it. However, it is a common mistake to do only this type of exercise: it must be combined with muscular training.
A muscular body burns more fat
Muscle work, stigmatized by those who say it helps gain weight by the well-known fact that muscle weighs more than fat, is indispensable in training plans. It is necessary to know that a toning work does not imply a great increase of the musculature, but that it activates it.
As a result of this activation, the percentage of muscle mass is increased, which increases the metabolism of fat (even at rest), shapes the silhouette and ensures that losing weight does not result in losing physical strength. This training is essential to maintain a constant weight loss. Body Pump, D-Tone or the newest Total Hiit activity are the best allies to say goodbye to calories.
It is very important to point out that the amount of fat that can be lost in specific periods depends on age, sex, initial weight, the specific body composition of each person and also on their medical and sports history. Each one has objectives and an ideal weight, which implies different parameters in each case. However, with a combined routine of cardiovascular work and toning, the results are assured in all cases.
Once the desired kilos have been lost and the body has been free of fat, it is necessary to continue doing a constant work so that the organism follows its correct functioning and rhythm of caloric consumption. Moreover, all studies indicate that progress day by day, increasing the time devoted to exercise, is the most effective measure to maintain the ideal weight in the long run.
Exercise and osteoporosis
For lack of reasons, experts say that getting rid of extra pounds without exercise can increase the risk of osteoporosis. Losing weight as a result of reduced calorie intake or too strict a diet could lead to a reduction in bone mass, and the subsequent onset of osteoporosis to the major bones of the body.
What the most recent studies conclude is that exercise and a healthy diet are essential for weight control, giving priority to increasing caloric intake through exercise.
Planning to lose weight
Here’s a three-day-a-week, month-long training plan, an initial routine that should be modified from the second month onwards in order to boost weight loss. Remember to stretch before and after training.
