Conceptually, losing weight should be easy. To shred fat and lose weight, simply cut back on how much you eat, careful of what you eat, exercise for one or two hours nearly every day, sleep well, and avoid getting stressed. Sounds too good to be true! Well, it is! However, it is doable. It all depends on how much you crave losing weight, becoming healthy, and looking good.
This article describes how exercising plays an essential role for the overweight and obese to shred fat and lose weight. The workouts, described below, were chosen as being best suited for the overweight and the obese.
Walking
Just 30 minutes of brisk walking every day may help you burn 150 calories. Moreover, the faster you walk the more calories you burn.
First and foremost, you can start with a slow walking pace that’s comfortable and easy for you. Then, as you become more comfortable, gradually increase the walking paceuntil you can walk at a brisk pace.Incidentally, this can take a long period of time. May be even a year or more.
But, when you reach that point, there is no need to stop there. As you become stronger, you can graduate to speed walking and shred even greater amount of fat.
Now, walking outdoors may not be convenient or comfortable for some. If you fall in this category, buy yourself a walking treadmill so you can walk in the comfort of your home. Also, such a treadmill allows you to be entertained by watching TV as you work out.
Incidentally, one of the benefits of exercising outdoors is that you get a chance to breathe fresh air and be close to nature. For many, this is a fantastic side benefit that helps the mind and body.
Jogging
As you get used to a faster walking pace, you can also gradually transition to a slow jog. Jogging can raise your metabolic rate for up to 24 hours. Consequently, your body can burn or shred fat even after you stop jogging. Also, jogging regularly increases your metabolism for long periods of time. So, you can shred fat for longer time periods.
Indoor Machines
The treadmill has been mentioned as something you can use indoors for either walking or jogging. Beside the treadmill, other cardio machines for indoor use include the stationary bicycle, elliptical machines, and recumbent bicycles or ellipticals.
Now, walking or jogging does impact your ankles, knees, and hips. Also, the impact is greater for the obese or the overweight. On the other hand, an elliptical machine is great for anyone who has joint problems that interferes with their walking or jogging.Furthermore, elliptical machines are easy on the knees, ankles, and hips.
Climbing Stairs
Yet another way is to climb stairs to get a cardio workout. For example, a ten to twelve steps staircase in the home, gives you a natural way to burn calories.To get a good workout, climb the stairs one step at a time. A flight up and down will burn around 2 to 5 calories. Climbing two steps at a time will give your leg muscles and buttocks a more strenuous workout and burn more calories per minute. However, to avoid falls, it is important to do these workouts carefully. With that in mind, climb up and down the staircase.Start with one cycle of going up and down the staircase and gradually increasing to five cycles. With 10 steps a typical person burns 5 calories. So, going up and down this staircase ten times will burn 50 calories.
Also, you can spread these sets throughout the day. So, if you do these cycles 10 times during the day, you will end up burning 500 calories.
For people with problems in the bones or soft tissues of their knees, climbing stairs might cause further injury. So, if you are overweight or have knee problems, running and climbing stairs must be done in moderation.
Strength Training
Finally, strength training not only builds muscles, but it also helps you lose weight. Also, the muscles you build help keep the weight off by burning more fat. So, it is recommended you do strength training three to five times a week.Also, each session is recommended to be about one hour.
Summary
It is recommended that you begin your journey, to get your health back, by walking. As you build up stamina, you can gradually start speed walking or slow jogging, or you can stay with brisk walking. If your home has a staircase, use it as often as possible to burn more calories. Next, as you start getting your stamina back and comfortable with the cardio workouts described here, graduate to include strength training. Finally, it is important to persist with these workouts. Unless there are physical or medical limitations, the overweight and the obese can get their health back.
