More than half of the people in the United States try to shed a few pounds each year. Apart from maintaining a proper and healthy diet, exercise is an essential thing everyone should practice. That’s because you can remain healthy and also speed up your weight loss process. But it can be a little baffling selecting a workout plan to lose weight correctly. Today, we are focusing on a weight loss workout plan for beginners and also for advanced people. So, scroll down to know the exercises to make the best workout plan to lose weight!
A Workout Plan to Lose Weight
Apart from helping you lose your excess weight, exercising can help you make your bones strong, improve your mood, and reduce any chances of chronic illnesses.
So, it is essential you plan your workout session well and not exert yourself too much. Here are eight exercises that’ll help you lose weight and also provide you with other health benefits.
Walking
Walking proves to be a great exercise if you’re thinking of shedding off those extra pounds. More so, it is an excellent inclusion into a weight loss workout plan for beginners.
You don’t need to put in too much of your effort or spend on expensive machines to include walking in your workout plan. Moreover, walking helps you lose excess weight quickly without putting a lot of stress on your joints.
Harvard Health says that a 155 pounds person can burn off approximately 167 calories by walking for 30 minutes at an average pace of around four mph or 6.4 kilometers per hour.
A study was done on 20 obese women and were asked to walk for around 50 to 70 minutes three times each week. After some time, the waist circumference and body fat both reduced by 1.1 inches and 1.5% on an average.
It is easy to fit in walking into your routine. You can add a few steps more into your day by taking a walk during your breaks. You can also stroll around with your dog or choose the staircase over an elevator.
But to give yourself a kick start, walk around thirty minutes three to four times in the first week. And then, once you get used to it, increase your pace and duration gradually.
Running or Jogging
Both running and jogging are great inclusions to a workout plan to lose weight. You may think that both are the same, but there is a slight difference between the two.
The marginal difference between running and jogging is that the pace to run is faster than jogging. When you jog, you are at a speed of four to six mph or 6.4 to 9.7 kilometers per hour. But when you’re running, your speed is more than six mph.
According to Harvard Health, an average 70 kg person can burn around 298 calories at a pace of 5 mph through jogging for 30 minutes. They also suggest that if you run at a speed of 6 mph, you can lose around 372 calories in half an hour.
Even more, some studies suggest running and jogging burn off harmful visceral fat. Are you wondering what visceral fat is? Well, that is the fat that accumulates around the stomach and is called belly fat. You must keep in mind that this fat wraps over your internal organs, leading to numerous chronic illnesses like diabetes and heart ailments.
If you’re on a one-month workout plan to lose weight, then you can easily incorporate jogging into your routine. All you need to do is set yourself a target that you’re going to jog for 30 minutes, at least three to four times a week.
You can quickly try running or jogging on the grass if you feel the outdoor trail to be challenging. Also, if you get yourself into a gym or invest in a treadmill, your joints will get ease and cushioning.
Cycling
Cycling has turned out to be a prevalent exercise. Indeed, traditionally cycling was done outdoors. But now, a lot of fitness centers and gyms have stationary bikes, which allow you to exercise even if you’re indoors.
Following Harvard Health, an average 70 kg person can burn off around 260 calories by cycling for 30 minutes when at a moderate pace.
Cycling not only helps in weight loss, but several studies show that the people who cycle regularly are fit overall. More so, they have an increase in insulin sensitivity, low chances of cancer, death, and heart problems compared to people who do not cycle.
Cycling is an excellent inclusion in a workout plan to lose weight. Anyone can do it, be it athletes or beginners. More so, it does not put a lot of stress onto the joints and is not a weight-bearing exercise.
Weight Lifting
If you want to lose weight and wish to follow a rigid weight loss regime, you can try out weight lifting.
Following Harvard Health, an average of 70 kg person can burn off approximately 112 calories by weight lifting for 30 minutes. Moreover, you can build up muscles and increase your strength by exercising. Both these benefits help in improving your metabolic rate or RMR.
A study conducted for six months showed that if you exercise for eleven minutes at least three times a week, you can increase your metabolic rate by 7.4%. Plus, the study also showed that you could burn off 125 calories each day too.
One more study done for 24 weeks tried weight training saw a 9% increase in the metabolic rate amongst men, equivalent to 140 calories in one day. And the study concluded that there was an increase of 4% metabolic rate, which is equal to 50 calories.
Plus, you must keep in mind that your body can burn off calories continuously after your workout session compared to any aerobic exercise.
Interval training
A general term for interval training is high-intensity interval training (HIIT). This is a broad term that means that you have an intense exercise session for a short period and alternative recovery time.
A typical HIIT workout session occurs for around 10 to 30 minutes and helps in losing out calories quickly.
A study conducted on nine men showed that the HIIT workout helped them lose out 25 to 30% calories more in each minute than other exercises. HIIT exercises that proved to be better are treadmill running, weight training, and cycling. Hence, you can conclude that HIIT helps you burn off more calories in a short period. Moreover, several studies also show that HIIT is very useful in losing out belly fat, leading to numerous chronic illnesses.
You can include HIIT into a workout plan to lose weight quickly. But you need to choose a kind of exercise like biking, jumping or running, and incorporating some rest times.
For instance, if you pedal your bike vigorously for about 30 seconds, you also need to pedal slower for around 1 or 2 minutes. It would help if you kept repeating this session for about 10 to 30 minutes.
Swimming
Swimming is a great way to lose out your excess weight and get yourself into proper shape. According to Harvard Health, an average person of 115 pounds can burn off 233 calories within half an hour of swimming. Isn’t that amazing? But you need to keep in mind that burning calories depends a lot on what kind of swimming you do. When a 70 kg person swims for 30 minutes in a backstroke posture, you lose 298 calories. And when the same person tries out the breaststroke, he loses 372 calories.
A study was conducted for 12 weeks on 24 middle-aged women. They were asked to swim three times in one week for 60 minutes. They reduced a significant amount of body fat, had flexibility, and reduced heart illnesses triggers like blood triglycerides and total cholesterol.
One advantage of swimming is that it has a low impact. It does not pressurize your joints and is excellent for someone who has joint pains or injuries.
Yoga
Yoga is an ideal choice for a workout plan to lose weight. It can help you shed some extra pounds and also reduce your stress levels.
Are you wondering how yoga can make it to a weight loss workout plan? Well, it is an excellent option for a weight loss workout plan for beginners at home. You can lose out many calories and provide yourself with other health benefits that can help in weight loss.
According to Harvard Health, an average person of 70 kgs can lose out 149 calories by practicing yoga for 30 minutes.
A study was conducted for 12 weeks on 60 obese women. It showed that practicing yoga for 90 minutes a week can significantly help lose waist circumference.
Plus, apart from getting weight loss benefits, you can also improve physical and mental health.
Studies show that yoga can help you increase your mindfulness to resist consuming unhealthy foods, control your hunger signals, and prevent overeating.
Apart from trying out yoga postures at home, you can opt for a yoga session in the gym. But always remember that once you know the postures of yoga well, you can do it anywhere. You can try subscribing to an online tutorial to learn how to do yoga too.
Pilates
Pilates is an excellent inclusion to a weight loss workout plan for beginners. A study done in the sponsorship of the American Council on Exercise concluded that people who weigh around 64 kgs could burn roughly 108 calories through a beginner pilate class within thirty minutes. And it also showed that one could lose out 168 calories through the advanced pilate class within 30 minutes.
Indeed, Pilates is not a very effective workout plan to lose weight, but it is fun and exciting, helping people stick to it for a long-time span.
A study was conducted on 37 middle-aged women who were asked to perform Pilates for around 90 minutes three times a week. They continued it for eight weeks and had a significant waist, hip, and stomach circumference reduction. There was another group that didn’t exercise and had the same shape.
Apart from all the weight loss benefits, Pilates can also lower your back pain and have an improved balance, endurance, strength, and fitness overall.
So, you can try including Pilates into your workout plan to lose weight. And since it is relatively easy, you can try it out at home or join a gym if you wish to have company.
If you wish to boost your weight loss process, try out Pilates and other exercises like cardio and weight training. But always remember to maintain a healthy diet plan too.
Final Thoughts
A workout plan to lose weight can be a mixture of several exercises. So, you can plan your workout session well to boost up your weight loss process.
Some of the great exercises you can try out are yoga, Pilates, swimming, cycling, running, jogging, and walking. All these exercises are easy to do and can promote weight loss. But always choose a workout plan that suits your body and what you like doing. Only then can you stick to the schedule for the long-term.
