"What is the best exercise for weight loss?"
All the time, we are searching for the "hack". The secret that trainers and doctors are hiding from us that is the secret to your weight loss struggles! If you search this question on Google, you'll find about 1000 different answers on this "fat-blasting" exercise, the 10-minute workout, elliptical, walking, weights, HIIT, cardio, Zumba... You get the idea.
But the actual answer isn't what you think, despite all the answers you might find on Google. It's time that we break it down to what is really the best for weight loss. This is why you and I need to have a chat about it.
The actual answer is...
There is no such thing as a "best exercise" for weight loss. (pause for audible gasp)
There's only one way to lose weight and that is through a calorie deficit. Meaning you intake fewer calories then you burn.
I've talked and written about calorie deficits many times on this blog (here, and here are a couple examples). Essentially, it comes down to intake fewer calories then your body requires (calorie deficit) so your body is forced to use the extra stored energy (in the form of extra body fat) to make up the difference in energy needs.
So what ways can you achieve a calorie deficit?
1) by adjusting what you intake through food on a daily basis
2) by increasing your energy output through exercise
When people ask the question "what's the best exercise for weight loss?" What they really mean is, "what workout burns the most amount of calories in the shortest amount of time so that I can get to my results the fastest?"
There is no such thing as a single, magical workout to blast the fat away and make it disappear for good. There's no magic here. If you are exercising properly, it involves hard work and challenging yourself, and for that work to pay off, you need to be consistent at whatever it is. Losing fat, muscle growth, or whatever your goal, is going to take time and consistent work. This means that to see the results of your efforts, you are going to have to keep working at it for a long time. So many times you have probably started the new "it" workout that promises to blast weight away and then after a few weeks you're left feeling frustrated because the weight hasn't magically come off. You're not going to see the magical results of your new workout program after 2 weeks. So flex your patience muscles and keep going!
What exercise should you be doing then?
The short answer is whatever exercise you like and you can stick to and is safe for you to do to lead you to your goal. I know you came here looking for the BEST one, but honestly, the best is the workout you can do consistently and stick to! Sure, there's a lot of difficult, high heart rate, calorie-burning workouts such as HIIT, kickboxing, CrossFit, swimming, spin classes, weight training, etc. But the nitty-gritty of it is, whatever exercise you can enjoy (let's be honest, tolerate) and do longterm.
HIIT, CrossFit, spin classes or whatever are great, and they can burn a lot of calories in a session, but if you hate it and can't do it longer than a month, or worse if you end up injured, you're not going to see results longterm. Focus your energy instead on finding a workout you like enough to commit to and put in the effort to keep going consistently over time, is done safely for your fitness level, and with some adjustments to your nutrition to achieve the calorie deficit, you will see results. And that workout is the "best workout for weight loss'.
If you're just starting out and you aren't sure of where to begin for exercise, good news, you have so many options and a blank slate to find what you love.
You can try different things, see what you like. You may be motivated by spin classes and find the energy in the room invigorating.
You may like the solitude of plugging your headphones in and going for a run. Or being in the water swimming laps and pushing yourself to go faster, longer.
You may love weight lifting and how you feel like a strong, confident badass after a heavy session (I am particularly partial to this).
Something is always better than nothing. Start with what your goal and your why is. Whether your goal is to get strong and feel like a badass, to run a 5k or marathon, or just have more energy and have fun while doing it, find workouts that help you achieve those goals.
Alternatively, if you've found yourself struggling with the best way or you don't know where to start, look into hiring a personal trainer to help you find the right path for yourself and your individual goals. By having a trainer, they remove the guesswork for you, make sure what you're doing is safe for your fitness level and give you what you need to achieve your goals, you just have to put in the work!
I could write that you need to do 100 sets of sit-ups, do 400 medicine ball slams, run at a 50% incline for 30 minutes and do 50 donkey kicks at the top of every hour for 7 days and claim that by doing this you'll burn fat faster then you can say "more cookies please". But in the back of your mind, you would know I was full of shit.
So when you are tempted to type in "best exercises for weight loss" to Google or follow the dozens of workouts on YouTube, just remember it's whatever the "best exercises" you can do is the one that's consistent.
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| Until next time! |
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