4 Tips for Exercising to Meet Your Weight Loss Goals Tips The right approach to exercise can help you burn more calories, preserve muscle, and avoid the plateaus that stall progress. Here’s where to start. Prioritize muscle growth through strength training. Strength training helps preserve muscle mass during fat loss efforts.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e597629eda7306a-faf5-4526-b911-1b0e46f9fe60 Muscle-building workouts also tap into the “afterburn effect” as the body works to restore oxygen levels, remove lactic acid (a by-product of metabolism), and repair muscle tissue.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e5976297bd894cb-413d-47e7-8aaf-c27e4f558c2b Aim for at least two strength-training workouts each week, Oparaji suggests. Move more. “Even small amounts add up,” Oparaji says. A simple place to start: Commit to a 10‑minute brisk walk after each main meal, Todd suggests. One study found that walking 10,000 steps a day — with at least 3,500 of those taken at a brisk, moderate-to-vigorous pace in bouts of 10 minutes or more — was associated with meaningfully better weight loss outcomes.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e5976293292b362-ff59-4e19-9759-cfd889458881 Plan a deload week. This concept calls for scaling back the intensity or volume of exercise at certain intervals to help the body recover and prevent overtraining. “It usually occurs every three to eight weeks and typically lasts about a week,” Todd says. “While deloads do not directly increase fat loss, they can improve recovery, reduce fatigue and soreness, lower injury risk, and restore motivation.” Switch things up to avoid the metabolism plateau. As the body adapts, add weight, duration, or incline to your workouts to challenge it and keep your metabolism from stalling, Todd suggests.
3 Things to Know About Exercise and Calorie Burning Exercise and Calorie Burning There are a few reasons why more exercise doesn’t always lead to more weight loss. 1. Your Body Adapts to Burn Fewer Calories During Exercise “As you keep exercising and losing weight, your body often becomes more efficient with energy,” Todd says. This effect, known as metabolic adaptation, means your resting metabolism ( how many calories you burn at rest) and overall calorie burn can drop, she says. This can make your body more resistant to weight loss, slowing your progress over time. One study of overweight women found that those who experienced a bigger drop in metabolic rate took longer to reach their weight loss goals than those who experienced a smaller drop.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e5976295347255a-8fad-4950-83dc-ace4e68b3923 2. Your Appetite May Increase Alongside Your Activity Level It’s often not the exercise itself that’s the problem but what happens afterward that can sabotage weight loss goals. Fat cells produce leptin, a hormone that signals fullness. As you lose weight and fat cells shrink, leptin levels drop, making it harder for your body to recognize when it’s had enough to eat.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e5976291852aba6-3981-475b-8890-eda2065fa859 Not everyone will experience this, however. People with obesity , for instance, typically have high levels of leptin but experience a weaker signal between leptin and the brain, which is known as leptin resistance. As they lose weight and leptin levels drop, the leptin signaling may improve. In theory, that would make it easier for their bodies to feel full, but researchers are still exploring this.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e59762932ba807e-964d-4c63-9976-1874a581d902 “Science is still at the beginning of understanding how hormones impact weight loss and weight regain and the role of exercise in this process,” says Lynn Grieger, RDN, CDCES , a registered dietitian-nutritionist in Prescott, Arizona, and a medical reviewer for Everyday Health. Some people may also be driven to eat more as a “reward” for their workout — undoing the calories they just burned.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e5976294276c0f3-6570-4c39-82f3-e4de49ff98c3 “This is often called ‘compensatory eating,’” says Nneoma Oparaji, MD , a board-certified lifestyle and obesity medicine physician in Fulshear, Texas. How much you enjoy your workout could play a role in your diet choices as well. One review aimed to outline effective strategies for weight maintenance, and found that people with overweight or obesity reached for calorie-dense foods when they viewed their workout as unenjoyable and difficult.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e597629db344a07-3eb3-4f99-82de-651cf7a68052 3. Overtraining Can Affect Metabolism Overtraining — exercising intensely without giving your body enough time to recover — can lead to chronic inflammation, a suppressed immune system, and hormonal disruption. The metabolic changes it triggers, including insulin resistance (when the body doesn’t respond effectively to insulin ) and impaired energy metabolism, can interfere with weight loss.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e59762931648f0c-25ec-486d-be06-276665907142 “More exercise isn’t always better,” Dr. Oparaji says. Intense exercise can signal to the body that it’s in a state of distress. “When our body senses low energy due to excessive exercise and not eating enough, it starts to burn fewer calories at rest to conserve fuel,” Oparaji says.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e597629651716da-ee83-4320-90c0-1af4b3b012ae Overtraining often comes with persistent tiredness, decreased performance, sleep and hormonal changes, and frequent injuries or illness, Oparaji says. While true overtraining syndrome mostly affects elite athletes and military personnel, everyday exercisers still run the risk of overdoing it, burning out, and ditching their workout regimen altogether, Todd says.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e59762931648f0c-25ec-486d-be06-276665907142 You know you’re overtraining if you wake up feeling tired, find yourself getting sick more often, your heart rate increases to more than 100 beats per minute or decreases to under 60 beats per minute at rest, or your mood changes to be more irritable, less motivated, or more anxious.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e5976294eecd1ff-74e6-46d0-91a6-f1394f17f819
The Takeaway Diet matters more than exercise for weight loss, but exercise is still an essential part of the equation. Exercise can sometimes work against weight loss by reducing the number of calories burned during a workout, increasing hunger, and lowering metabolism. You can counter these effects by adding strength training, building in rest days, increasing workout intensity, and finding small ways to move more throughout the day.
Does Exercise Actually Help You Lose Weight? Exercise for Weight Loss Weight loss is achieved when there’s a calorie deficit, or when you burn more calories than you take in.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e5976298814fdcd-adc0-4fab-ab26-8e4600c02f38 Research shows diet has a bigger impact on that equation than exercise alone.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e597629b14c982e-274c-4e33-93e0-8922e9001b3a But exercise can contribute to the calorie deficit and keep your body healthy during weight loss.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e5976298814fdcd-adc0-4fab-ab26-8e4600c02f38 Significant weight loss carries the risk of sarcopenia, or the loss of muscle mass and strength. Both endurance and resistance exercise help preserve muscle mass during the process, and resistance exercise specifically maintains muscle strength.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e597629b8d9e0c0-ad3a-485c-aa77-5aac560c2a46 Exercise also plays a role after the weight comes off, with research showing it can help prevent regain.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e597629cd7d3689-36b8-4579-a635-7bbd197931b2
You may be exercising more than ever and still not see the number on the scale budge. What gives? It could be the way you’re exercising, or what you’re eating before or after. “Diet is the main driver of the calorie deficit needed to lose weight, while exercise plays a key supporting role,” says Karen E. Todd, RD, CSCS , a registered dietitian and strength and conditioning specialist in Saugatuck, Michigan. That’s not to say exercise isn’t important. Exercise reduces your risk of many health issues (including heart disease , stroke , cancer , dementia , diabetes , and depression ), increases your energy, and improves sleep , among other benefits.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e59762922181890-41f8-4ae6-ae9b-61611a3f9bdf And it is possible for exercise to contribute to weight loss — you just may need to adjust your approach.
What Types of Exercise Are Best for Weight Loss? Best Exercises When it comes to weight loss, the type of workout matters less than you might think. “What matters most is the overall calorie cost of the workout, which depends on how hard you exercise and how long you do it,” Todd says. When different types of workouts are matched for estimated calorie burn, weight loss results tend to be similar. Steady-state cardio — such as walking , running , cycling , or swimming — typically burns more calories per minute than resistance training, making it the more efficient choice for overall calorie burn, Todd says. That said, high-intensity workouts — such as sprinting, weight lifting, or high-intensity interval training (HIIT) — have their own advantages. These exercises induce greater excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), commonly known as the “afterburn effect,” meaning your body continues burning calories at an elevated rate even after you’ve finished. The body burns additional calories through increased oxygen consumption as it recovers.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e597629051d58cf-6874-4a8f-a36a-be402ccd0955 All types of exercise have a place in a well-rounded routine. “Cardio helps burn calories, while strength training preserves the muscle and boosts metabolism,” Oparaji says.e60dc2a1-f33c-4a05-9b50-8e3e8e59762950a0ab05-7052-4443-ac01-e0cd658c336d And remember that consistency, Todd says, matters more than anything else.