How Much Do I Need To Exercise?
In order to lose one pound of fat you need to burn 3500 calories. So if your workout session is helping you burn 300 calories an hour you need to do it for 12 hours straight in order to shed a pound. But in addition to working out, if you reduce your calorie consumption by 300 it will take you half the time to get there.
According to Church, if you want to lose weight you need to do workouts with moderate intensity for at least 200 minutes a week. If you keep exercising and stop calorie consumption 150 minutes a week will be enough.
If you are just starting to work out, you should begin with 50 minute sessions and work your way up to 200 minutes. According to Church “you didn’t put on that 20 pounds in the last six months; you’re not going to take it off in six months.” He says that “people don’t want to hear about the patience aspect”. “They want instant gratification. But the cold, hard reality is if you want to lose weight and keep it off, it’s work. No one loses weight and keeps it off without trying”.
Here are five tips that will help you perfect your daily workout session and see results:
1. Exercise with a friend. According to experts who spoke with WebMD this is very important. It can be anyone, even your German Sheppard, because it will stop you from cheating or stopping altogether. Gaesser, who goes biking regularly with his friends says that “it’s much easier to say no to yourself than to someone else.”
2. Treat your workout as appointments. According to Gaesser, if you schedule your workouts you will treat them more seriously and you won’t be able to use lack of time as an excuse.
3. Weight yourself every day. Church says that this is one of the best ways to know if you are doing something wrong. If you missed one workout this will get you back on track or if you didn’t burn as many calories as you wanted you can adjust your exercises.
4. You don’t have to hurry, take your time. According to Quist, over-motivation can be very dangerous. If you are a beginner and you do too much, too fast, you can wear yourself out ahead of time. Quist says that starting out with six days a week of aerobics exercise or lifting weights that are to heavy is a mistake. “People end up hurting themselves in the first week and then give up” Quist says. So don’t do too much at once, warm up to it.
5. Note your progress. This will help you stay on track, especially if you skip a session or two. According to Church logging your steps is a good idea, because looking back at your accomplishments will keep you motivated.