You’ve put in the time to choose and plan for a new diet. You’re ready to start exercising to make sure you lose as much weight as possible! Now what? How do we decide what exercises to do? I’ve got you covered, aspiring Healthy Couch Potatoes!
Cardio or weightlifting to lose weight?
If the primary purpose of your exercise is to lose weight, then the biggest mistake you could make is to not do both cardio and weightlifting in combination. If you have to choose just one, then weightlifting should be prioritized. I will explain how and why below, but just understand it simply comes down to the amount of calories you burn. Don’t jump to the conclusion you need to own weights or go to a gym either! Bodyweight exercises are always an easily accessible option!
Maximizing you resting metabolic rate (RMR)
Burning more than 300 calories in a single workout- whether cardio or weightlifting is going to be extremely tough, unless you are already considerably athletic. The best way to burn more calories is to raise your resting metabolic rate. Here is a scientific article regarding RMR if you’d like to learn more about it. Imagine how great it would be to burn 100 extra calories per day while resting as a couch potato! There are two things you can do to boost your RMR:
- Build muscle. In general, building 2-4 pounds of muscle will increase your RMR by 7-8%. This is why weight-lifting is so important. If you’re interested in building muscle, consider my blog post about it (link here)!
- Do not restrict your caloric intake below 1000-1200 calories for women and 1200-1600 calories for men. Any lower than that and your body goes into starvation mode and purposefully slows down. Conversely, do not overeat! If you’re trying to lose weight, though I am sure this is won’t be an issue.
The best cardio exercises to lose weight
- If you are looking to complete your cardio quickly, and maximize its lingering metabolic effects, I recommend sprinting. This is absolutely my cardio of choice. In times where I want to burn fat, I will sprint 2 times per week as much as I can per session. I recommend starting with 10 sprints of 100 meters spaced about 2 minutes apart and creating variations from there.
- If you want to be more lax with your cardio and have more time to spend, you should consider walking. Going for a moderately-paced 30 minute walk can burn upwards of 150 calories.
- Middle ground cardio options to spice things up are cycling, swimming, and using a jump rope. Jogging is another, but this is my least favorite as it can be high impact on your knees and joints. If you enjoy running and jogging, consider using soft surfaces such as grass.
- High intensity calisthenics such as burpees. If you’re workouts are leaving you breathless and have low rest times with a high heartrate, you’re doing cardio. Your cardiovascular system is working.
Afterthoughts
Hopefully by now you can see how pretty much any activity can be considered cardio. The trick to burning extra calories in your quest to lose weight is to build a little muscle. The expectation is not that you become a body builder! Everybody benefits from a few pounds of muscle for regular functions, healthy metabolisms, good posture, and more- especially aspiring Healthy Couch Potatoes!
