Best Exercise Plan for Weight Loss Success

(Article first published as Structured Exercise Program is Key to Weight Loss Success on Technorati.)

As anyone who has tried to lose weight can tell you, you must have a solid plan in place in order to be successful. And even then your chances of actually reaching your weight loss goal and keeping it off permanently are relatively slim. 

How you approach the whole process is much more important than counting each calorie and monitoring each step of the process. Once you’ve made the big decision to lose weight, joining a structured program and finding the right exercise regimen have been shown to help you reach your weight loss target.

Study Finds Structured Exercise is Important to Weight Loss Success

The results of a study published in the journal Obesity shows that participants who were part of a registered group that was provided with a structured fitness plan exercised an average of 42 minutes per day. They were compared to two control groups consisting of participants who had never been overweight who exercised for 26 minutes a day and a third group who were obese that engaged in 19 minutes of physical activity each day. In this study those who were part of a structured group exercised considerable longer than their non-structured peers.

Type of Exercise is Important to Weight Loss

Most people will choose between aerobic and resistance exercise to improve heart health and increase muscle tone. Any exercise that prompts you to get up and move will benefit your weight loss efforts. 

Walking at a fast pace is a great way to burn calories and increase cardiac performance. Walking is fun and most people find it easy to stick with a daily 30 minute walk. It’s important to understand that this type of exercise will burn approximately 125 calories that will result in slow weight loss as long as you don’t compensate with extra food.

Short Burst Resistance Exercise Gets Results

A new type of resistance training is rapidly becoming the exercise of choice for those trying to lose weight. Short burst exercises require you to exert yourself at your maximum potential for 60 to 90 seconds and then rest for 2 minutes. Repeat for 12 to 15 repetitions and be sure to cross train different parts of the body and muscle groups. 

This type of training can burn as many calories in 20 minutes as 30 to 40 minutes of aerobic conditioning. Try alternating aerobic conditioning and fast burst training on different days to obtain the best results.

Exercise provides an important catalyst to a reduced calorie diet, stress management and improved mindset for those people intent on losing weight. As with any significant goal, developing and committing to a plan are the keys to success. 

You can improve the odds that you’ll stick with a weight loss program by joining a structured group and choosing an aerobic or resistance exercise routine to improve your health and achieve your weight loss accomplishment.