Weight is gained when you consume more calories than your body needs. These, in turn are converted by the body into fat for storage. People who are trying to lose weight often have the mistaken notion that it requires very little effort other than abstaining from high cholesterol food. The truth is that in order to lose weight, you need to decrease the number of calories you take in while increasing the number you burn.
Your calorie intake can be lowered simply by substituting high calorie food like doughnuts, soda, and steak with healthier options such as apples, grapefruit juice, and whole grain pasta. Calories, on the other hand, can simply be burned by any type of activity. Of course, the more you active you will be the more calories you burn. Regular exercise and increased physical activity helps a lot in shedding excess body fat.
One of the best, if not the best exercise, used by professional athletes and models to lose weight are aerobic exercises. Aerobic means 'with oxygen' and fat needs oxygen to burn completely so in order to burn fat while exercising, you body needs to be adequately supplied with oxygen. Aerobic exercises may be in the form of dancing, sports, or repetitive rhythmic movements designed to target specific muscle groups in the body. Examples of aerobic exercises are: step aerobics, bicycling, swimming, running, rowing, and walking.
Aerobic exercises are also sometimes called cardio exercises. Cardio exercises are exercises that increase your heart rate by at least fifty percent and sustained over a period of time, so your preferred type of aerobic exercise does this, it's also cardio exercise.
There are basically two types of cardio exercises, the slow and steady and the high intensity type. Slow and steady cardio exercises generally take longer to do but burn more fat than carbohydrates. High intensity cardio exercises, while they may be shorter in duration, burn off carbohydrates first before burning fat. High intensity exercises work well for those with slow metabolisms since the 'after burn' resulting from these types of exercises increases the metabolism long after you've stopped exercising.
Disclaimer: This article is not meant to provide health advice and is for general information only. Always seek the insights of a qualified health professional before embarking on any health program.
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