The 5 Best Exercises for Weight Loss

Most of us start an exercise program to get in shape with the main goal of losing weight. We look to find the best exercise program and the best diet, looking for that one exercise that makes it easy. Here is my top 5 list of best exercises for weight loss.

1) Fill the Shopping Cart
The best exercise for weight loss is filling your shopping cart with good stuff and then eating it. Nothing else compares to eating fresh (or frozen) vegetables and fruit, lean meats, dairy, beans, nuts, and whole grains (in limited quantities). If your cart has good foods in it, then the quantity you eat doesn't matter so much. There aren't so many calories in vegetables and fruit to create a surplus if that is the majority of your diet. And the proteins in meats, beans, nuts, and dairy will boost your muscles and deplete your sugar stores to help you burn more fat.

And you don't have to be hungry if you keep good food available all the time. Just grab a small snack with good food and eat it between meals. This kept me from getting ravenously hungry and eating too much at meals.

2) Squat
Muscles burn calories even at rest, and squats are the kind of muscle-building exercises. So squat. And do push-ups (even wall or stair push-ups).

3) Burpees
Power-moves involving the whole body rev up your heart rate and metabolism, so if you can manage a full body move like burpees, then do ladders of them at least once a week (10-9-8-7-6- etc). If you're out of shape, you can do more damage than good if you do full burpees (knees, back, shoulders, etc), so modify them by squatting, doing a plank, then pressing back up to standing. Leave out the push-up and the jump until your body can handle that explosive movement.

4) Walking
If you look outside in the spring, you likely see people jogging all over the place-with all sorts of body types. They probably aren't going too fast and they probably won't keep it up due to injury, busyness, and losing interest. Walking is much more fun, saves your joints from so much pounding, and is ideal for burning fat calories.

*mathematically, you'll burn more fat calories running just because you are burning more total calories. But that's not important here because walking targets fat calories rather than total calories. You'll burn the rest of your calories doing resistance exercises and sprinting.

5) Run Fast
If you're going to run, then do sprint intervals. Run fast for 30 secs and walk for 90 secs. You're heart rate will shoot through the roof, you'll maximize your time, and you're body won't take as much pounding as running long and slow because you'll be running on the balls of your feet. After a few weeks of this, you'll feel like you can take on anything.

If you are out of shape and overweight, you can do sprint intervals on a bicycle or in a pool. You will get the same benefits.



Include these exercises in your week and you'll be well on your way to losing 1 lbs a week and reaching your goal.