Exercise is a vital part of a healthy lifestyle. It offers benefits that extend beyond weight loss and affect myriad facets of your physical and mental well-being. While diet also plays a crucial role in managing weight, incorporating regular physical activity into your routine is essential for maintaining health and achieving your fitness goals.
How Does Exercise Help Manage Weight?
Exercise influences weight loss in several impactful ways:
- Helps regulate appetite
- Increases metabolic rate
- Actively burns calories
Staying active can also help you build and maintain muscle mass, which is crucial for effective weight management. Muscle tissue burns more calories at rest than fat tissue, which means that the more muscle you have, the more baseline calories you will burn throughout the day. This makes exercise, especially with respect to maintaining muscle, a key player in managing your weight.
When you’re reducing your calorie intake, your body might start to lose muscle mass along with fat. By focusing on strength training, you can preserve muscle mass, in turn helping to keep your metabolism high. This is particularly important while you’re using the MindBody GLP-1 System™, because you’re eating less, which can also affect your metabolism. Maintaining muscle mass ensures that you’re burning calories efficiently even as you reduce your food intake.
Of course, exercise is only one aspect of weight loss and maintenance. Diet is extremely important, as well.
What Else Can Exercise Do for Me?
Regular exercise is important for a long-healthy life and offers numerous health benefits:
- Better cardiovascular function, including maintaining healthy blood pressure & cholesterol levels
- Maintain bone and joint strength and function
- Improved mood and self-esteem
- Better cognitive function and mental health
- Better overall sleep
- Increased energy levels
Exercise may also help reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers, making it a crucial component of any healthy lifestyle.
Home Fitness Schedule
To maximize the benefits of exercise, it’s important to establish a balanced fitness schedule. Here’s a breakdown of how to incorporate both cardio and strength training into your routine:
How often should I exercise for optimal benefits?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) recommend a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise per week. This can be broken down into about 30 minutes of exercise five times per week. For additional health benefits, especially for weight loss, consider increasing this to 300–600 minutes of aerobic activity per week.
Cardio Exercises
Cardio exercises are essential for cardiovascular health and burning calories. They help increase your heart rate and improve lung capacity. Some common examples of effective cardio exercise are:
- Brisk walking: A simple and accessible option that can be done anywhere.
- Running or jogging: Increases heart rate and burns calories quickly.
- Cycling: Great for cardiovascular health and can be done indoors or outdoors.
- Swimming: Provides a full-body workout while being gentle on the joints.
- High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT): Alternates between high-intensity bursts and low-intensity recovery, maximizing calorie burn and improving cardiovascular fitness.
Strength Training Exercises
Strength training is crucial for building and maintaining muscle mass. The CDC and AHA recommend engaging in strength training exercises at least twice a week. These exercises help improve muscle strength, bone density, and overall functional fitness.
Here are some examples of effective strength training exercises you can do at home, with or without equipment:
- Squats: Targets the lower body muscles
- Push-ups: Strengthens the upper body and core
- Lunges: Enhances lower body strength and stability
- Planks: Builds core strength
- Glute bridges: Strengthens the glutes and lower back
- Bicycle crunches: Works the abdominal muscles
- Russian twists: Engages the obliques for core strength
If you’re new to strength training, bodyweight exercises are an excellent starting point. As you progress, you can incorporate resistance bands or light weights to increase the intensity of your exercise.
Tips for Sticking to Your Exercise Schedule
Here are a few words of advice to help you stick with your exercise schedule:
- Enlist a friend
- Find a workout class you enjoy
- Go outside and explore nearby walking paths or trails in nature
- Look for apps or online resources to boost motivation or for on-demand classes
- Join a challenge
- Set up a success routine with reminders about new habits
- Listen to motivating podcasts or music to help time pass more enjoyably
Start slow. Let go of perfection. Progress is the goal. Plan ahead and set SMART goals that fit in with your life to help you adopt your new routine.
Summary
Exercise is essential for maintaining a healthy weight and overall well-being. While a healthy diet plays a key role in weight management, regular physical activity helps preserve muscle mass and boost metabolism. A balanced fitness routine with both cardio and strength training can improve mood, enhance health, and reduce the risk of chronic diseases.
Consistency and enjoyment are vital to staying committed. Embrace a well-rounded fitness plan to optimize your health, maintain a healthy weight, and enjoy the journey to a healthier you!
