Creating a calorie deficit on a regular basis is the most effective strategy for long-term weight loss. You need to be burning more calories than you consume.
However there is a very widespread misconception about exercise and fat loss and I want to discuss this here so you don’t go thinking that an hour on the treadmill while watching Grey’s Anatomy will do the job.
The easiest way to create a calorie deficit is to combine a well prepared eating plan with cardiovascular exercise. Note I said easiest.
The most effective way is to combine this steady state, low intensity exercise with high intensity, interval training.
As well as keeping your calories under control.
You need to stop getting caught up with how many calories you are burning during your workout and think long-term. Don’t try to “offset” your last meal with a 2 hour run or walk. It doesn’t really work like that, and your metabolism is smarter than that, it’s already stored that excess food as fat!
Low intensity, steady state cardiovascular exercise is great for improving your heart health and burning up a bunch of calories. But it is certainly not a holistic, all-in-one weight loss strategy and is often the reason people walk everyday and stay overweight.
When you finish your steady state cardio session your metabolic rate quickly returns to it’s normal, baseline speed. Within a few hours of your run or walk or swim it is back to its regular pace and the battle to speed it up continues.
High intensity interval training is the secret training method that will take your training program to the next level.
Short, sharp bursts of intense, all-out effort interspersed with brief, frequent periods of rest make up the perfect interval training session. This can be done running, riding, swimming, skipping even walking, where the intensity is high enough and the resistance (uphill for example) is great enough.
You may pick a hill and run or power walk up it as fast as you can then walk back down it and repeat 8-10 times.
You might do high repetition dumbbell snatches for sets of 20-25 with 30 seconds rest.
You could ride on a stationary bike and alternate short periods of easy riding and maximum effort sprinting.
The concept of interval training may go against what you have been told about effect cardio for weight loss. It’s not long enough, there’s too much rest, it’s too convenient.
Well this is where you need to stop thinking about what you do during the workout and start thinking what happens after your workout.
Do you want to be a fat burning machine? Machines operate 24-hours a day, non-stop, while the rest of the world is sleeping. You can achieve this with your weight loss efforts because interval training will raise your metabolic rate for hours after the exercise is complete.
You will burn much more fat while resting after a high intensity interval cardio workout than you would after a steady state cardio session, even though the latter may burn more calories during the actual session.
Another benefit of interval training is you can get it done quickly, so it won’t take up as much time as a long run or walk will. This can be more motivating and more convenient for you if time is a constraint, as it often is.
There is a distinct similarity between interval cardio training and resistance training with weights.
So don’t neglect one for the other. Combine all 3 methods of training. Do steady state cardio along with interval training and lift weights regularly. This is the answer most people are looking for. By doing a bit of each, without overlooking one form or more, you will turn your body into a fat burning machine that operates 24 hours a day.
About the Author
Ryan Mitchell is the owner of Evolution Fitness Centre and is a qualified personal trainer and strength and conditioning coach. Ryan is dedicated to helping people achieve their health and fitness goals and draws on his experience and knowledge gained from training people of all ages and fitness levels. Ryan is a former Australian Powerlfiting Champion and Australian team member.
