Welcome to "Part 1" of this 3-part article series. A critical fact to know and understand is you must have healthy eating habits in order for exercise weight loss programs to have a chance to work. You'll find guidelines for healthy eating in our "menus & recipes" section along with free diet meal plans.
Now the question remains: What exercise, or exercises, should you do to lose weight?
There's no simple answer. In other words, there isn't one specific program among all the terrific exercise weight loss programs available that works for everyone. In fact, there are an unlimited number of exercise weight loss programs that produce great results. I say unlimited because you can mix and match to your heart's content to fit your lifestyle and your preferences.
First, it's always a good idea to "run" your new exercise program past your doctor before you begin. Especially if you haven't been too active recently, or if you plan to make a dramatic jump in the frequency and/or intensity of your exercise program.
Your age and your health also make a big difference which of the exercise weight loss programs you can follow. For example, a healthy 25 year old and a healthy 75 year old won't be doing the exact same program. Now don't misunderstand me.
I don't believe we have to resign ourselves to a weak useless body as we age. Not at all! Both people may be able to play basketball, for example, but their exercise weight loss programs won't be executed with the same intensity or for the same amount of time.
For this article I'm targeting "middle of the road:" Healthy people 35 to 55 years old who are active. By that I mean people who are exercising and physically active for at least 30 minutes a day three or more days a week. If you're less active than that, start slower and easier. If you're more active you can ramp up what you see below.
What follow are some very generic guidelines that again, you should still get your doctor's approval on before you proceed.
Well-rounded weight loss programs include three basic elements: Cardiovascular strength and endurance (often simply called "aerobic" exercise), muscular strength and endurance "anaerobic" exercise), and flexibility. To accomplish all three you can vary your workouts from day to day.
Not only do these varied programs benefit your health and weight loss more, the variety also helps keep you from getting bored. Plus it's just more fun this way.
What significance does each of these three components hold for exercise weight loss programs?
Those are the broad-brush big picture elements of exercise weight loss programs that work. In Part 2 of exercise weight loss programs we get into the details of executing your program.