Best Exercise To Lose Weight Updated 2023: Top 5 & Helpful Tips

What Are The Best Exercises For You To Lose Weight?

We have included 5 exercises that we believe to be the best for one reason or another. 

Sprinting

Sprinting^[1] is a form of high-intensity interval training (HIIT). Most of you must be aware of some of the benefits of HIIT. Sprinting will activate fast twitch muscle fibers and draw the anaerobic/creatine phosphate energy stem. In turn, this will allow you to burn calories in the short term, build some major muscle groups, and lose weight in the long term. 

Six sprints can burn >300 calories, which is equivalent to 30 minutes of steady-state cardio. Exerting yourself maximally can deplete glycogen stores and switch on a mechanism called AMPK. This means the body will be burning calories (fatty acids) for up to 72 hours after the exercise session, which may contribute towards losing weight. 

As we mentioned, sprinting can build some muscle tissue. Muscle is the most thermo-active tissue. In the long term the additional tissue on the frame could boost the metabolism, all the more reason to add sprints into your intense exercise routine. So overall sprint training may help lose weight by burning calories in the short term and boost the basal metabolic rate in the longer term.

To perform sprint training, you must sprint all out for 10-30 seconds, then allow your heart rate to recover enough to repeat another sprint. To reap all of the training benefits, I would suggest completing 6 sprints. 

Running

Running^[2] can be classified as anaerobic or aerobic exercise depending on the pace you are going. It can burn up to 420 calories per 30 minutes. You could practically run anywhere, roads, gardens, parks, fields, and the treadmill.  Personally, I like to run on uneven surfaces as it draws in more of the core stability muscles from having to keep balanced.  

Walking 

Walking^[3] is a very low-intensity exercise, but we love it. It can be performed by a wider range of the population. For example, those who are not able to engage in intense exercise may be able to walk i.e., the elderly and morbidly obese.

I have worked with obese clients who were not able to do any exercise besides walking. We used light walking for 4-5 minutes per day, which was a stepping stone to revive some mobility and reduce some body weight from the calorie burn.   

In the longer term, this allowed us to build walking endurance where we were able to increase the duration slowly. Eventually, we were able to move on to more advanced exercises to lose weight. 

In general, light walking can burn up to 138 calories per 30 minutes. 

Dancing

Moderate-paced dancing^[4] counts as one of aerobic exercises. Although dancing burns calories fewer than many exercises on an hourly basis, we still regard it highly due to it being enjoyable. This may motivate people to participate in dancing.

Dancing for 30 minutes can burn up to 294 calories. If one really enjoys dancing and takes it up for 1hr per day it could burn a whopping 588 calories.

The “Big 3” Barbell Exercises

The barbell deadlift, squat, and bench are a form of strength training.^[5] Others may refer to them as weight training, resistance training, lifting weights, etc. I know that people usually get a bit confused over terminologies.  

The reason I have highlighted these exercises is that it is great for engaging multiple muscle groups, including the individual upper and lower body muscles. This can burn ~125 calories per 3-5 sets and build the lean muscle mass of the entire body in the long term. Becoming more muscle-bound would certainly increase the metabolic rate and body composition, as we know how much of a thermo-active tissue muscle is. This could help you lose weight and improve body composition. 

Other Exercising Tips For Weight Loss

Maintain Good Posture & Form

To optimize the effectiveness and safety of an exercise you must keep a good posture throughout. For example, if you are squatting and your back starts to cave in, this increases the risk of spinal damage. 

An injury can set you back and cause you to not be able to engage in much physical activity. This can cause a caloric surplus, which means you will be getting more calories than your body needs. This puts the body into reverse, where you would begin to gain body fat and weight. 

If you are not sure about proper posture and exercise form, employing a certified personal trainer is an option. Good personal trainers will guide and adjust exercises to ensure that you get the most out of them and as safely as possible. 

Consistency 

Keeping consistent with exercise is a must if you want to lose weight. Using our example subject from earlier, let’s say that if exercise was cut to 1 day a week, it would take 7 weeks to lose 1lb of fat, which is significantly slower. 

If you want to continue losing weight, consistently driving a caloric deficit is important. You must find the weight to bring net calories down once weight loss plateaus. 

This can be from increasing exercise expenditure, healthy eating, increasing non-exercise activity, or changing the macronutrient composition of the food that you eat. Protein foods have a higher thermic effect, meaning they require more calories to digest, absorb, and metabolize. 

Variation 

In my opinion, adding a variety of exercises and changing them over time is important. This can reduce tedium and motivate you to keep exercising to burn calories and build muscle tone consistently. 

Once you get bored of your workout you can begin to replace different cardio exercises like jumping rope, brisk walking, weight machines, yoga classes, full-body workout, HIIT workouts, etc. 

Nutrition For Exercise

Without getting into too much detail, exercise requires well-thought-out nutrition for fuel and as a means of muscle recovery. 

To be specific carbohydrates can be consumed which will then be stored in the muscles, liver, and brain to be used as energy for exercise. Carbohydrate foods include; fruit, pasta, rice, bread, sugars, etc. 

Protein foods are also important for the growth and repair of muscle. Foods that contain all of the essential amino acids can promote muscle protein synthesis. These foods could include; whey protein, milk, egg, casein, chicken breast, chicken leg, white fish, beef, etc.