Losing body fat is a combination of eating less food and/or eating healthier food, and burning calories through workouts. Though eating healthy is critical for long-term health, in my experience people won’t count calories and stick to a strict diet for very long, and certainly not the rest of their lives. However, developing a habit of regular exercise is surprisingly easy, and some people grow love how they feel after a strenuous workout. Exercising is always helpful, but you can also tailor your workouts to your individual needs.
For example, when you’re first wanting to lose body fat, you would probably just like to shed enough pounds for you to see results, and that’s perfectly fine. It’s really hard for most people to stay on track in the beginning unless they lose some pounds pretty quickly, so I usually recommend a lot of cardio, four or five times a week. You should really alternate whatever you’re doing for cardio, especially if you’re running, which is stressful on joints, and knees especially. Some other suggestions are biking, hiking, swimming, canoeing, running stairs, and jumping rope. Cardio exercises like these burn a lot of fat in just a half hour of exercise, so if you can dedicate 30 minutes of every weekday for the next month to getting your heart rate elevated, you’ll see the pounds start to slide off.
After you’ve lost the first few pounds of fat, most people will start to see some good long-term results by adding in some weight lifting and strength training into their schedules. Most men will probably want to devote more of their time to muscle building than women, but alternating between cardio and strength days is a good place to start. Muscle burns calories faster than the equivalent amount of fat does, and helps you firm all major parts of your body and improves your posture. Many people I’ve worked with who hate cardio don’t mind lifting weights for a half hour. If you’ve got a weight room at home, watch a movie while you lift, or listen to some music while you’re at the gym. Your goal here is not to get huge, but to look like you’re toned and healthy, not just skinny.
