Exercise: 10 Workout Tips For Weight Loss

You’ve heard that exercise is good for weight loss and your health. But how can you take this one step further to fully optimize your weight loss routine?

This post is part of Breakaway Limit’s Ultimate Weight Loss Guide.

From increasing efficiency to psychological tricks, here are ten tips for exercise that will maximize your fat loss.

1. Cut Down Exercise Time With High-Intensity Workouts

One of the most popular excuses to avoid exercising is, “I don’t have time.” But does exercise have to be time-consuming for the best results?

Studies show that high-intensity, short duration exercises (achieving >90% peak heart rate) can significantly reduce more of your body’s overall fat content than low-intensity, long-duration exercise.^[1] On average, a 10-15 minute workout is all it takes to get the benefits of high-intensity interval training (HIIT).

2. Work Out In The Morning

When you exercise, how do you know whether your energy is coming from lipids (fat) or carbohydrates (sugar)? As it turns out, you can increase your breakdown of fat throughout the day by exercising before breakfast.^[2]

The human body likes metabolizing sugar first, which reaches its lowest levels before your first meal of the day. If you exercise before breakfast, your body will have to turn to its fat reserves for energy. So before you replenish your body’s sugar stores with breakfast, jump-start your fat metabolism with a morning workout!

3. Get Away With Only A 2 Minute Exercise

Performing high-intensity exercises increases your metabolic rate throughout the entire day. In fact, a 2-minute sprinting session increases your daily oxygen demand equivalent to that of a 30-minute exercise routine.^[3]

Both exercises resulted in similar weight loss when performed three times weekly for six weeks. So run as fast as you can for 2 minutes in the morning, and you could achieve the fat loss potential of a 30-minute exercise.

4. Reduce Muscle Soreness With Low-Intensity Workouts

Have you ever exercised to the point that you were too sore the next day to work out? The feeling of pride from working out so intensely is met with disappointment and guilt the next day as you skip out on further straining your muscles.

To avoid this dilemma, incorporate 20 minutes of low-moderate intensity exercise AFTER a high-intensity workout. Studies have shown that this will reduce any post-workout soreness and speed up recovery.^[4] This way, you can improve your fat burning potential by exercising daily.

5. Perform Strength Training Exercise To Burn More Calories

A higher muscle mass is associated with a higher basal metabolic rate (BMR). What this means is that you’ll burn more calories throughout the day, even while at rest!

Because muscle consumes calories even while it’s not doing anything, you’ll be burning calories as long as you maintain that muscle mass. Strength training builds up muscles, so your workout helps you lose fat long after you’ve stopped.

6. Exercising Decreases The Desire For Fatty Foods

After 12 weeks of exercise, the desire for foods high in fat decreased in overweight/obese individuals when compared to those who didn’t.^[5]

If you find yourself craving high-fat foods, notice what happens when you start exercising regularly. You could end up consuming fewer calories and losing weight more efficiently.

7. Exercise Decreases Stress and Stress-Eating

In a study involving depressed individuals, exercise decreased levels of cortisol, a stress hormone.^[6]

Cortisol can ultimately lead to poor control of blood sugar, which increases the desire for food. As a result, stress makes you more prone to snacking throughout the day and increases calorie intake.^[7]

8. Exercise Reduces Overeating

Exercise helps with weight loss partially due to its effect on appetite control.^[8] By improving the sensitivity of appetite control through exercise, you are less likely to overeat than your more sedentary peers.

Find yourself overeating frequently? Exercise may help you control and reduce your impulses to binge.

9. Exercise Regularly

Working out every day allows you to build a habit of exercising. By skipping your exercise once, you run the risk of breaking your exercise habit altogether. Your one “cheat day” can turn into several, or you may end up quitting entirely.

If you’re unmotivated to complete a full workout, a short session of high-intensity exercise at half the usual duration is often acceptable. This way, you’ll still be productive and can maintain your streak (which can also serve as motivation).

10. Exercise With A “Just Do One” Mentality

Even if you don’t have the motivation to exercise, you can build momentum by telling yourself to “do just one”. Getting started is often the hardest part. Whether it’s doing crunches or running, trick your mind into working out with this mindset.

Once you’ve done just one, ask yourself how hard it would be to do one more. With each step you take, the momentum from the previous one will keep you going until you’ve done your entire workout.

Conclusion

The most common barrier to weight loss is a lack of motivation. Even if we dig deep and take the initiative, unpromising results will quickly deter us from persevering.

However, by now you should have a better understanding of how to exercise for the best results. When you see your progress, you’ll be far more motivated than before you started.

With this information, you’ll be able to create the optimal weight loss plan that works for you and be one step ahead of those who are exercising without a plan.

Want to reach your goals faster? Link this article to your friends and find yourself an accountability buddy for even better results!

I’d love to hear how you do with these exercise tips or if you’ve successfully implemented any of these weight loss tips. Let me know your progress and results in the comments!

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