The Importance of Weight Loss and Exercise Obesity can lead to a number of serious health problems, including heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and some types of cancer. One method that can help a person lose weight is to limit the number of calories taken in through their diet. The other way is to burn extra calories with exercise. Benefits of Exercise vs. Diet Combining exercise with a healthy diet is a more effective way to lose weight than depending on calorie restriction alone. Exercise can prevent or even reverse the effects of certain diseases. Exercise lowers blood pressure and cholesterol, which may prevent a heart attack. In addition, if you exercise, you lower your risk of developing certain types of cancers such as colon and breast cancer. Exercise is also known to help contribute to a sense of confidence and well-being, thus possibly lowering rates of anxiety and depression. Exercise is helpful for weight loss and maintaining weight loss. Exercise can increase metabolism, or how many calories you burn in a day. It can also help you maintain and increase lean body mass, which also helps increase number of calories you burn each day. How Much Exercise Is Needed for Weight Loss? To reap the health benefits of exercise, it is recommended that you to perform some form of aerobic exercise at least three times a week for a minimum of 20 minutes per session. However, more than 20 minutes is better if you want to actually lose weight. Incorporating just 15 minutes of moderate exercise — such as walking one mile — on a daily basis will burn up to 100 extra calories (assuming you don’t consume excess calories in your diet afterwards). Burning 700 calories a week can equals 10 lbs. of weight loss over the course of a year. Other benefits of exercise Exercise is really great for your health in many ways, not just in terms of weight management Regular exercise can improve your blood sugar control and may help reduce your risk of chronic diseases like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers Exercise also helps you to maintain and grow your muscle mass, keep your bones strong and dense, and prevent the onset of conditions like osteoporosis — which is characterized by bone brittleness Additionally, exercise offers some mental benefits. It can help you reduce your stress levels and manage stress more effectively, and it appears to offer some protection against neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s disease Keep these benefits in mind when you consider the effects of exercise. Even if it doesn’t make a huge difference for weight loss, it still has other benefits that are just as important. The bottom line Exercise is important for overall health, and different types of exercise may offer different advantages when it comes to weight loss. If you’re trying to lose weight, you may particularly interested in resistance training, which can preserve your fat-free mass and increase your calories burned at rest, and HIIT, which provides the same benefits as cardio, but for less time. So your one stop destination for the perfect weight loss program is at EFFC Palavakkam. But remember, with a goal of sustainable weight loss, it’s also really important to follow a modestly calorie restricted diet comprised mostly of whole foods