Fat Loss Guide Step Three

Compared to the alternative - any exercise is better than no exercise!

So What type of exercise is best?

Think about the type of exercise you are considering doing or ones you are doing already. Do they involve continuous activity such as cycling, rowing, skiing, dancing, walking, swimming. Now are they more intermittent in terms of activity such as badminton, tennis or team sports?

The type of activity and exercise will have an impact on how long you should exercise.

Consider to what extent you are using your muscles? The more muscles you use the more effective. Doing weight bearing exercise such as running or walking, where you carry your body weight, brings better results than non-weight bearing exercise such as swimming, where your body floats and you use your arms to propel yourself through the water. However, the main aim is to give your heart a workout so as long as you can maintain your target heart rate, the numbers of muscles being used is a secondary consideration.

Finally, what type of exercise are you most likely to keep doing? The best exercise is one you will enjoy and keep doing.

How much exercise is best?

For over 20 years now it's been generally accepted that 30 minutes of continuous exercise is the minimum needed for health gains. When doing intermittent activities such as tennis, you should stick with it for a little longer. Research, more recently, has suggested that health benefits flow from total energy expenditure. So whether you do three 10-minute exercise sessions or one 30-minute workout, the reduction in risk of heart disease is the same.

How often should we exercise?

It is good generally speaking that we do some form of exercise three to four times a week. This is mainly, because our lifestyles are predominantly inactive, with only bursts of activity. Doing constant, low intensity exercise every day is probably better for us - but it comes down to what your lifestyle and timetable can manage. How often and how much also depends on your fitness level. For fitter people to keep improving, their workouts need to be longer, more frequent and more intense than for less fit people.

How intensely should we do it?

You are burning fat during low intensity exercise - which is good news for dedicated walkers out there. It doesn't mean you burn less fat per minute, when you are exercising more intensely (so you puff and sweat more). What it does mean is that to get enough energy at a quick enough rate your body burns fat but supplements this supply of energy by using progressively more carbohydrate as a fuel. During very high intensity exercise for very short bursts, it's almost all carbohydrate and next to no fat, that's burning off.

In summary
• Choose exercise that you enjoy and will keep doing
• Exercise for at least 30 minutes
• Do some activity for three to five times a week
• Do a mix of intensity exercises to provide variety where you can to benefit fat loss and weight loss


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