Exercise and Losing Weight
- When you’re working out, you’re burning a relatively high number of calories in a short amount of time. While you’re burning calories throughout the day, the calories that you burn during your workouts add to your daily total. When this daily total of calories burned is greater than the calories that you take in from what you eat and drink, you create a caloric deficit. Your body then has to break down fat that you have stored on your body to use as fuel. When you reach a caloric deficit of 3,500, you lose a pound of fat.
Longer Workouts
- If you’re participating in low- to moderate-intensity cardio exercise, such as walking, jogging or biking, the longer you work out, the more calories you’ll burn. According to the American Council on Exercise, a 160-pound person will burn about 15.1 calories every minute she participates in running. That means if she runs for 30 minutes, she’ll burn about 453 calories, but if she goes for 60 minutes, she’ll burn about 906 calories. The more calories you burn, the more effective your workout will be for weight loss.
- Shorter Workouts
- A shorter workout can be more efficient for burning calories than a longer workout as long as you structure your training session into bouts of high-intensity intervals. If you were to run at the same pace as you would when going for a jog, you’re not going to burn as many calories in a shorter session. However, if your workout consists of 10 sets of 100- to 400-meter sprints, intertwined with short periods of rest, although your workout will take less time than a jog around the neighborhood, you’ll be burning a high number of calories. The exact number of calories depends on a few factors, including the type of activity you’re doing, your body weight, and the number of intervals you complete. According to the American Council on Exercise, higher-intensity exercise burns a greater number of calories than longer, lower-intensity workouts and therefore is more efficient when trying to lose weight.
Impact on Metabolism
- In addition to shorter, high-intensity workouts burning more calories than longer, lower-intensity sessions, they also make a positive impact on your metabolic rate. After you’re finished with workouts of high intensity, your body has to work harder to recover and restore energy storage. You continue to burn more calories during this time, even if you’re resting. This further contributes to the total calories you burn that day and thus helps you with your weight-loss efforts.
