When you do cardio, strength training, or even light activities like yoga, your energy expenditure increases, creating a calorie deficit and contributing to weight loss. Not only does your body burn calories while you exercise, it also sends signals to stimulate your metabolism, allowing you to continue burning calories even when you are resting.
In addition, a regular exercise routine helps build lean muscle, which increases your basal metabolic rate, resulting in sustainable weight control. At the same time, exercise also helps regulate hormones related to satiety and cravings, helping you limit the risk of overeating and maintain your weight naturally and long-term.
Gentle exercises to help lose weight effectively at home
Here are some popular and effective exercises:
1. Jumping Jacks
Jumping Jacks is one of the simplest cardio exercises that you can do at home. When jumping and spreading your arms and legs continuously, your body will increase your heart rate quickly, promoting the process of burning calories. This exercise helps warm up the body, improve cardiovascular endurance and can consume a significant amount of energy in just a few minutes of exercise.
2. Squats
Squats have a strong impact on the thigh, buttocks and abdominal muscles. When performed regularly, squats not only help tone the lower body but also stimulate the body to burn fat effectively. You can do squats with your body weight or combine hand weights to increase the difficulty, thereby improving weight loss effectiveness.
3. Plank Exercise (Static Push-Ups)
Although Plank is simple, it is extremely effective in tightening the abdominal muscles and strengthening the core. Maintaining the plank position for a period of time helps the body burn more energy and improve posture, while supporting the process of burning belly fat – the area where excess fat is most often accumulated.
4. Burpees Exercise (Jumping and Push-Ups)
Burpees are one of the full-body exercises that help burn calories quickly. With just a series of movements including push-ups, jumping and standing up continuously, you will exercise most of the muscle groups in the body. This is the perfect choice if you want to increase your heart rate, train your endurance and promote effective weight loss in a short time.
5. Yoga or Pilates Exercise
For those who want to choose a gentle but sustainable exercise, yoga and pilates are a great combination. Stretching, balancing and breathing exercises not only help your body become more flexible but also help burn energy gently. In addition, yoga also helps you control stress – a factor that causes overeating leading to weight gain.
Principles before exercising at home
Before starting any home exercise plan, understanding some basic principles will help you achieve better results and limit injuries. Here are some important principles to remember:
- Warm up thoroughly before exercising: The body needs to be “warmed up” before starting the main exercises. Warming up for 5-10 minutes with light movements such as rotating joints, walking in place or stretching will help increase blood circulation, warm up muscles and reduce the risk of injury.
- Choose the right space: Make sure the place to exercise at home is spacious, airy and safe. Avoid exercising in places with furniture that can easily get stuck or slippery floors. A mat is also helpful to avoid injury and create comfort.
- Practice correctly, do not rush: Even if it is a simple exercise, doing it incorrectly can cause back pain, joint pain or injury. Therefore, learn how to perform each movement carefully, practice slowly and steadily before increasing the speed or intensity.
- Combine a variety of exercises: Do not only practice one muscle group or one type of exercise. Alternate between cardio (running in place, jumping rope), strength training (squats, planks, push-ups) and stretching exercises (yoga, stretching) to bring comprehensive results.
- The principle of gradual increase: Start at a light level, then gradually increase the number of repetitions, time or difficulty. This principle helps the body adapt, avoid overexertion at the beginning and maintain long-term habits.
- Listen to your body: If you feel unusual pain (different from normal muscle fatigue), stop and rest. The body needs time to recover after a workout, so getting enough sleep and proper nutrition are also important.
- Maintain consistency: Weight loss and body shape maintenance come from perseverance. Regular exercise of 20–30 minutes a day or at least 4–5 sessions a week will bring more sustainable results than high-intensity but intermittent exercise.
