Perhaps all of us have experienced the feeling of clothes gradually getting tighter, the body becoming heavier and every time we look in the mirror, we wonder: “Should I lose weight?”. Excess weight not only affects your appearance but also makes you tired, less flexible and increases the risk of many other diseases. Therefore, the desire to find a safe, effective and sustainable way to lose fat is very natural.
Usually, when thinking about losing weight, we often focus a lot on diet. But the truth is, to have a healthy body and maintain a good figure, exercise and physical activity play an equally important role. Physical activity not only helps burn calories but also improves mood, increases metabolism and makes the body more flexible.
Reasons why you easily gain weight
Before discussing how to lose weight through exercise, we should also understand why weight is easy to gain. Weight gain is not simply a matter of “eating more than you burn”, but is also affected by many different lifestyle and physiological factors.
The main reasons for weight gain include:
- You eat too much: One of the most common reasons is a high-energy but low-nutrient diet. Processed foods, sweets, carbonated soft drinks or fast food often contain a lot of refined sugar and bad fats. When consumed regularly, the body quickly has excess calories, and excess fat accumulates, especially in the abdomen.
- Lack of exercise: A sedentary lifestyle also plays an important role. Office work, sitting habits, using elevators instead of walking, etc. significantly reduce daily energy expenditure. When calories are not used, the body is forced to store them as fat.
- Stress and lack of sleep: When you have insomnia or prolonged stress, the body produces a lot of the hormone cortisol, which tends to increase cravings, especially cravings for sweets and high-energy foods. As a result, you are more likely to eat more than usual without control.
Other factors such as age, endocrine disorders, and medications also make weight more difficult to control.
What is the best exercise to lose weight?
Weight loss does not only come from adjusting your diet to create a calorie deficit, but also depends a lot on physical activity. When exercising, the body not only consumes energy at that moment, but also increases metabolism, improves circulation and maintains cardiovascular health.
Here are the two best exercise methods:
1. Prolonged low-intensity activity
This is the traditional method and is also the most widely used. When you participate in low-intensity activities for a long enough time, the body will gradually switch from using glycogen to burning fat as the main fuel.
For example:
Walk briskly for 45 – 60 minutes.
Cycling lightly for an hour.
Nordic walking with a support stick.
Normally, after 20-30 minutes of maintaining a stable level of activity, the body begins to mobilize stored fat to provide energy. This is why long walks or leisurely cycling sessions on weekends bring sustainable fat loss effects.
2. Moderate or high intensity activity (intervals)
This method is more modern, often called high-intensity interval training (HIIT). It does not require you to have a very good physical foundation, just need to perform the technique correctly.
The principle is:
- Perform a high-intensity movement for 20 seconds (sprinting, cycling fast, jumping in place, speed swimming …).
- Then rest completely for 20 seconds.
- Repeat many times, total time about 30 minutes.
- How it works: During 20 seconds of high intensity, the body mainly uses energy stored in the muscles and liver (glycogen). When resting, the body needs to regenerate this energy source, and to do that, it will selectively burn fat. Thanks to that, HIIT helps increase the efficiency of burning calories not only during exercise, but also many hours later (after-burn effect).
3. How to combine for optimal results
There is no single type of exercise that is suitable for everyone. Ideally, combine both methods:
- During the week: Do 2-3 short HIIT sessions (each session is about 30 minutes).
- On the weekend: Add 1-2 long low-intensity exercise sessions such as walking, slow cycling, light climbing.
This combination helps the body burn fat quickly, improves endurance, protects the cardiovascular system and avoids exhaustion.
