How many days per week should you work out to shed weight?

It’s great that you are interested in doing some workouts as you try to lose some of those extra weights. The truth is that many persons who are on a weight loss routine find it hard to incorporate exercises into their plan. The reason for this may be due to a tight work schedule, or some may not just have the will to get break some sweat when time permits. However, having workouts mixed with other interventions – may be reducing portion size, fasting, etc – will always do any weight loss goal a whole lot of good.

Incorporating workouts into your weight loss routine will take some degree of planning, especially when your work schedule is factored in. This means you will have to sit and structure out what works for you. This brings us to the discourse of the day on how many days you will need to work out to lose weight.

Since you’re stirred up to get in the thick of things, consistently doing a series of workouts, you should be mindful not to overdo it – moderation is key here too. Being tough at it may be cool at times but some days of rest will be helpful nonetheless. The fact is that persistent exercise with good rest will increase the probability of one losing muscle hence making your weight loss routine counterproductive in the long run.

Generally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that a minimum of 75 minutes of intense aerobic activity or 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity every week will be highly beneficial to the overall well-being of an individual – and this, by extension, could help your weight-loss objective. Aerobic exercises are such that result in the increase of breathing rate and heart rate as more oxygen is transported to the muscle – this is why they are also called cardio. You might however need to put in more minutes than what is recommended by CDC if you’re embarking on a workout to shed weight.

In incorporating exercises into your weight loss routine; you can choose to do your workout on 5 days of the week while you rest for the remaining 2 days. That said, even a person that has decided to go on 2 – 3 days of workout per week while attempting to lose weight should record some measure of a positive outcome. On the other hand, there are cases where people may choose to work out every day of the week. While exercise may not be too much, it will be helpful to give your body some time to recover. The number of days and hours spent observing exercise routine will usually depend on a person’s preference, especially as it concerns the kind of result s/he is expecting. Moreover, your schedule and lifestyle may yet influence on you go about the workout.

Another aspect you need to duly consider is the blend of exercise activities you will be doing. It is always advisable to do some aerobic exercises and strength training every week. Given that you decided to go with a 5-days workout plan; you can alternate between each of the two exercises for the first five days of the week while having rest midweek and do both on the sixth day – see the table below.

Workout timing

You can choose to have 30 – 60 minutes of these (moderate – intense) exercises on the selected day. You do not have to do this at a stretch as you can break it into short sessions – of maybe 15 minutes or as your schedule may permit. In case you have a tight schedule, you can consider maximizing the weekend for your workout and then choose 2 other days of the week to make it up.

Doing your workout right before breakfast may be helpful for your weight loss objective. This is backed by a study that reveals that individuals who exercise before having their breakfast have the probability of experiencing an afterburn effect. This explains the scenario whereby more calories are burned after an initial exercise. This will be very helpful for anyone looking to have sustainable weight loss. So, you can start making plans to have your first cardio around the time you’ll get up from bed.

However, rest should not necessarily be taken as sliding into an inactive mode. So, you can still consider taking a stroll – or maybe doing less intense activities – on the days you will be resting from your workout. You can rest as much as you want, but remember that forming a habit of workout – and keeping to a committed weight loss routine – requires some degree of regularity.

Exercises to consider for a workout routine

There are numerous exercises you can engage in as you aim at burning more calories to meet your weight loss goal. And, as every individual’s (weight loss) vary, so does the outcome obtained from these exercises differ. However, apart from the timing and intensity of an exercise, your current body weight is another factor that will determine the number of calories you will burn doing a particular exercise.

Let’s consider a 170-pound individual who desires to lose 1 pound every week by doing exercises – cardio or strength training. The tables below show the number of minutes that should be done provided the person chooses to do his/her workout for only 5 days.

CARDIO EXERCISES

RESISTANCE TRAINING

Although the duration needed to burn 3,500 calories weekly by doing exercises has been presented in the table above, you don’t have to stick to a particular one. Combining the exercises will help you get more fun out of it. It’s also important to add that resistance training is specifically valuable because of how it raises metabolism thus bringing about an afterburn effect. Again, it is expected that you will be doing your workout in sync with some dietary observances to achieve a satisfactory weight loss outcome. Having said that, you shouldn’t hesitate to solicit the assistance of a personal trainer when necessary.

References

Donnelly JE, et al. (2009). Appropriate physical activity intervention strategies for weight loss and prevention of weight regain for adults. Med Sci Sports Exerc 41: 459 – 471.

Donnelly JE, et al. (2013). Aerobic exercise alone results in clinically significant weight loss for men and women: Midwest exercise trial 2. Obesity (Silver Spring) 21(3): E219 – E228.

Jeukendrup AE, and Wallis GA. (2005). Measurement of substrate oxidation during exercise by means of gas exchange measurements. Int J Sports Med. Suppl 1: S28 – S37.

Tanaka K, et al. (2012). Exercise, diet, and weight loss. The Journal of Physical Fitness and Sports Medicine 1: 457 – 465.

https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/physical_activity/index.html