Exercises to lose weight quickly - for women!

'I’ve lost so much weight my clothes are hanging off me, yet I’ve still got a spare tyre around my waist!'

Is this familiar? Or maybe you’ve just noticed how many women can be really thin but still have love handles on the waist. Do you know that anorexics can actually INCREASE their body fat percentage as they drop weight? Why does this happen?

Womens bodies are wonderfully designed for a specific purpose: to produce healthy babies!

In famine stricken countries women still manage to give birth every day to healthy children, though they may be malnourished themselves. This is because of the lovely fat stores that our bodies will fight viciously to protect. So if you thought that losing fat was hard, you were totally RIGHT.

It is a lot easier for men. In one study it was found that women could carry at least twenty percent of their body weight without raising the level of calories burned. So that means if you weigh 120 pounds and get on the treadmill holding a 12 pound dumbbell in each hand your calorie expenditure won’t be any higher than if you had nothing in your hands.

This is because our bodies are designed to be able to carry a baby with maximum efficiency. Women also have a lower resting metabolic rate than men, which means that we burn fewer calories to maintain our basic life functions than men do. We also have larger fat cells than men.

So, if you’re carrying an extra 20 pounds or so of fat, it can be extremely hard to lose!

Exercises to lose weight quickly - Tip 1 - You have to EAT to be LEAN!

If you eat too few calories, you will certainly get smaller, but your body fat percentage may not go down very significantly.

You may lose quite a lot of lean muscle mass in the process. So you will be smaller, but you may not look a whole lot better. Your body will defend its fat stores, just so that it can nurture a healthy baby should you get pregnant! So your muscle mass will waste away and your fat will remain!

So the top priority, before you begin your exercises to lose weight quickly, is to to work out how many calories your body needs and then make sure you are getting close to that.

SOME calorie restriction is necessary to lose weight of course, but it is better if this restriction comes about as a result of the exercise you're doing, rather than just from eating less. A site such as nutridiary.com or fitday.com can help you work this out very effectively.

Exercises to Lose Weight Quickly Tip 2 - Cut your fat consumption

“The fat you eat is the fat you wear“ according to Dr John McDougall. A low fat diet is crucial to your success. While you may be able to lose weight on a high fat diet if you’re restricting calories, your body’s favorite choice of fuel is carbohydrates, so you will find yourself hungry, undernourished and fed up.

You will LOSE your desire to exercise, as you won't have enough carbs in your system to fuel your exercise attempts, therefore you will not be able to BURN FAT! So, when you need to do exercises to lose weight quickly, you need CARBS in your system, this means eating a LOW FAT diet, and getting the bulk of your calories from high energy carbohydrates like fruits and vegetables.

Exercises to Lose Weight Quickly - Tip 3 - Weight Training

The MOST important of the exercises to lose weight quickly is weight training. Adding weight training into your exercise schedule is crucial. And you don’t have to worry that you’ll suddenly look like Arnold, that does not happen by accident.

You should choose weights that are challenging enough so that by the end of your set you are seriously struggling. If you plan on 12 reps and could easily do 15 then you are lifting far too light.

You should also change your routine every 4-6 weeks so that you avoid plateaus. The changes you make do not have to be huge. Just mix it up. Choose some different exercises that work the same muscle groups. Or switch from doing sets with rest breaks in between to doing super-sets and no rest breaks.

The more muscle groups that are engaged in the exercise the better. So it is better to do large compound exercises such as pull ups, pushups and dips, than it is to do preacher curls. Although preacher curls definitely have their place.

When you do pull ups you are working multiple muscles all at the same time. Whereas with a preacher curl you are just working your biceps. So make sure you are doing major compound exercises as well as isolated muscle exercises.

Major compound exercises for legs include squats, lunges, leg press and deadlifts. These work your whole leg as well as your back and your abs as stabilizers.

The more muscle you build the more fat you will burn and the SMALLER your body will get!

Not bigger! The people who bulk up, such as bodybuilders, do so very deliberately with specific dietary programs that enable them to do so. Simply having a lot of lean muscle mass will not mean a large physique, quite the opposite.

Muscle is smaller than fat and you will get tinier and able to fit into the tiniest items in your wardrobe. So don’t be scared of weights, they are crucial, and keep pushing yourself to lift heavier weights so that you are always challenged.

Exercises to Lose Weight Quickly - Tip 4 - Cardio

Weight training and cardio go hand in hand.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you should do ONLY cardio until the excess fat comes off!

Cardio is an essential component in exercises to lose weight quickly, however it HAS to work together with building up your lean muscle mass with strength training.

It takes at least 20 minutes of cardio for your body to get into a fat burning zone, so try for a minimum of 30 minutes daily, but anything more that you can fit in is a bonus.

When you are doing cardio it is essential that you are working hard enough. You should be working out at between 70 and 85% of your maximum heart rate.

To work out your maximum heart rate subtract your age from 220

For example, if you are 30 years old, the formula is as follows:

220 - 30 = 190.

Therefore you should keep your heart rate between 70% (133) and 85% (161) of its maximum.

Exercises to lose weight quickly - Tip 5 - Wear a heart rate monitor!

It's best to wear a heart rate monitor when you work out so that you can make sure you are always working hard enough.

You should NOT be gasping for breath (unless you're doing interval training: short bursts of working out at your absolute MAXIMUM, followed by short rest periods, usually not done for an extended amount of time - between 20 and 40 minutes is usual. This is GREAT too, and if your fitness is up to the challenge, then adding in some high intensity interval training (HIIT) a couple of times a week is a fabulous idea), but you should be breathing more heavily than normal and you should be sweating.

Exercises to lose weight quickly - Tip 6 - Certain types of cardio are better for fat loss than others!

Running is FANTASTIC! Walking on a treadmill at an incline is also great. The Elliptical is great. Exercises that engage more parts of your body are the best.

A stationary bike is less optimal for weight loss. However, cycling outdoors when you're standing in your seat and going up hills is also GREAT!

Make it fun, make it count. Make it work as many muscles as possible.

If you swing your arms vigorously while walking uphill on the treadmill you will be burning many more calories than if you hold onto the sides.

If you're running, incorporate some interval training, for example, run for two or three minutes, walk for 30 seconds. If you're less fit, then run for 1 minute, walk for 30 seconds. This will keep it fun, keep it varied, and also keep your heart rate pumping!

Exercises to Lose Weight Quickly - Tip 7 - Exercise first thing in the morning for best results!

First thing in the morning is the best time for cardio as it is the best time for fat loss. In the mornings you are in a fasting state since you haven’t eaten since the night before and you therefore burn more fat than at any other time of the day.

However, if you can’t manage a morning workout than any time of the day is still going to be beneficial. Just doing it is more important than the time of day you do it.

Doing cardio AFTER your weight training is also better. This way you have more energy to put into really strong sets in your weight training.

Exercises to Lose Weight Quickly - Tip 8 - Home Workouts

I am a fan of home workouts as it is great for when you don’t manage to get to gym or when your time schedule is more limited. It is a lot easier to fit in an hour long workout at home then it is to get yourself to the gym for an hour long workout. So I definitely think having some home workout DVD’s around is a good thing.

I am currently doing the P90X Workouts which is FABULOUS! P90X is an all in one home workout system to get you seriously in shape. For a full review of this home workout system click the above link.

For those not ready for the full P90X experience, I also highly recommend the following home workout systems:

The Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred is GREAT for when you don't have a lot of time. Consisting of 3 twenty five minute workouts that will kick your butt, HARD, this is perfect for the person who doesn't have much time available. Anyone can find 25 minutes in their day.

The Insanity program is brought to you by the same folks who brought you P90X. It is every bit as hectic as P90X, but it requires no equipment at all. It is all body weight exercises and (frantic) cardio. I absolutely love it. Workouts are between 40 minutes and an hour.

Exercises to Lose Weight Quickly - Tip 9 - Work out at least five days a week!

The more the better. Aim for every day, that way if you only manage five days a week you will still be successful.

It is important to have rest days, but you can still exercise on your rest days. You can go for a walk, or do some light yoga. It is important to keep up the routine so that exercise becomes something that you just DO, without question, like brushing your teeth.

It is a myth that you can exercise for only 30 minutes three times a week and still see results. Utter nonsense. If you want to see results you have to put in the time. Sure, you can work smart and it doesn't necessarily have to be that hard (although that's more for the folks with no fat to burn), but for most a minimum of an hour a day 5 times a week is necessary to see good results.

Anything you can add to that is a bonus.

If you don’t have any fat to lose, then you could get by with doing a lot less. You could focus on weight training with just a couple of short cardio workouts per week to maintain your health. In this way you could significantly cut your exercise time.

However, we are not meant to be sedentary beings, we are meant to be highly active. So even if you don’t have any fat to lose, exercising hard is still a really good idea. Just eat more calories so that you don’t lose weight if that isn’t what you want.

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