What is the best exercise for fat loss?

I'd recommend getting some HIIT sessions into that plan!

Me Personally, I think diet is the key to fat loss. Any workout with the right diet will shed fat.

Hi All - My name is Suzanne, I'm 41, 5'5", 205lbs, I'm definitely a "pear". I'm fat but strong, and I'm wondering what is the best type of exercise to get the scale moving down fast? I'm on weekl 5 of P90X and loving it - I'm seeing gains in weight I can lift, repetitions I can do, and seeing muscle definition in my body. I think I'm pretty strong - I use 10-15 lb. weights for all of the exercises, I can easily carry a 50 lb bag of dog food up two flights of stairs. I can run 3miles in 45 minutes. I really want to be smaller, fit in nicer clothes, and get rid of all the flab and sag from my waist to my knees. What do you guys think is the best exercise plan for pure fat loss?

The best exercise for fat loss? That's easy. It's your favorite one.

Seriously. The best exercise for fat loss is the one you'll do and stick with it. Running, cycling, circuit training, weight lifting, whatever floats your boat. Find something you love, stick with it, and remember to watch your nutrition. No exercise will outtrain a bad diet. That's probably the biggest key. You watch "Biggest Loser" and they show them doing all these workouts ("Last Chance Workout!!") but they don't show the diet side. Those folks are eating 1100-1200 calories a day and THAT'S IT. So keep the calories down (maybe not THAT far) and pick your favorite.

Have fun, and good luck!

cardio for sure. use the treadmill or elliptical consistently and the fat will start to melt off

The one you enjoy and keep wanting to do.

:drinker:

The best exercize is the one that you will actually do 3-4 times per week. Pick something that is fun for you, that you don't dread doing, something that makes you feel good afterward, a sense of accomplishment. Let it be something that raises your heart rate a bit and gets your body in motion.

The number one problem is that people don't stick with it. I think you find something you enjoy, set lots of short-term goals, and have fun with it.

Good Luck!!!

--Carter

I have to agree with the guy who said a good diet with any workout is the key to fat loss. My trainer, who is also a bodybuilder, always says, you can't train your way out of a bad diet. Other than that, I also think lots of cardio is necessary to really see results - to me that means 5-6 days a week of an hour or so. Weight bearing exercises like running or stairmaster tend to burn more calories than things like biking. In other words, you get more bang for your buck or more calories for your time.

yep, agree with everyone else, diet is key... i've always been pretty fit, and even when i was going to the gym 3 times a week, walking or riding my bike to work and home every day that i didn't go to the gym, i would still put on weight if i didn't focus on food.

and any exercise if you do it regularly and consistently will do the job ir you aren't over eating.

I love spin / RPM classes, they get my heart rate up to crazy heights
I love the cross trainer (eliptical)
i have a friend that lost 70+kg from walking and diet alone, she was HUGE, so she didn't do anything impacty, just walked, 2-3 hours a day, she went from a size 26 to a size 10, and it astounds me that she doesn't do anything else, no gym, no trainer, no situps, nothing, just walk, walk, walk... rain hail or shine. sure it took a lot of time, but she is somewhere she hasn't been since she was in school.

I'm another one for diet. I have been in the gym for the past 14 years, unfortunately my diet didn't change much. When I was younger I was able to get away with a bad diet but not anymore. I made drastic changes to my diet in the past year and have seen significant losses in bodyfat. Diet is definitely more important, especially as you get older. Anything that you like doing that gets your heart rate up is good as long as you continue to do it. Those two things and you can't fail.

If you like/are doing P90x, maybe follow the "lean" version of the program versus the "standard"? That way your workouts will be cardio oriented, but still part of the program

cardio is the only thing working for me. I found that I absolutely love to bicycle, so I do it 4-5 times a week, and I'm up to 20 miles and an hour and a half at a time. On the days I don't bicycle, if the weather is ok, I hike with the dogs, over an hour at a vigorous pace, and if the weather is not ok, I go to the gym and lift weights and then do 1/2hr of the cybex arc trainer.

I eat pretty healthy over all, but just cannot survive on less than 1500 calories a day. Otherwise I'm plain starving and end up eating terribly. So I figured that if I can't eat less than 1500 calories a day, then I better start burning them off. I burn between 500-700 calories at a time and try and eat accordingly (less on lighter days, more on those 700cal burn days) I lost 11 pounds in April, and have more energy than ever.

Me Personally, I think diet is the key to fat loss. Any workout with the right diet will shed fat.

I agree 100% with this post. Studies actually show that the secret to maximum fat loss, especially that stubborn belly fat, is your diet and not your exercise.

That being said....weight/strength training is going to do a lot more for you as far as fat goes than cardio will. Women have a hard time losing fat because they do nothing but cardio because they're afraid to bulk up even though our bodies are not capable of that without hormonal supplements. They have excellent hearts but little muscle mass. Your muscle is your body's fat burner...increase your muscle mass, decrease your body fat. You might initially gain some weight because muscle is more dense than fat, but you'll lose inches and body fat.

didn't work for me. I tried doing more weight lifting than cardio and didn't lose anything. Gave up after 6 weeks with no change in weight or clothing fit. Took up bicycling and vigorous hiking with the dogs 6 days a week and I'm losing 2 pounds a week. No diet change. Of course, I eat pretty healthy to begin with--very little processed foods, veggies mostly raw, fruits, fish a few times a week, basic rice and or potatoes.....etc. But it's the cardio that's taking the weight off. I work out over an hour a day, and burn 500-700 calories.

There's the difference. When strictly weight training, you weren't having the same calorie burn as you are now. If everything else was equal while you were lifting weights, it just means your caloric intake was more than your caloric burn. Ideally you would want to incorporate weight lifting with some kind of aerobic exercise so you could reap the benefits of both. There is no deny cardio exercises has its benefits but so too does resistance training. It's all about balance.

High Intensity
Intervals
Circuit training

This combined with the correct diet for you (for me moderate to low carb works) will shed fat so quickly. I did P90x....I did get stronger and leaner, but not much fat was lost. When I started doing HIIT/circuit trains then that's when the fat came off.