36 Best Calorie Burning Exercises
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This is one of the most important statements (to me) in this article:
"The big, important caveats here are that exercising on its own actually doesn't do much to make you lose weight."
I have a friend who has been diagnosed as pre-diabetic. He needs to lose about 100 pounds so he has started "walking it off". He goes out and walks about 6 miles a day. And then eats himself into oblivion every night. And wonders why the exercise isn't helping.
He had his 6-month checkup last week and had GAINED weight. Of course his theory to his doctor was that he's gaining muscle because he's exercising.
His doctor referred him to a nutritionist.0 -
Also, based on the information in this article for each exercise, I'm pretty sure that most people are overestimating the calories they're burning. And so is WW and MFP. When I was in losing mode with WW, I never counted nor used APs. Any calories I *might* have burned just went to additional calorie deficit.
I also think most (not all) people overestimate the intensity of their workouts.2 -
I never counted activity points, either.
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Amen. Doing something a few times a week or 5 times a week isn't as important as doing something daily. I do think most folks overcount their "calorie burn". It is really the "net calorie burn" above and beyond daily moving anyway and not just calorie burn. I found on WW plan than I could eat either the weekly points OR my activity points but not both while losing on plans like "momentum" or other older WW plans.
Really I didn't eat "extra" unless my activity was more than at least 1.5 hours in length. So hard hilly bike rides over 1.5 hours I would eat extra or also long steep hilly hikes . Also for x.c skiing over longer distances.
Honestly for me going to the gym is just that and the time of actual activity isn't that much. Same for me with the 60' "aerobic" classes or weight training. All good but for me don't need extra food.
IO believe in doing the equivalent of 10,000 steps daily but it can be a combination of biking and walking.
It takes 3 days in a row of that sort of moving to stabilize blood sugar and works better than diet or certainly diet alone anyway. It also takes 3 days in a row of less than the equivalent of 5000 steps daily to bottom out and have blood sugar spiking max out. So yeah one day subpar here and there just means a minimal change toward blood sugar spiking but you get the idea.
There is no way I could do the current program day in and day out without using some of the AP points at least in moderation.
No doubt on a multiday backpacking adventure I would be eating a lot of them or long long bike rides. I know others who just don't need it for activity/movement less than about 90 minutes.
Oh and like Cindy says I duummmbbb down my estimation of activity. Go to the gym for an hour of weights?? I count it as minimal level AND only for 30 minutes.
And NO, activity does NOT need to be purposeful just above daily stuff. Walking,mowing the lawn,housekeeping,shopping, walking to work or whatever all count if above a minimal level.
So some people only count walking that is above 10,000 steps (8,000 anyway) for example.
Just do what works for you and you alone.1 -
Cindy, you raise an excellent point.
I have a conundrum of sorts. I've never been able to consistently lose weight when I wasn't regularly exercising, but I know full well that weight loss happens predominantly in the kitchen and not on the running trail or bike path. I think there's an indirect element of focus in play more so than any direct correlation between calorie-burning resulting in weight loss.0 -
Also while it is hard to earn enough extra calories doing activity to lose weight on that alone, it is equally hard to to lose weight dieting but remaining bedfast sedentary. The WW plan has the expectation of folks being lightly active and that can mean something in excess of 8000 steps daily or something like that. It is more than I would have thought. It most certainly is not based on being bedfast inactive. So we do need both at least in moderation.
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I learned it here on GOAD: don't bother counting your activity points in exchange for food. It always seemed counter productive for my level of activity anyway so I never gave it any more thought. Even though I'm often getting in 10000 steps, I still don't. After some days when there's a lot of field work (or snow work), I get some seemingly correlated weight adjustment but I can get that most any day so I don't put much stock in it either.
I am glad the authors included the caveat you mentioned above Cindy. Even just looking at the pictures the editor (?) paired with the text, some of the higher-burning activities listed didn't look from the pictures like they were being done with high calorie-burning technique.1 -
The posts on the Motivation & Support board all basically start the same “I’ve been eating clean and going to the gym 6 days per week...”
Tracking is rarely mentioned. I’ve seen it a couple of times, so I can’t say never.
Smartest WW move I made was not adding food for exercise. The only gadget available then was the HRM. The calculations were just too ify.
But as soon as WW got into the FitBit business it seemed like everyone at my meeting got one and started eating more because of it.0 -
There are only 2 exercises that guarantee weight loss.
1. Walk by the refrigerator (or other food storage device)
2. push away from the table when satiated.
Other than those two one falls into the trap others have mentioned.0
