Which exercise is best for weight loss?

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Regular exercise can be a fantastic way to support weight loss – in both the short and longer term. Losing weight essentially boils down to creating a calorie deficit, so burning additional calories through exercise can help to create this deficit. While all exercise is fantastic from a health perspective, some types are better than others when it comes to giving our weight loss an extra boost.

Cardio

You may be under the assumption that slogging away on a cardio machine for hours is your best bet for weight loss; but the truth is that various other activities are also essential. Here I'll discuss how to choose exercise that will best support your weight loss journey.

The right type of cardio is certainly a good calorie burner, so is a good go-to for most people seeking to use exercise for weight loss – it includes things like running, spin classes, cycling, swimming, using a cross-trainer, rowing and brisk walking. Each of these activities will burn a decent number of calories. The 'best' one to do is the one you enjoy and will therefore do regularly. Start at an intensity that suits your fitness level – the great thing about cardio activity is that you can make progress quite quickly, and it's really motivating when you can feel your fitness level improving!

Walking is excellent for beginners as it is low impact and lower intensity than say running – and because it's less intense, you can usually keep going for longer, which makes it a good calorie burner. A brisk pace is best for getting the most from your walk however, as a steady stroll won't be firing up the calorie burn quite as much! Running is good for burning calories in a shorter space of time and cycling is a great calorie burner too, and better for those needing an activity that's low impact.

In terms of calories burned, here are the estimated figures for a 10st female completing one hour of the following activities at a moderate intensity:

Walking – 158 calories

Running – 463 calories

Cycling – 444 calories

Swimming – 463 calories

Cross-trainer – 393 calories

Rowing – 381 calories

As you can see the figures are quite similar, with the exception of walking, so it really does come down to personal preference.

High intensity interval training or 'HIIT'

A buzzword at the moment, HIIT has become very popular in recent years. It consists of doing short bouts of intense exercise, followed by brief rest periods. Typical HIIT workouts are around 20-30 minutes long (as they are very intense and longer durations would be a big challenge). The great thing about HIIT is that you can achieve a lot in a short space of time – great for busy people! As you're working at such a high intensity, you can burn a decent amount of calories in a 20-minute HIIT session: far more than a steady 20-minute run, for example.

HIIT also benefits from 'after-burn' – which can be even greater than experienced after strength training. This means your metabolic rate remains much higher in the hours following a HIIT workout, making it an all-round fantastic calorie burner.

Strength training

This type of exercise has been overlooked in the past, especially by women concerned that lifting heavy weights will result in big muscles/build. Strength training (or 'resistance' training) is now extremely popular, as people have become aware and have a better understanding of the significant benefits it provides. While lifting weights doesn't burn as many calories in an hour as a run would, the benefits last way beyond the training session itself.

Regular strength training builds lean muscle mass, which helps to boost our metabolic rate – so ultimately, the more muscle mass you have, the more calories your body burns each day. This means that in the longer term, strength training is great for aiding weight loss. Lifting weights can also lead to an 'after-burn' effect, where metabolic rate is slightly increased in the hours post exercise. So while you may burn around 200 calories whilst lifting weights, you could go on to burn an extra 100 calories throughout the day during recovery.

One thing to consider when strength training is that muscle is more dense than fat, so it weighs more when you compare volume-for-volume. This can mean it's possible to get smaller but not lighter if you are building muscle. Important to bear in mind if you are aiming to lose weight – make sure you track your body measurements to monitor progress too!