To lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you consume. Exercise can help you achieve this by burning off some extra calories. However, some people claim that exercise isn't effective for weight loss on its own.
Is exercise really helpful for weight loss? This article takes a look at the evidence.
Does Exercise Help You Lose Weight?
This is also important because muscle is more metabolically active than fat. Preventing muscle loss can help counter the drop in metabolic rate that occurs when you lose weight, which makes it harder to lose weight and keep it off .Additionally, most of the benefits of exercise seem to come from improvements.
Cardio Helps You Burn Calories and Body Fat
One of the most popular types of exercise for weight loss is aerobic exercise, also known as cardio. Examples include walking, running, cycling and swimming.
Aerobic exercise doesn't have a major effect on your muscle mass, at least not compared to weight lifting. However, it is very effective at burning calories.
A recent 10-month study examined how cardio affected 141 obese or overweight people. They were split into three groups and not told to reduce calorie intake.
Group 1 participants lost 4.3% of their body weight, while those in group 2 lost a little more at 5.7%. The control group, which didn't exercise, actually gained 0.5%.
Other studies also show cardio can help you burn fat, especially the dangerous belly fat that increases your risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.