Detailed Explanation of Aerobic Exercise Programs and the Combination of Diet and Exercise

3. Exercise: Many obese people start exercising with great enthusiasm to lose weight, but stop after only a few weeks.

The reasons for this are nothing more than the following: ① An eagerness to lose weight, fantasizing about reducing weight or fat in a short period of time, and giving up the plan when no obvious results are seen; ② The chosen exercise is not suitable for one's physical condition; ③ The exercise is boring and one lacks patience.

In the first case, you should strengthen your self-discipline and build confidence. Weight loss through exercise is a long-term process and cannot be achieved overnight. You should know that losing 0.5 kg per month is a great success. In the second case, if the selected exercise is too intense and exceeds 80% of your maximum heart rate, it will cause discomfort to your body. In this case, you should adjust the exercise. In the third case, you should increase the types of exercise you do and rotate the content every day, provided that it is aerobic exercise.

In summer, jogging on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, swimming or cycling in the countryside on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, and adding ice skating or skiing in winter can all improve overall endurance and reduce fat accumulation.

Another benefit of rotating exercises is that it can prevent over-strengthening of certain muscle groups in the body.

Below are several aerobic exercise programs. Readers can choose one or two that they like or that are suitable for them. However, regardless of the program, it is important to maintain the optimal heart rate intensity during exercise.

Jogging, running:

We believe that among all exercise-based weight loss programs, this is the easiest, simplest, most practical, and most effective aerobic exercise method.

It is not limited by time or place; the only thing to be careful about is preventing bumps and strains to the joints and muscles.

It is recommended that people who are not used to long-distance running start by jogging, that is, running 1600 meters in more than 8 minutes, and then increasing the speed.

To reduce fatigue, it is recommended to buy a pair of good quality sports shoes, try to land on your heels when running, and choose a familiar and relatively flat area.

Walk:

For older people, walking is the best form of exercise, but it is important to be careful to walk at a speed that allows you to maintain 80% of your maximum heart rate.

If necessary, a sandbag can be used, with the weight of the sandbag adjusted to achieve the required heart rate.

Cycling:

Cycling is an activity that can be done regardless of body weight.

It is especially suitable for overweight and elderly people. The main problem is finding a cycling route that can maintain a certain heart rate without stopping. This is easier for people who work in the suburbs. Safety is the primary concern.

The best way is to ride an indoor bike.

swim:

Swimming can effectively improve and enhance cardiopulmonary function, strengthen body temperature regulation, improve physical fitness, and temper willpower. It is especially effective in improving coordination and building a beautiful physique.

During practice, the force is evenly distributed across all parts of the body, making it less likely to damage joints, muscles, and ligaments. It is suitable for people of all ages and consumes a large amount of energy.

Experiments have shown that swimming 100 meters in water consumes 2 to 3 times more calories than walking 100 meters on land.

Therefore, swimming is one of the most effective exercises for weight loss.

Ice skating, roller skating, and skiing:

These types of sports eliminate the potential injuries caused by long-distance running, while providing the same benefits, and are more fun. Skiing can also exercise your arms.

There are two points to note: ① Warm up before exercising to prevent muscle strain; ② Don't forget to check your heart rate and don't let it rise too high.

Climbing the stairs:

In recent years, stair climbing has become very popular in Europe and America, and more and more people are persisting in climbing stairs.

According to measurements, climbing stairs burns 58.58 kilojoules (14 kilocalories) of energy per minute, which is 21 times that of lying down, 3 times that of running, and 4 times that of walking. It is similar to mountain climbing and is a very good way to lose weight.

People living in high-rise buildings can make full use of this unique advantage, try to avoid elevators, and insist on exercising by going up and down stairs, which can help them lose weight and stay fit.

jump rope:

Rope skipping is a full-body exercise that primarily involves the muscles of the limbs. It not only develops endurance, jumping ability, coordination, and reaction time, but also helps improve other athletic abilities.

When jumping rope, don't jump with both legs at the same time; alternate between your feet. Also, don't jump too fast. To increase the intensity of the exercise, simply lift your feet higher.

All you need is a rope and 2-3 square meters of open space.

Running in place:

This exercise is suitable for everyone's physical condition and is a great indoor exercise. People in good physical condition should raise their legs higher when doing this exercise.

Running in place, like long-distance running, is prone to injury. Therefore, when doing this exercise, you should switch to another exercise every 2 to 3 days to prevent sports injuries.

jump:

Jumping in place is a full-body exercise that primarily works the lower limb muscles. It effectively develops lower limb and gluteal strength, resulting in significant and lasting weight loss.

When jumping, the internal organs vibrate rhythmically with the movement, which helps to oxidize fat in organs such as the abdominal cavity and mesentery.

When engaging in this sport, it is also important to rotate activities, switching to another sport every 2-3 days.

Dance:

Dancing is a great form of exercise.

You can dance ballroom dance, middle-aged and elderly disco, Yangko dance, or any dance you are good at. But you must make sure that your heart rate is maintained at the ideal exercise heart rate level for 12 minutes.

IV. Combining exercise with diet therapy for weight loss

Physical exercise and dietary therapy each have their own advantages and disadvantages.

Dietary therapy forces the body to expend a lot of energy, resulting in rapid and significant weight loss. However, it inevitably depletes the body's protein and water reserves, and the weight is difficult to control after stopping dietary control, often resulting in a "rebound" effect. This is its main drawback.

Symptoms such as weakness and fatigue often occur during diet control, which often causes distress for dieters.

Physical exercise for weight loss, especially physical activities suitable for middle-aged and elderly patients, generally does not consume much energy and the weight loss is small. However, it not only promotes the breakdown of fat and conserves amino acids, but also promotes the synthesis of protein in muscles. Often, fat tissue decreases while muscle protein increases. In this way, even if the weight change is not significant, the treatment of obesity is very successful, achieving both weight loss and fitness effects, which is highly advisable.

In practical application, the two should be combined well. While diet control plays the main role, appropriate physical exercise should be used as a supplement to consolidate the weight loss effect.