When you want to shed a few extra pounds, what’s the best exercise for weight loss: cardio or resistance training? While both will help you hit your fitness goals, let’s look at the benefits of each so you can choose your best exercise for weight loss and your personal health goals.
Cardio Exercise for Weight Loss
When your goal with exercise is to lose weight, know that cardio burns more calories per session than resistance training when given about the same amount of effort. Is that a good thing? Maybe. It depends on your goals. With cardio, you’ll get more calorie burn—and weight loss—for those hours you spend working out. Plus, the more you weigh, the more calories you burn during cardio exercise. You’ll also boost calorie burn when you increase the intensity of your workout.
Remember, cardio exercise for weight loss doesn’t mean you’re limited to that row of treadmills at the gym. Go for a bike ride. Go swimming. Have a dance party with your kids in the kitchen. Just get your heart pumping. It’s all cardio exercise!
Beyond exercise for weight loss, cardio is also critically important for heart health. The American Heart Association recommends 150 minutes of moderate cardiovascular exercise spread out across 5 days, or 75 minutes of intense cardiovascular exercise spread out across 3 days. Are you meeting these healthy heart recommendations?
Resistance Training Exercise for Weight Loss
Resistance training, or weight training, helps you burn more calories every day—even when you’re not “working out.” How? Weight training builds muscle, and muscle burns more calories than fat at rest. Therefore, the more muscle you have, the more calories you’re burning just doing what you do every day. Thought it’s not a huge boost, every little bit helps when you’re focused on exercise for weight loss.
But there’s more. After you finish a workout, you’ll continue to burn more calories after resistance training than after a cardio workout. In fact, your resting metabolism and that calorie burn can stay elevated for as long as 38 hours after a weight training session.
In addition to the calorie-burning benefits of resistance training exercise for weight loss, lifting weights builds muscle to give you that toned look. Don’t be afraid: Weight training done right won’t bulk you up!
To keep it interesting, you can amp up the calorie-burning factor in your resistance training workout by choosing a routine that uses a lot of muscle groups and movements. The more joints you put in motion, the more muscles are involved, and the more calories you’ll burn.
Which Is Best: Cardio or Resistance Training?
What have you determined is the best exercise for weight loss for you?
If your goal is to see quick changes on the scale, cardio may give you faster short-term results. Cardio burns a high number of calories per session, making it effective for immediate weight loss. However, if you’re playing the long game and looking to reshape your body composition and boost metabolism, resistance training is key.
Weight training as a core component of a healthy body has been shown to improve not just strength and muscle tone, but also metabolic health and fat loss. Even though the scale might not move drastically at first—since you’re building lean muscle while losing fat—your clothes will fit better, your body will look more defined, and you’ll be stronger.
Want the best of both worlds? The smartest approach combines both cardio and resistance training. This way, you can burn calories, build strength, and support overall health, while achieving long-term fat loss and muscle maintenance. Whether you’re in it for the weight loss, the confidence, or just to feel amazing, a balanced fitness plan will always win.
The Best Supplement to Exercise: CoolSculpting
Whether you’re looking to lose weight or tone up those muscles—or both—you’re on the right track. CoolSculpting is the perfect choice to support your healthy habits, especially since it works best for people are already close to their goal weight. This fat-freezing procedure eliminates fat permanently. That means your clothes fit better, you look leaner, and you feel great!
Schedule your initial consultation to learn if CoolSculpting is for you. Bodify is the #1 boutique in Arizona because CoolSculpting is all we do. That makes us experts. We look forward to sharing our experience with you soon!
