For many people, the main driving motivation for beginning a diet and exercise regimen is to lose weight and look better. This is a perfectly reasonable motivation!
It’s important to approach fitness in a healthy and sustainable way, no matter your goals.
How can you start your diet and exercise routine for weight loss? What are the best exercises? Do you need to join a gym, or can you work out at home? How can you eat healthy for fat loss?
We will dive into the best tips for weight loss with diet and exercise!
How to Know If You Should Try Losing Weight
There are a lot of factors that can make a person get to the point where they feel like it’s a good idea to lose weight.
But sometimes we get bombarded by messages that make us feel bad about ourselves for no reason and trick us into thinking we need to be thinner.
How do you know if you need to lose weight or if you’re being persuaded by society?
You Should Consider Pursuing Weight Loss If…
- Your doctor has said your weight is causing you health problems
- You feel limited by your size, for example, you find it difficult to sit comfortably in a chair, auto, or airplane seat
- You find it difficult to maintain personal hygiene due to your size
- It’s too hard for you to move and do activities you enjoy due to your size
- You need to have a surgical procedure and need to lose weight to minimize risks while under anesthesia
- You want to feel healthier in your body and mind
- You want to have a more active lifestyle
You Should Reconsider Pursuing Weight Loss If…
- Your doctor has said you are underweight
- The only reason you want to lose weight is because you think you are unworthy of good things due to your current weight, you believe only losing weight will make you beautiful, or to impress someone else
- You have a condition that makes losing weight dangerous for you
- You have a history of restrictive eating disorders
Above all, everyone who cares about your well-being wants you to be at your happiest and healthiest. Even I, an internet stranger, want you to pursue a healthy lifestyle in a way that makes you feel your best and makes sense for you!
Find certified Personal trainers nearby in 3 clicks for your fitness goals in 2024 on Superprof, make this year your best with personal training.
Best Exercises to Lose Weight At Home
You can start losing weight today with exercises that are suitable to do anywhere. You don’t need any fancy equipment or large space to start moving your body more. You only need a little willpower to get started.
Walking, Jogging, and Running
The best thing about walking is it can be modified to be as easy or difficult as you want!
If you find it difficult to stand for a long time, start by doing seated kicks and/or leg lifts. Increase the difficulty over time; walk in place while holding a chair for support, then walk around your home, then walk outside, then start jogging, then run.
Cycling
Either with a stationary cycle or a traditional bicycle, this is an effective cardio and strength exercise.
Yoga
Choose your favorite type of yoga asana and pranayama to practice, and do it every day!
Jumping Rope
Jump rope helps strengthen your hand-eye coordination in addition to being a cardio exercise.
You can start jumping rope by simply stepping one foot at a time over the rope. Eventually, you will be able to jump!
“What seems impossible today will one day become your warm-up.”
Stair Climbing
Find somewhere with some stairs, and start using them as exercise equipment. Even if it’s only 3 steps, you can get a good workout through repetition.
Swimming
If you have access to a pool, beach, lake, or river where it’s safe to swim, this exercise is excellent for all-over body toning, conditioning, and fitness. It combines cardio with resistance training, meaning every movement works muscles more than usual. It’s also low-impact so it’s gentle on bones and joints.
Pushups, Pullups, Situps, Planks, Squats
These basic 5 bodyweight exercises are highly effective no matter your fitness level. Even professional athletes continue to do these exercises to stay in shape.
Aerobics
Any exercise that gets the heart pumping is good to help jump-start weight loss.
Try jumping jacks, burpees, high-knees, dancing, Zumba, skipping, and overhead claps.
Best Exercises at the Gym for Weight Loss
Do you have access to gym equipment? Congratulations! You can develop a more in-depth fitness routine!
Gym machines are great at targeting specific areas of the body so you can focus on particular strengthening muscles. This means you can be less likely to hurt yourself when doing a new type of exercise. For example, if you’re new to doing squats and it’s too difficult to squat your own weight, you can use a seated squat machine and load it up with a weight that’s lighter than your body.
HIIT
High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is a style of workout routine where you spend a short time doing a simple movement at 100%, then take a short break, then move on to another exercise.
In the gym, you can easily do 30-60 minutes of HIIT without repeating yourself, so you won’t get bored!
Try doing an exercise like bicep curls, seated leg extensions, lat pulldowns, squats, pushups, glute kickbacks, and your other favorite moves and machines at your maximum output for 45 seconds. Then, rest for 15 seconds by shaking out your limbs or stepping in place.
Change the time interval as needed (like 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off, for example).
TRX
“Total Body Resistance” suspension straps are a great way to get a supported workout.
You can do inclined pushups, supported pullups, supported squats, and more with these handy straps!
“Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.” -Earl Nightingale
Kettlebells
Kettlebells are a great introduction to weight training. Practice doing kettlebell squats, lunges, thrusts, clean and press, halos, and other kettlebell exercises you like.
Resistance Bands
Resistance bands are very versatile. Try using a “booty band” around your thighs and do side-to-side squats to work your glutes. Using a long band, step on one part and hold the other in your hands to increase the difficulty of your squats. There are almost infinite possibilities!
Treadmill, Elliptical, Stair Stepper
These machines will help you get your cardio exercise in.
Free Weights
Building muscle is an important part of weight loss since muscle burns more calories even when you aren’t exercising.
Bicep Curl Machine, Triceps Machine, Leg Extension Machine, Hamstring Curl Machine, Squat Machine, Ab Machine, Assisted Pullup Machine
These are the basic machines you’ll want to start with when you first begin going to the gym. They are intuitive and will help strengthen the whole body to be able to do more movements. They also help build all-over muscle, meaning you’ll burn more fat than if you just work out one muscle group.
How to Lose Weight with a Diet
Do diets help weight loss? Without a doubt, the correct diet will help you lose unwanted fat and weight.
The relationship between diet, exercise, and health is deeply interwoven.
Some people can be healthy without paying much attention to diet and exercise, but most of us will need to eat well and move around on purpose at some point in our lives.
Exercise while eating poorly can give you some health benefits, but the bottom line is you’ll likely still feel lethargic, tired, dizzy, and overweight without proper nutrition.
Eating well is sometimes all a person needs in order to lose unwanted weight. Combining it with exercise is a recipe for success!
Know Your Macros and Micros
Research or ask your doctor how much protein, carbs, fats, vitamins, and minerals you specifically need each day for optimal health.
Meal Planning
With this knowledge, plan and shop for meals that meet these nutritional requirements. Make sure you get enough calories. Many people become too restrictive with calories in an effort to lose weight fast, but in the long run this can cause more harm than good.
A small deficit each day for a long time is better than cutting your caloric intake in half for a short time.
“Do something today that your future self will thank you for.” -Sean Patrick Flanery
If you start a workout routine at the same time you begin dieting, you definitely don’t want to cut calories too much, since you’re burning more than you’re used to through exercise.
Patience, Perseverance, and Persistence
Some people experience weight loss quickly. For others, it takes a long time to see the needle on the scale move.
Have patience with yourself: the most important part of any fitness journey is the part where you love yourself. Getting upset because you’re not losing weight fast enough puts undue self-criticism on your body. Try loving your body no matter what instead.
Use motivation when you have it, use dedication when you don’t. Persist in your health journey even when it’s boring or frustrating.
You will likely experience setbacks and hard days. We all do. If you eat more than you wanted to, forgive yourself and start again the next day. Perseverance through hardship is crucial.
Track Your Progress to See Results
Weight loss is a slow and steady process.
Many people think they need to make drastic changes to their lives all at once, but actually, the key is to make small, sustainable changes over time.
People also tend to feel that if they aren’t losing lots and lots of weight in a short period of time they should give up. Or, if they go from losing a lot at first and begin to lose less and less each week, it means their efforts are no longer working.
That’s simply not true!
Every single person will have a different experience with weight loss because even though we are all humans, our bodies simply do things uniquely.
Some people gain weight if they even think about eating a sugary treat, other people can eat as much as they want and never gain a gram. The same goes for weight loss.
Some people lose weight in a noticeable area of their body, like their face or belly, while others lose a little from all over, making the difference less obvious.
To find out your overall progress and be able to notice when a change is actually working, you need to keep track of different measurements.
“No matter how slow you go you’re still lapping everyone on the couch.”
Keep a Fitness Journal
Keep a daily journal to track all the important aspects of your fitness journey.
Some things you might track include:
- Weight
- Measurements of arms, legs, waist, hips, and chest
- Max reps for exercises like pullups, pushups, situps, and weight lifts for the week
- Max weight for exercises like free weights and barbells for the week
- Average running pace for the week
- Mental health tracker
- Water intake tracker
- Meal planner and tracker
Notice how your daily life has changed, and thank yourself for making a difference in your life!
Lots of people want to make a meaningful and lasting change in their weight but struggle with coming up with a workout routine and nutrition plan.
Thankfully, you can hire a personal trainer, nutritionist, or dietician to help you with whatever health goals you set! Find your fitness pal for virtual or in-person sessions right here on Superprof today.
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