Best Exercise to Lose Weight

     The best exercise to lose weight  and lower your blood sugar is the one you love!    To fall in love with it you have to do it often enough (a minimum of five times a week) and long enough (minimum 30 - 40 minutes) that you produce the endorphins that give you that heightened sense of well being.    It is this elevated sense of well being that you eventually will seek out every day.   This consistent exercise alters your basal metabolic rate and lowers your blood sugar.

     What you are looking for is a natural high that will burn fat 24 hours a day!

     AND it needs to be an aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise is fueled by glycogen reserves, the carbohydrates you've eaten turn into glycogen in your blood, and then you use your fat reserves.

This is the "magic of metabolism" effect.

     Weight training and resistance training are necessary for building muscle but they do not do as much for your metabolism as aerobics. Aerobic literally means requiring oxygen. This type of exercise needs more oxygen because it requires continuous motion for an extended period of time.

     The aerobic exercises like brisk walking, running, swimming, cycling, tennis, dancing, burn 200 - 300 calories in just 1/2 hour. It's this type of sustained (at least 30 minutes) activity that becomes addictive.    This is the best exercise to lose weight.

     Here's why.

      Once you get this much oxygen going to your brain, your body is producing the hormones that get you to that natural high. The best exercise to lose weight is the one that makes you feel high! You will crave that good feeling every day. You may not attain a complete state of euphoria, the runner's high that comes with two hours of running, but you will have a strong feeling of well being. This will keep you walking (swimming, cycling, running) every day.

This is what happens when your glands are producing more hormones. Hormones like endorphins decrease your appetite, produce the good feelings, even a feeling of euphoria, and reduce tension.    Estrogen elevates your mood, raises your BMR and increases your libido.      Epinephrine breaks down fat, helps your cells increase their sensitivity to insulin and reduces the amount of glucose in your blood.  Reducing your blood sugar levels is essential to avoid type 2 diabetes and to enjoy long term health.      Finally, thyroxine made by the thyroid gland raises your metabolic rate.   All this hormone activity makes for the natural high we all crave.

     So how to get to that state?

     Hate going to the gym, having to take classes, working out with weights?   Forget about it...it won’t last. The first time you are invited out to lunch, you have to work late, you get sick, you get pregnant, have a grandchild, whatever...it’s over.

     If you have to drive twelve miles to the gym to swim, turn around and drive back, there goes two hours. Who has two extra hours in the day?   If when you get there you have to strain to do it, it won't last.

      The only way you will push on through is if it's so easy you can do it anywhere, anytime or so much fun that you don't mind the extra effort. You won’t fight to keep it in your life unless you can’t live without it. This will be the best exercise to lose weight.

     A lot of people don't like exercise in the beginning. I didn't. I forced myself to walk and I kept at it because it was EASY. Once I made myself do it AND because it was convenient - I only had to walk out my door and keep going - unlike other exercise programs, this one stuck. Eventually I got hooked.

      The more you do it, the more your glands secrete the hormones, the more your metabolism changes and the more sustained your good feelings.    Not only that, but you have more energy, sleep better and you seldom if ever get sick!    Regular exercise is powerful medicine.

     If it doesn’t work easily into your schedule it won’t happen so you won’t have the opportunity to fall in love with it. Do you think everyone who exercises regularly always enjoyed it?   I really doubt that.

     I think most people have to force themselves to be less than inert, couch potatoes.    Most of us are lazy and would rather sit around eating popcorn and reading or watching television when we aren't working!    The more effort it takes the less likely you will even try it. So get yourself a bike, walk out the door, head to the lake or the gym, whatever is easy make yourself do it and make it a habit.   You will have more energy to do everything else in your life.

There was a study done at Maimonides Medical Center in New York showing that just adding three pounds of muscle to your body will boost your metabolic rate. Even at rest you will have increased your basal metabolic rate or BMR.      Once your metabolism has shifted at rest you will no longer have to worry about how to manage your weight.       This is the shift in your metabolism that you are looking for in the best exercise to lose weight. It HAS to lift your metabolism significantly. Remember when your metabolism increases even at rest you are burning your fuel or glycogen AND your fat.

     Aerobic exercise will ONLY do that if you are doing it frequently enough.    Three pounds of muscle takes a little time to develop but it will burn an extra 100 calories a day!   Not to mention that moderate exercise, which can be just walking briskly for just 1/2 hour a day will build your immunity and reduce the risk of stroke by about 40%.

     You will strengthen your heart, your muscles, improve your circulation, reduce blood pressure, increase your red blood cells, reduce stress, eliminate depression, lower your blood sugar which will reduce the risk of diabetes and burn fat.

     Walking, swimming, bike riding, hiking, or dancing build insulin sensitivity which means you have stabilized your blood sugar. If you are addicted to your work out you have found the best exercise to lose weight

     If you don't love it to begin with then you just have to be extremely persistent until you feel so good you fall in love with it. This is THE most effective way of losing weight permanently. If you also eat low glycemic,  fat burning, high fiber foods, you will soon be living at your ideal weight.

      The best exercise to lose weight is the one you cannot live without. When it is easy and convenient and you do it often - at least five times a week -  you are on your way to permanent weight loss and a lifetime of good health. 

     Check out the articles below to get you over the top to your ideal weight!

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