Cardio For Weight Loss

With our nation so overweight, it is clear that people aren't doing enough cardiovascular exercise. Losing weight is a simply creating a caloric deficit: using more calories than you consume each day. The first step is to start eating a clean and balanced diet. Cardio will help you maintain weight loss and create a caloric deficit. It will also help you begin to change your lifestyle, which is what this is all about. Cardio has many benefits:

• Burn calories and lose weight
• Decrease daily stress
• Increase heart strength and lung capacity
• decrease risk of heart attack, heart disease,
• Improves mood and sleep

The bottom line is you need cardio to lose weight, maintain overall health, and get your stress to a tolerable level.

The next step is choosing the right workout/exercises that are right for you. Anything that gets your heart rate up is a cardio work out. I enjoy hiking and jogging with my dogs. If you like the gym, there are treadmills, ellipticals and stationary bikes. If you enjoy the outdoors you can walk or jog with (or without) friends or ride a bike. If you enjoy working out at home there are plenty of home work out videos available.
Keep in mind, you may not know what type of activity you enjoy yet. That's all part of the experience, so don't be afraid to try something and, if it doesn't work, move on to something else. Just about any activity will work, as long as it involves a movement that gets your heart rate into your Target Heart Rate Zone. Remember:

• No exercise is better than another.
• It's not what you do, but how hard you work.
• Do something you enjoy. If you hate gym workouts, don't force yourself onto a treadmill. If you like socializing, consider sports, group fitness, working out with a friend or a walking club.
• Choose something you can see yourself doing at least 3 days a week.  

You should always warm up before your work outs, especially when you are doing high intensity, full body work outs.

The guidelines recommend to workout for 30-60 minutes most days of the week, but don't feel like you have to start at that level if you're not ready. Doing too much is also bad. There is a point when you see diminishing returns. Do all those things you know you should be doing: take the stairs, walk more, stop driving around looking for that front row parking space, etc. Make the time. People who workout don't have more time than people who don't.