The Best Type of Exercise for Weight Loss

The Best Exercises for Permanent Weight Loss

What is the best exercise for weight loss?

I know you have often been told that you need to do certain types of exercise in order to lose weight. Well…it’s a LIE, and here’s why. 

The BEST exercise for weight loss is any EXERCISE that YOU LOVE to do! No one else tells you what to do. Forget about what other people think.

Why do I say such things? It just can’t be true. 

YES! It is true and becoming more important because people are moving less and less as the years go by. The epidemic of obesity and overweight is still rising. 

Many people don’t even start as they are turned off by the messages being sent on social media. We hear things like you must sweat, feel the burn, be sore or be sorry.

By the way, sweating has no correlation to weight loss except when you lose water, which means you’re dehydrated. So you should be replacing the fluid loss post-workout by drinking water (16-20 ounces for every pound of water weight lost) for health and workout recovery. 

Misleading messages sent through social media make weight loss sound extremely hard and painful, and it requires a certain level of mental toughness. This leaves many people feeling defeated before they even get started! 

My friends, weight loss doesn’t have to look or feel like this!

You can lose weight and create a healthy lifestyle by doing exercises that feel good, are pain-free, and move at whatever intensity level suits you best.

MY EXPERIENCE

By choosing exercises that make you happy, you are more likely to be consistent with them, turn them into a habit, and make them part of your lifestyle. When this happens, you are burning more calories than before, contributing to weight loss.

When I survey my clients and ask what helped them stick with my programs, fun is always among the top three reasons.

The two other big reasons are I keep them motivated with my positive and high-energy personality, and they are building confidence through fitness gains and progression toward personal goals.

People see me smile and listen to how I talk about my training. They become inspired by my personal journey.

I show others that being consistent and pushing through pays off. You most certainly will become fitter, more skilled, and lose weight.

“Oh, but you’re different from the rest of us. You’re a fitness coach. It’s what you do for a living.”

Best Exercise Weight Loss

I AM NO DIFFERENT

First of all, I instruct and coach, but that doesn’t mean I do all the exercises I teach all the time. If you’ve ever worked with me, you will see I manage my energies. If I didn’t, I would burn out.

Secondly, being a fitness coach doesn’t automatically make me immune to weight gain. For many years, I had my own struggles with body image and maintaining a consistent weight. I used to be a yo-yo dieting binge eating machine. 

Seeking sustainable solutions was a challenge. They certainly weren’t predominant in the weight loss industry. Nope! I had to start thinking outside the box, use my brain, and challenge the fads and trends. I made it my own.

My journey led me to take a greater interest in self-study. I hunted for the real experts for answers I could trust.

Bye-bye celebratory fitness trainers with their weight loss scams and misinformation, hello scientists and researchers. I follow them instead: Dr. Stuart McGill and Dr. Stuart Philips are two experts I rely on for credible information.

In doing this, my attitude towards exercise, weight loss, and living an active lifestyle evolved. It became more about finding my own thing, developing my unique system and doing what I love.

I had to let go of performance expectations placed on me by peer pressure and social media. I, and only I, now set my performance goals.

WHEN YOU HATE EXERCISE

I know many people who feel they have to force themselves to do exercise. They hate it but do it because they think it’s going to make them lose weight better, and you know what I see in them?

Best Exercise Weight Loss

This “no-fun” stuff:

  • negative attitude towards exercise
  • falling off the wagon repeatedly
  • pressured to perform at a certain level
  • fear of  judgement
  • fear of failure
  • when they fail, they sabotage their other healthy habits
  • often skip their workouts
  • running circles, never progressing
  • confused, lost, frustrated
  • UNHAPPY!

People seem to think this is how it needs to be to make a difference. No wonder they think weight loss is hard and feel overwhelmed just thinking about it.

I’m telling you this is not necessary. Losing weight can be super fun. This is a mindset.

Change your language and ideas towards weight loss, get in a positive headspace, and then it will become fun. One of the most enjoyable ways to start the journey is to find exercises that YOU love to do at a time that works for you.

Anything goes!

HOW TO FIND EXERCISE YOU ENJOY

Allow yourself the time to explore movement with no pressure to find something right away.

  • Give it some time.
  • Drop into a fitness class.
  • Explore fitness channels on YouTube, like my channel – Tammy Lee TV.
  • Ask your friends questions about what they love and get them to show you what it’s about.
  • Join a community club or hire a coach to help you out.

The ideas are endless!

Whatever happened to walking as a way to lose weight? This highly underestimated exercise is what our bodies are designed to do. It’s packed with benefits. Download this FREE pdf by EverybodyWalk.org and read how it can help you.

Start your own walking group with some of your friends. People would join you and be so grateful for your leadership. Maybe this is your jam right here?

You know the saying, “You will find what you seek.” If you want to find the fun in fitness, you WILL. Just like you find the car you want to buy, the clothes you want to wear, the place you want to travel to, and so on. Right?

So many people with no previous experience whatsoever have come to me to learn how to run, ride a bike, do a triathlon, and lift weights.

For most of them, reaching out and trying something new has changed their lives forever!

They found their “happy thing,” and the best part is most of them are STILL at it. It’s wonderful! This is what it’s all about.

YOUR FAVOURITE EXERCISE HAS BENEFITS

Are you still asking how can exercise that you love to do help you lose weight?

As I said, when you love something, you are more likely to keep doing it. Your favourite way to exercise becomes part of your lifestyle, and because the exercise remains consistent, you gain the following benefits:

  • a rise in basal metabolic rate
  • an increase in cardio and muscular endurance
  • increased cardio and muscular strength
  • build muscle and bone
  • slow the ageing process
  • enhanced mobility, balance, and agility
  • metabolize food more efficiently
  • better quality of sleep
  • reduce stress
  • self-esteem boost
  • build more confidence
  • adopt a positive attitude
  • feel happier and more satisfied
  • the list goes on…

…AND burn more calories overall, not just from your exercise session, but even when not exercising due to the additional benefits listed above.

You can’t truly gain these benefits from exercise you hate and do sporadically. In order to reap these benefits, exercise has to be a regular thing. Otherwise, you will have to deal with the Principle of Reversibility.

In a nutshell, this means that when you stop exercising, you begin to lose the benefits you accumulated from regular exercise. “Yo-yo exercising” produces very few benefits, if any. A base level of fitness is never established to cause any substantial changes in the body. 

Many people don’t even make it that far because they hate the exercises they are doing. Therefore, they are not committed to doing them often enough to build up a base level of fitness.

See what I’m saying? Find your fun!

CONSISTENCY OVER INTENSITY

Also, there’s the misconception that if an exercise isn’t done at a certain intensity level, it will not give you weight loss benefits. This is NOT entirely true.

1. If you are living a sedentary lifestyle, ANY exercise, even at low intensity, can contribute to weight loss IF you remain consistent. This will increase your weekly calorie expenditure.

2. If you already exercising but still do it sporadically, then simply making it more of a habit will contribute to weight loss because you increase weekly caloric expenditure through increased exercise frequency, even at the same intensity.

3. You exercise consistently and have established it as a habit, but you’re still not losing weight? Now might be the time to increase your duration, add some variety, or explore higher intensities. Or maybe you need to take another look at your eating habits.

TAKEAWAY

I won’t lie. I used to tell my clients that if they wanted to change the number on the scales, they had to suffer, feel the burn, and accept the pain. But I got smarter and stopped automatically repeating what I was hearing in the mainstream media.

With over 20 years of experience working in this industry, I see that those who succeed are the ones who fall in love with fitness and make it a part of their life on a consistent basis. Not once a week, not even twice…but daily (with the odd day off, it’s okay to take a rest day).

The takeaway message here is this – you are more likely to sustain any healthy habit and reap its benefits if you enjoy doing it and it makes you feel HAPPY!

👉 Do you agree? Or no? Feel free to post your comments below.

SUMMARY

1. Find exercises you love to do

2. When you enjoy your exercise, you put more “oomph” into it naturally

3. More oomph leads to a higher calorie burn per workout

4. Fun fitness leads to being more consistent

5. Consistency leads to lifestyle habits

6. When you are always consistent, you reap more short and long-term benefits


Need Help to Lose Weight?

Try one of my online programs. ‘Weigh to GO!’ is an excellent 30-day program for beginners or anyone juggling a full plate who wants to work on their goals a little each day. ‘Boost Me, Tammy Lee’ is a 6-week program aimed at helping participants produce substantial weight loss results while building sustainable habits. Click the links below and check them out!

Get a FREE copy of my NEW Walk-Run 5K Ultimate Beginner Training Guide when you sign up for my weekly newsletter. I provide insider weight loss tips, healthy recipes, workouts and special promos only for my subscribers. JOIN HERE!

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  1. This is a great article. I think everyone should read this, especially right now. Unfortunately, people want the quick fix but as we all know it never works. I love the idea, “do what you love” so simple. Do it everyday and now you are creating good habits that will contribute to weight loss.

    1. Oh Paula, this is wonderful. I’m so glad you enjoyed this. You are right, most people do want that quick fix and they waste so much time trying to find it when the simple fix is right in front of them. When you finally realize this, you set yourself free. You got the right attitude, girl. Miss your face.

  2. Nailed it! Thank you SO much for this article, it resonates with me 100%!

    Walking is my go-to! Something I can do by myself – which I prefer. I love it because I go when the mood strikes – no regime, no schedule – I go when it feels right for me, sometimes twice a day.

    My health and my journey are very personal. I need to go at my own pace, and I’m learning that I’ll “stick to” lifestyle changes with better success if I enjoy and look forward to them.

    1. This makes me so HAPPY to read. What a great response. Honest and real, which we have to be with ourselves, don’t we? Once we come to the realization that we don’t have to grind out exercises we hate in order to make a lifestyle change, that’s when we find ourselves succeeding and smiling, loving every step of the journey. Thank you for sharing, Nancy. 🙏 PS: I LOVE walking too. It’s so good for the soul. When I come home next, let’s go for a walk? 🥰

  3. Great read. As you get older, you realized you don’t want to spend time doin something if you don’t enjoy it. Your time is more precious. Bike riding in the trails trumps treadmill any day!