Best exercise for losing weight?

[Upsidedownrightnow]

I've just signed upto Les Mills free trial and I'm wondering if I would be better off doing cardio or strength training?

I also want to do body balance for flexibility. Has anyone else used this? If so how many workouts per week did you do and what kind?

Any as long as you actually do it.

Walking

I do a mix of cardio and strength. Both are good.

To be utterly honest, 95% weight loss is related to what you eat.

When I lost a fair bit (22kg so not an enormous amount, but a noticeable amount) I lost the first 17kg from dietary changes and the last 5kg from Spinning twice a week + Pilates once a week.

it will be a combination of time spent times excursion. You can judge the latter on a simple scale:
Can sing without breaks
can say short sentences
can say single words
can't talk.
If you haven't really exercised recently, it may be worth a quick chat with your Dr, who can advise you how hard to go.

exertion !

It doesn't matter as long as you do something - 90% of it is what you eat. I lost the weight through diet adjustment. I maintain the weight through sticking to good eating habits and swimming twice a week plus 1-2 pilates sessions.

When you say 90% is down to what you eat, that's not really true.

It's 100% down to making sure calories burned is greater than calorie intake. So you can eat as much as you like as long as you exercise sufficiently to burn off the calories.

My Fitness Pal is great to help measure cals in and out.

I agree that if the diet isn't going well then it will be impossible to loose weight. But I have noticed that before lockdown i was doing 5 hours of pole fitness per week which is basically strength training as your lifting your bodyweight!

I was able to eat what i wanted and didn't gain weight and now I am trying to restrick myself and still not loosing weight. I am trying to do 5/2 and on the fasting days I'm fine but on the non fasting days trying to eat 1700 cals is difficult and I manage to go over most days which means too many caloires to loose weight 😢

Have you tried 16/8? I find that easier than 5/2. Pick a consistent amount of calories per day that suits you and then eat during an 8 hour window (it also works as 14/10 tbh). So for me, 1000-1200 calories a day works well, and I have it as two meals of a decent size.

Running does burn a lot of calories. And if you’re looking for body weight exercises whilst you can’t do pole fitness, here’s a pretty good, simple routine:
Primal Blueprint 4 essential movements

Les Mills Body Pump is the programme they say is the fastest way to initial fitness. It’s also good to do weight bearing exercise to offset the risks of osteoporosis and general fitness post menopause.
You can burn a lot of calories doing this, and I think they have hints and tips on improvising if you don’t have weights or a barbell.
I also like Combat because all the twisting and punching whittles the waist and shoulders.
In my case the only way I lose weight is tying my right arm behind my back though 😂

Accurate and careful calorie control is the best - exercise is great of course but only supports this endeavour. Don't try to rely on exercise alone. EG It's far easier to just miss out that 400 calorie snack than go running til it's burned off. Or miss the snack AND do your exercise... iyswim

@JessicaDay I did try 16:8 but hated feeling restricked everyday and I would need to eat around 1200cals each day to loose weight as I am quite short.

@Dreamersandwishers

I did body combat on Monday and I quite liked it, I'm going to aim to do 5 workouts each week and see how it goes. I also only loose weight with diet but I'm finding it difficult while being at home.

@lubeybooby

I am also trying to do 5:2 for weight loss but I'm not really loosing weight so I need the exercise to give it a boost, as I am eating too much on my non fasting days and I think exercise should hopefully help

If you scroll down the page of the Les Mills app there are some workout programmes. Choose the one that's tailored to what you're aiming for and it will give you a schedule of workouts to follow, using a mix of their different workouts. (If you choose one that has cycling as part of it, just sub it out for something else that you enjoy)

I was presuming you didn't have a spin bike, obviously if you do you can keep it in 😆

Running away from the biscuit tin.

@nbee84

Your right I don't have an exercise bike I also hate spin classes so I have no intention of getting one

IME, cardio for improving general fitness, energy levels & overall muscle tone. Weights for building muscle, as muscle burns more energy than fat, even at rest - do low weights, high repetitions if you don't want bulk. Walking, as fast as you can maintain over a significant distance, is really good, especially if you can do it every day, gradually build up your speed & distance, decent comfortable walking shoes are essential. Don't do anything you really hate, you will not be able to maintain it.

You can't out-exercise a bad diet. Weight loss is 90% diet. Fitness is 90% exercise. They're not the same thing.