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Benefits to Exercise

Are you exercising because you want to lose weight?  Great!  One of the benefits to exercise is to lose weight.  Many people add exercise to help with their weight loss program, including me. But this is just one of the many benefits of exercise. 


Exercise Boosts Metabolism

When you exercise you are burning fat and calories and revving up your metabolism.  Staying active sends a signal that tells your body you have excess energy and so therefore starts burning up excess fuel.  

Aerobics are the best form of exercise to get the highest calorie and fat burn.  These types of exercises get your heart and blood pumping and releases oxygen to your muscles.  Fat needs oxygen to burn so you are more effective at burning fat.

Strength training is also great for increasing your metabolism.  By increasing lean muscle mass you are increasing your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR).  Your BMR is the rate at which you burn calories while at total rest.  When you increase your muscle mass through exercising, you are increasing your metabolic rate.  Your basal metabolic rate is responsible for approximately 60 to 70% of the calories you burn in a day.

Increasing your BMR not only helps you lose weight and burn more calories, it will also help you keep the weight off.  If your weight loss program includes exercising, then one of the key benefits to exercise during your weight loss is increasing your BMR.  Once you have reached your goal weight, if you included exercising to lose weight, then you will have a higher metabolic rate then when you started your diet and will be able to keep the weight off.

If you are short on time but still want the most out of your exercise routine, try High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). Read this article for more on Interval Training.

This interactive weight loss calculator will not only calculate your BMR (using the Harris Benedict formula) but will also adjust your calorie intake needs based on your activity level.


Eat More

fruits and veggiesIf you are trying to lose weight, then you need to create a calorie deficit – meaning you must consume less calories than you burn.  You can create this calorie deficit by reducing the amount of calories you eat. 

But if you find yourself wanting more food, then one of the benefits of exercise is the ability to eat more food while dieting. 

You see, when you add exercise to your weight loss program, you are burning calories.  This will give you additional calories you can eat during the day, and still be able to create a calorie deficit in order to lose weight.

Start tracking how many calories you burn during exercise with this interactive exercise calorie calculator.

Read this article to understand how calories burned during exercise is calculated.





Strong Bones

Exercising helps build strength not only in your muscles but also your bones.  You have cells called osteoblasts that bring calcium to the bones. You also have cells called osteoclasts that take calium away from the bones.  

When you exercise you increase the rate that the osteoblasts strengthen bones.  However, research shows that only the bones that are used for that particular exercise benefit from the increased osteoblasts.

So be sure to mix up your weekly exercise routine to cover all areas of the body and get all your bones strong and healthy.



Fitness and Health

Of course losing weight, increasing metabolism, eating more and stronger bones and muscles are not the only benefit to exercise.  Exercise also helps tone and shape our body.  Your weight loss goals should not be measured just in pounds, but how you look and feel. 

Losing weight is great, but you also want to tone up those muscles and feel fit and healthy.  Exercising, like eating healthy, should be a lifestyle change and not just a short term activity to help you lose weight.

There are many other exercise benefits including health benefits, reducing risk of ceratin diseases and relieving stress.  Keep reading to find out what other benefits you can gain by exercising.

More benefits to exercise – page 2      
More benefits to exercise - Page 3


Monthly Exercise Benefit

Make the most out of your exercise routine by preparing your body.  Be sure to warm up your muscles and stretch before any aerobic workout.  Just as important is to cool down and stretch one more time.

Check out these benefits of warming up and cooling down.







Additional Articles




Body Mass Index
Find out how BMI is calculated and what it is used for.  Be sure to use the interactive BMI calculator to see where you stand.

Calorie Intake
Do you know what your daily calorie intake needs are?  Be sure to read this article and download your free calorie intake chart to start tracking your calories today.

 




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