As someone who's always looking for a quick and easy exercise that I can love, I'm constantly frustrated by what's available out there: I like to walk but it doesn't burn enough calories unless I do it for a while. I like to ride my bike, but riding a stationary bike couldn't possibly be more boring.
Well, it turns out I was right about one thing: Exercising for too long isn't good for you. In fact, a new study found that two groups lost the same amount of weight whether they exercised for half an hour or double that. So that's the real answer to exercising for weight loss?
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In the study, reported in SF Gate, men who participated in nearly daily workouts for roughly 30 minutes, or until they burned 300 calories, lost an average of 7 pounds (whereas the men who exercised for about an hour, or 600 calories, actually only lost an average of 5 pounds).
That's the key, I guess: 30 minutes of exercise that burns 300 calories–but it's not quite as easy as all that. Not all exercise actually burns that much. The one thing that DOES, though, is interval training, the super-fast and effective workout that has you adding intervals of 2-3 minutes of high intensity in between moderate intensity. It's the best way to blast calories!
My favorite interval training is on the elliptical machine, which is a super-easy way to exercise since it's gentle on the knees and actually more fun than running. SheKnows.com actually has the perfect interval workout to burn 300 calories in 30 minutes, including a 4 minute warm up, 23 minutes of decreased and increased speeds and a 3 minute cool down.
When I go to the gym later today, I know that this is the exercise I'll be trying for sure! If just half an hour on the elliptical is going to help me burn 300 calories AND make me lose more weight than if I exercised longer, then that's one BIG thing that I'll be doing!
