How Exercise Works

How exercise works is important to know if you are setting up an exercise program. You can read plenty here on how to exercise but if you know how exercise works, you gain a better understanding as to how to set up an exercise program that works for you.

Let’s say you want to lose weight. Basically if you somehow get rid of 3500 calories, you will lose a pound. Now you are not going to go out and burn 3500 calories in your next workout or two.

So you can combine exercise with watching your diet. Maybe you cut down on your evening snack and eliminate 500 calories. Now you go for a run and you run until you have burned 200 calories.

I know your question. How can I know when I burn 200 calories? Head over to this running calculator and plug in some numbers. For me, if I run 2 miles I willl burn approximately 232 calories. If I pick up the speed, it increases.

You can find calories on your food label. So, all else staying the same, I know how exercise combined with cutting down my calories – using the above example – helps me lose 1 pound in 5 days. Not a lot but we want a steady loss, not a quick one.

So once you understand how exercise and weight loss can be combined, you can set up a plan to help you lose weight.