A guest post by Myln. He maintains his own weight loss blog where he shares information on how to lose weight using natural and healthy methods.

Cardio exercises can help you lose weight. This is true and known by many people. What many people wonder about is which are the best cardio exercises for weight loss and how much exactly you need to workout in order to get good results. In this post I will give you an overview on what you need to do in order to get the best results from your cardio training.

First let’s start with some basic information about weight loss. Weight loss is about one simple thing: you need to consume fewer calories (through food and drinks) and burn more calories (through exercise and physical activity). Once this deficit is about 3500 calories you will lose 1 pound. So, all you need to do is make sure that you constantly generate this calorie deficit through your diet and exercise schedule.

Why is cardio important for weight loss?

What many people don’t appreciate enough is the importance of cardio exercises in losing weight and your overall health. With cardio exercises you accelerate your heart rate and you force your body to utilize fat reserves to cope with the extra requirement for energy. So at the same time you are burning calories and fat. Cardio exercises are generally easy to perform and can be done by both beginners and experienced under any conditions and situations.

Best cardio exercises

[ad#babeled-ad-medium-square]The best cardio exercises for weight loss are those you do on a regular basis and by following a very simple trick. The trick to get the best results from your cardio exercises is to continuously increase the duration and intensity of the exercise. In other words this means that you need to put your body under pressure so that your heart rate is high and your breathing is faster. This combination will help you lose more calories from each session. If you do the same exercises over and over again without increasing the intensity and duration your body will get used to them and the results will diminish over time.

Another important factor to consider is your physical abilities and preferences. People have different abilities and not all of them can do all type of exercises with the same ease. While you should force your body to the limits you should not overdo it because this may create other more important health problems. There are plenty of cardio exercises to choose from that can match your abilities. You should select exercises that you can do and like. Your goal is not to get bored easily but to get some good results through a long term plan. In general cardio exercises are classified into:

Non – impact exercises: swimming, cycling, and elliptical training
Low – impact exercises: Walking, Treadmill training, jogging.
High – impact exercises: Running, jumping, jump rope
Full – impact exercises: skiing, climbing, rowing

Having said that, we can now look at the average number of calories you can lose from different types of cardio exercises. The average is based on 30 minute sessions.

Swimming: 200 calories (moderate pace)
Walking: 100 calories per mile
Cycling: 285 calories (moderate pace)
Rowing: 200 calories
Climbing: 300 calories
Running: 365 calories (10 minutes /mile)
Basketball: 300 calories
Ice skating: 250 calories

The higher the effort needed to perform the exercises the more calories you will lose.

How much should I exercise?

If you are a beginner you should start with easy to moderate intensity exercises 2-3 times per week (30 minute sessions). As you gain more experience and strength you can increase that to 4-5 times per week (60 minute sessions). For even better weight loss results you can combine your cardio exercises with strength training exercises (weight lifting) and a balanced diet.

CAUTION: It is always advisable to get the opinion of your doctor before attempting any form of exercise and intense physical activity.

The bottom line is that cardio exercises are great for your health and weight loss efforts. The best cardio exercises are the ones you can do for a long time without getting bored. Consistency is the key for your success. Any cardio exercise you select can give you good results if you do it regularly and consistently. Lay out your long term weight loss plan and stick to it. Good luck!

Image Credit

Jogging image courtesy of Flickr user The U.S. Army published under the CC license.