The best exercise for weight loss is.....

What is the best exercise to do?  I get asked this ALL the time from women who are looking to transform their bodies.  The answer is actually pretty simple.  Ask yourself these three questions:

1. What do I like to do?

2. What do I want to achieve?

3. If I’m already exercising, am I getting the results I want?

If I were to tell you the ultimate answer to fat loss is spin class, and you HATE spin class, what do you think the chances are that you will take spin class for the rest of your life?  But what if the thought of Zumba class made you jump off the couch and sashay away any chance you could?!  Then the answer is, do Zumba!  Because you like it and ANY movement is better than NO movement.

Now let’s just say that you want Michelle Obama shoulders or you want to make your naturally flat butt a little perkier….that isn’t going to happen at Zumba.  That requires getting under the iron.  And I don’t mean 5 lb weights.  Simply put, being toned, means having muscle.  It’s really hard for women to amass muscle….so Michelle Obama did WORK.  If you want to achieve body transformation, you need to lift weights.  

What if you are already at the gym several times a week slogging away without much to show for it?  There are likely a couple things happening.  First, your body has adapted to strain you’re putting on it. The first time you run a mile is INFINITELy harder for your body than the 30th time.  So you need to keep changing your variables (speed, rest, incline, intervals) if you want to keep seeing results.  Second, you are doing the wrong exercise for the desired result.  Listen, there is no elliptical marathon...why are you on that damn thing for an hour?!  For the average person, cardio should be kept under half an hour unless you are training for an endurance event. And if you’re not training for an event, why are you spending so much time on cardio machines??  Go to the weight room if you want to look toned.  Third, it’s oftentimes your diet.  As a nutrition coach, I can count 2 times in all the years that I have been coaching that a person came in and told me they have a crappy diet.  Despite specializing in overweight clientele.  Two people!  Address your diet...if there’s not protein and veggies in every meal, change it.  Bottom line: if it ain’t working, change it!

So the answer is simple: do what you enjoy and make sure what you are doing will get you the results you are looking for!