One thing about my weight loss journey, it sure as heck was NOT linear.
Instead, it looked like a roller coaster, at times it goes up, at times it goes down, sometimes it stays flat for a very long time. Here’s the actual graph:
You might think: Wow 3 years is a long time! It indeed is, but it was SUSTAINABLE for me (In this other article I explain how you should see weight loss as a long term game).
The more interesting thing is if you notice on the graph, the two specific periods boxed in red was when I really made the most progress. Looking back, those two phases had one thing in common: A structured workout routine designed for weight loss.
It worked well the first time, the second time I knew exactly what I had to do, and if I ever want to go on a weight loss phase again, I sure know exactly what to do.
Here I’ll share exactly my workout routine in my weight loss phases and how you can tweak them to suit your lifestyle.
Firstly, how do you actually lose weight?
This is a topic I’ve covered extensively here. The basic idea is through a caloric deficit, which is when you burn more calories than you consume.
There are two important parts here: Burn and consume.
The consumption part is controlled by what you eat, which is your diet. The burning part is controlled by how much and how intense you move, which is your exercise.
Many would argue you ONLY need to control your diet to lose weight. I’d say that’s largely true if you’re very disciplined with your diet.
I love to eat, so controlling my diet was never the easiest. I found that exercising gave me an extra boost to burn calories while I could still occasionally indulge in the foods I like.
So with a controlled diet and some forms of exercise, you’ll likely be in a caloric deficit and losing weight.
To read more on how to achieve a caloric deficit, click here.
Disclaimer: You may still NOT lose weight
Your diet still contributes 80% to your weight loss, while exercise is only 20%.
We as humans can only workout so much in a day (It’s easier to resist another cookie than run an additional 3 miles to burn it off), so diet is king!
I’ve written a guide here on how much calories you consume and portion control.
No matter how much you exercise, if you overeat what you burn, you will not lose weight, or even worse, you will gain weight.
Now moving on…
How exercise helps with weight loss
Still not convinced? Let’s do some simple maths:
Let’s say you’re already on a caloric deficit of 300 calories per day by having a controlled diet, then you workout a few times a week and burn an additional 1,000 calories per week. You’ll actually be burning close to 500 calories per day!
That brings you closer to your weight loss goal quicker, without having to have an even stricter diet, all simply by working out.
Picking weight loss workouts
The biggest mistake is picking workouts based on most calories burned instead of workouts that you enjoy.
While burning calories efficiently are important, burning it SUSTAINABLY is more important.
Remember, you’re already controlling your diet and eating less than you should to lose weight, so you’re likely less energetic than you should be. You’ll also be doing this weight loss thing for at least weeks, if not months, what we want to avoid is burning out and giving up.
So narrow down a bunch of workouts that you think you’ll enjoy, it can be as simple as walking in the park, gardening, all the way to running, weightlifting, or tennis. If you’ve no idea, start small, a good place to start is to get 5,000 steps in per day – walking makes a difference!
Once you’ve narrowed those down, I’d recommend picking the exercise that makes your heart rate go up the fastest most. Usually that’s some form of cardiovascular exercise – the harder your heart pumps blood throughout your body, the more work your body is doing, the more calories you’ll burn.
So if you have running vs weightlifting on your list – do more running and squeeze in some weightlifting in between the week!
If you have a fitness tracker, you’ll be able to track how much calories you burn in a day. If you don’t, simply Google “How much calories do I burn by walking 5,000 steps” and you can get a rough estimate. Add up your total activity for the week and you’ll have an idea of how much extra calories you’re burning.
Here’s my routine that helped me lose many pounds
Before I went on those 2 serious weight loss phases, I would weightlift 3 times a week. But as you saw in my progress graph, my weight was stagnant or moving upwards.
I changed that by ensuring I’m eating on a caloric deficit, and I added more heart pumping workouts to my week.
I started running 2 to 3 times per week, and weightlifted 2 times a week. It was a huge change to my previous routine, but it worked so well for me. I still kept my weightlifting sessions in to make sure I maintain my muscle mass. A typical week would look something like this for me:
- Monday: Recovery run
- Tuesday: Rest
- Wednesday: Upper body weight training
- Thursday: Speed run
- Friday: Rest
- Saturday: Lower body weight training
- Sunday: Long run
As someone who likes a challenge, I also took this chance to sign up for a 10k and half marathon to make sure I’m running not just for weight loss.
I found multiple purposes that motivated me, and that kept me going for months. It was even better to celebrate my achievements with finisher medals!
I hope you found this article helpful, and let me know if you have any questions in the comments. I’d be more than happy to answer!