Exercise can help you shed excess pounds and tone your body. But it’s not quite that simple. First of all, diet is the key factor for successful weight loss, while physical activity primarily plays a supporting role.
Exercise while losing weight: Expectation vs. reality
A common misconception is that intense exercise automatically leads to weight loss. In reality, many people significantly overestimate the calorie burn through exercise. An hour of moderate jogging burns about 500 calories—a figure that’s quickly offset by a slice of cake.
In addition, if you regularly increase your calorie consumption, your body can reduce its basal metabolic rate during rest periods. In these cases, you’ll hardly lose any weight despite exercise.
Therefore, anyone who wants to lose weight should not rely solely on exercise, but should always combine physical activity with a change in diet.
However, exercise is considered effective when it comes to maintaining weight. Especially after a diet, regular exercise can prevent a lighter body from immediately accumulating fat reserves again.
Endurance or strength training
Endurance exercise and strength training have different benefits for burning calories and losing fat.
Endurance sports: Direct calorie consumption
During endurance training, the body can burn a considerable amount of calories during the activity. One hour of jogging burns between 400 and 800 calories, depending on the intensity.
Important: Calorie consumption depends on weight and pace. If you’re heavier and run faster, for example, you’ll burn more calories. This is because the workload is greater for the body, requiring more energy.
Endurance exercise also stimulates the metabolism and improves oxygen supply. This leads to increased fat burning, which continues even for several hours after training—the so-called afterburn effect.
Strength training: Increases your basal metabolic rate
Regular strength training often leads to a buildup of muscle mass. Every kilogram of additional muscle mass increases your basal metabolic rate by about 13 calories per day. Those who train intensively can achieve noticeable effects. This increased basal metabolic rate will last long-term as long as you maintain muscle mass through regular training. However, you shouldn’t be under any illusions: Building a kilogram of muscle mass requires a significant amount of training. Therefore, anyone who wants to lose weight and stay slim this way must train systematically and stick with it.
However, building muscle actively shapes the body and ensures a toned, defined appearance after weight loss. It’s important to know: It’s not possible to specifically train away fat from specific areas of the body—a persistent myth. The body decides for itself where to burn fat reserves, regardless of which muscles are being trained.
The ideal combination for sustainable success
For optimal weight loss, a combination of both forms of training is recommended. While endurance training directly burns calories, strength training increases your basal metabolic rate and tones your body.
This combination not only maximizes fat burning but also improves overall fitness and health. It’s especially important to choose sports that you enjoy—because only what’s fun will be sustained in the long term.
Endurance sports in comparison
The following endurance sports are considered particularly good calorie burners for weight loss. Which sport is suitable for whom?
Running: The classic fat burner
Running burns 400 to 800 calories per hour, making it a real fat burner. The big advantage: It requires little equipment and can be done almost anywhere.
This sport is particularly suitable for people with basic fitness. Beginners should start with run-walk intervals. Helpful training tips for running improve technique and increase the efficiency of training.
Swimming: The alternative for joint problems
Swimming burns 300 to 500 calories per hour (depending on weight and pace) while being gentle on the joints. The water supports about 90 percent of your body weight, making this sport ideal for people who are overweight or have joint problems.
Another advantage: Swimming trains the entire body, which increases energy consumption and at the same time ensures harmonious strengthening of all muscle groups.
Cycling: Effective and suitable for everyday use
Depending on the intensity, cycling burns about 400 to 600 calories per hour and is easy to integrate into your daily routine. It relieves pressure on the joints, making it ideal for beginners and those with knee problems.
For optimal fat burning, a moderate, continuous pace over a longer period of time is recommended. This allows fatty acids to be used as energy sources.
Rowing: The underrated full-body workout
Rowing activates about 85 percent of all muscles and burns 300 to 500 calories per hour. It’s ideal for people who want to lose weight and build strength simultaneously.
The consistent movement protects the joints and ensures a balanced load on the entire body – especially the back, legs, and arms.
Other effective endurance sports
With up to 900 calories per hour, jumping rope is ideal for those on a time crunch. Just 15 minutes a day can noticeably boost your metabolism.
Mountain hiking combines nature experiences with a calorie burn of 300 to 500 calories per hour – ideal for nature lovers and beginners.
HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) relies on alternating intense exercise phases with short recovery breaks. This training concept significantly increases calorie burn not only during training but also afterward.
Tips for strength training
Strength training sustainably increases your basal metabolic rate. Particularly effective methods include:
- Training with free weights activates more muscle fibers than machine training. Exercises like squats, deadlifts, and bench presses train large muscle groups and therefore burn a particularly high number of calories.
- Functional whole-body training relies on natural movement patterns that engage multiple muscle groups simultaneously. This form of training is particularly effective because it maximizes calorie burn and strengthens movement patterns relevant to everyday life.
- Circuit training combines strength and endurance elements. The short breaks between exercises keep your heart rate elevated, which promotes fat loss while strengthening muscles. A typical circuit workout lasts 20 to 30 minutes and burns approximately 300 to 400 calories.
Pulse and fat burning
Your heart rate during exercise provides insight into your training effectiveness. For optimal fat burning, the ideal heart rate is 60 to 70 percent of your maximum heart rate (220 minus your age).
Aerobic metabolism (with oxygen) primarily uses fat at moderate intensity, while anaerobic metabolism (without oxygen) burns more carbohydrates at higher intensity. A mix is recommended for weight loss:
- predominantly moderate training in the fat-burning range
- supplemented by short intensive units for the afterburn effect
Regular training can, in the long term, lead to the development of an athlete’s heart that works more efficiently and lowers the heart rate.