by Erin Yarrobino

Created on: August 17, 2008

If you want to lose weight, you have to both exercise and eat healthy. Doing one of these by itself will only get you halfway there. Cutting calories is the basic thing that makes you burn fat, and cardio exercises are the best thing for achieving this goal. Cardio exercises are those which stimulate your fat-burning enzymes.

There are many cardio activities to choose from. The simplest one is walking. Walking, surprisingly, burns alot of calories, most likely if done at a rapid pace. Walking is also a very spiritual thing to me. I love to look around at my surroundings. The whole experience is very therapeutic. Also, when doing this with a friend, it is not even like exercising, because you are having so much fun talking you will be sad when it is over.

Running is another great exercise. Running gets your heart rate up quickly, which is necessary for burning alot of calories. The longer your heart rate stays high, the more calories you will burn. When running, you should go at your own pace. It is generally more difficult than walking and requires more practice, but soon it becomes like second nature.

The stairclimber machine is my personal favorite. This machine has several choices, such as fat-burning and strength training. Every time I use the machine, I come off of it knowing I got a great workout. You could burn almost 500 calories in 45 minutes if done at a certain pace.

Bicycle-riding is another great choice, but it is mostly an outdoors exercise. I mainly do this in the spring or summer when the weather is nice, and you could enjoy it more. It is also important to wear a helmet, because you could never anticipate a fall.

Eating healthy starts wuith substituting foods. Instead of eating red meat, eat chicken, Instead of eating white rich or white bread, choose brown rice and whole-wheat bread. Instead of eating cake, eat fruit. You will eventually wean yourself off of the bad foods.

In order to lose weight, you must burn more calories than you take in. If you eat 1200 calories in one day, you must burn more than that, every day. It is not easy because if you are like me, you love to eat. Cutting calories is always hard at first, but you get used to it as you get used to exercising. All things take time to adjust to, but you do adjust eventually. Cutting out junk foods like cake and candy is hard, but instead of cutting them out altogether, gradually increase your intake each day. Soon, you will be able to reward yourself with your accomplishments. You could buy yourself a new dress, or get a new haircut. This is mainly a new beginning for you.

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