Aerobic exercise or anaerobic exercise to lose weight faster

In the short term (1-3 months), if you want to lose weight quickly, choose aerobic. In the long term (more than half a year), if you want to lose fat without rebounding, choose anaerobic. There is no absolute "faster", it all depends on your weight loss cycle and core needs.

Two years ago, I took care of a male student who was getting married. He was 182cm tall and 187kg. There were only 3 months left before the wedding, so I wanted to quickly put on a customized slim suit. I didn’t let him do any strength training at that time, and gave him half a meal every day. When he was an hour later, he went for a brisk walk and jog for 40 minutes. The only requirement for his diet was to drink less milk tea and avoid late-night barbecues. He didn’t need to deliberately starve himself. In two and a half months, he lost 34 pounds. On the wedding day, he fit into a suit, and his relatives and friends asked him if he had secretly had liposuction. But you said aerobic is the best? No, he stopped exercising after he got married and went out to hang out and drink with his brothers as usual. He gained 19 pounds in two months. When he came back to complain to me, I was not surprised at all.

In fact, the fitness circle has been arguing about this issue for almost ten years, and both sides are reasonable. Aerobics use the calorie gap as an iron rule, saying that if you run for an hour, you actually consume 500-600 calories. If you move, there will be a gap, the weight number will drop slowly, and the face will be smaller and the waist will be visible to the naked eye. These are all obvious facts, and there is nothing to argue about. But if you ask more deeply, most people who have lost weight through pure aerobics have encountered a plateau period. They run longer and longer, eat less and less, and the weight does not move. After eating a little more, the weight goes back. The essence is that pure aerobics consumes muscles, and your basal metabolism is lost. You used to consume 1,600 calories lying down every day, but only 1,300 are left after losing weight. Don’t you have to eat less and move more to maintain it?

Let’s talk about the anaerobic party. This group of people say that "lean body mass is king." Indeed, for every kilogram of muscle you gain, you can consume about 100 more calories every day while lying down, which is equivalent to walking 2,000 more steps every day. As long as the muscle mass increases, it is not easy to gain weight by eating hot pot milk tea normally. After losing weight, there is no need to worry about rebound. But this is the most common pitfall for newbies. I had a girl who trained her buttocks and legs for a month, and her weight increased by 2 pounds. She came to me crying with her scales in hand, saying that her training was in vain. When I measured her circumference, I found that her waist circumference was 3 cm less and her thigh circumference was 2.5 cm less. , the jeans that could not be put on before were zipped up directly, because the density of muscle is more than three times that of fat. When fat is lost, muscles grow, and the weight number does not change. People have long lost weight, but most people lose weight by staring at the scale, and naturally feel "slow" without oxygen.

Let’s talk about a very realistic situation. If you have to wear a backless dress to attend the class reunion next week, and you still can’t zip it up, then don’t hesitate, do 40 minutes of aerobics every day for 7 days in a row, and replace the white rice and white noodles with whole grains for dinner. You will see the swelling on your face disappear on the same day. Wearing a dress is absolutely no problem. At this time, no one will talk to you about long-term muscle gain. What you want is a short and fast effect. Aerobic is faster than anaerobic. But if your goal of losing weight is to never have to lose weight again and again and wear size S for the rest of your life, then you should continue to strengthen strength training. In the first two months, don’t look at the scale. Pinch more to see if the flesh on your waist has changed from loose to tight, and if the waistline of your pants has slipped down. After you gain muscle mass, you will find that you are losing fat faster and faster, and you may even lose weight even if you eat more than before. This stamina cannot be compared with aerobic exercise.

When I was trying to lose weight, I lost 12 pounds in the first month just by running 5 kilometers a day. Then I was stuck for 27 days. My knees hurt from running but I couldn’t move the weight. Later, I listened to the coach and added strength training. My weight didn’t change at all in the first three weeks. I was very panicked at the time. I almost gave up, but starting from the fourth week, I lost 2 pounds per week steadily, and I ate half a bowl of rice more than when I was running before. Now even if I am on a business trip for half a month and have no time to exercise, and go out with friends to eat and drink every day, my weight will not fluctuate by more than 2 pounds. This is the "metabolic confidence" provided by anaerobic.

If you really want me to say the optimal solution, there is no need to choose one of the two. After warming up, do 40 minutes of strength training to deplete glycogen, and then do 20 minutes of aerobics. This not only takes into account the need for short-term weight loss, but also builds muscle and improves metabolism. It is much more efficient than sticking to a certain type of exercise. Don't listen to those bloggers who only praise one kind of sport over another. They are trying to manipulate others based on their own needs. The one that suits your current goals is the fastest.