The paradox of exercise is that by expending energy you can increase energy. By improving the heart’s performance and ability to pump blood, aerobic exercise makes your body more energy-efficient and you consume less oxygen when going about normal daily activities. In effect it is like tuning up a car’s engine and getting better gas mileage. If you are unused to regular exercise, however, you may feel a bit stiff or sore and fatigued at first. Start slowly, perhaps adding only 10 minutes of activity three times a week, and gradually build up the intensity and duration of your workout. After a few weeks of following a regular exercise regimen, most people report a surge of energy.
In this sedentary society you need to schedule regular exercise to keep your body trim and improve your health. If you eat more food than your body uses up in energy, the surplus calories are stored as fat. The only way to lose weight and keep it off is to combine a healthy low calorie diet with regular aerobic exercise, such as brisk walking, jogging, cycling, swimming, or aerobic dancing By speeding up breathing and raising your heart rate, aerobic exercise helps to burn body fat. Undertaking an exercise program, however, doesn’t give you a license to eat all the French fries, fudge, and brownies you can lay your hands on. On the contrary, a balanced diet is essential to provide the energy you need to sustain a regular exercise program.
When you exercise aerobically, your body first burns the glucose circulating; it then turns to the glycogen stored in the muscles and the liver, as well as some fatty acids. Thus, an exercise session longer than about 20 minutes burns more fats and helps to shed weight and keep it off. Endurance training increases the amount of fatty acids being bumed. Therefore, the best way to promote fat buming is steady, sustained effort, in which you exercise for long periods – at least 25 to 30 minutes at a time – at 30 to 40 percent of your maximum capability.