Can aerobic exercise help you lose weight?

As long as the method is done properly, aerobic exercise is definitely a very cost-effective choice for weight loss. However, if you step on the wrong misunderstandings, you may not lose weight for three months or even gain weight.

My former colleague Xiao Min used to be a typical sedentary person. She would slump on the sofa and check her mobile phone after get off work. Last spring, she started doing aerobics in the live broadcast room. Each time she danced on the spot for 45 minutes, she would drink a cup of warm milk and eat some cherry tomatoes after dancing. She never showed off milk tea and fried chicken with the mentality of "I can eat whatever I want after exercising." In two months, I have steadily lost 12 pounds, and I can fit into tight jeans that I couldn't fit before. In fact, the principle is not complicated. Aerobics is a medium- to low-intensity continuous exercise. In the first 20 minutes of exercise, the body consumes stored glycogen. When the glycogen is almost depleted, it will start to mobilize fat to decompose for energy. Moreover, it puts much less pressure on the knees than running. It is also lower than the threshold of going to the gym to lift irons. Even people with no exercise foundation can move to the rhythm of music, which is especially easy to persist.

But why are there so many people who haven’t lost any weight after dancing for more than half a month, and even complain that aerobics is an IQ tax?

Last week, I came across a comment from a netizen, saying that Liu Genghong, who danced for an hour every day, gained 2 pounds in weight after a month of dancing. When I clicked on her follow-up sharing, I found out that she was so hungry every time she finished dancing. She felt that she had consumed so much, so it was no problem to eat some good supplements. She would show off a fried chicken or two cups of iced milk tea after each jump. The caloric intake was more than what was consumed by aerobics, and the excess calories were converted into fat and stored, so she would not lose weight or even gain weight. There are also some people who sit down and rest for half an hour after jumping for ten minutes each time. The body stops before it enters the fat-burning state. Naturally, no effect is seen. What's more, the movements are completely non-standard. When jumping, the knees are buckled in and the back is slumped. The fat is not reduced much, and the knees and waist are injured first, which is not worth the gain.

In fact, you don’t have to pursue the kind of high-intensity exercise that makes you sweat profusely after jumping. If you have a large body weight, choose a low-impact model first. There are few jumping movements, mostly lifting the arms, twisting the waist, and stepping. They are friendly to the joints, and you can save enough energy if you take your time. Also, don’t focus on the number on the scale. When I did aerobics by myself, my weight didn’t change at all in the first two weeks, but a hole was inserted into the belt on my waist. In fact, during aerobics, I trained the muscles of the core and limbs. The muscles of the same weight are almost one-third smaller than the fat. The body is tighter, but it looks much slimmer than if I lost one or two pounds in weight.