One of the challenges we run into when we decide to burn fat and lose weight is how much to diet and how much to exercise.

We all know that the best way to accomplish weight loss is to combine eating healthy, cutting back on calories from fat and increasing our exercise as well as toning muscle to help improve our metabolism so we can burn even more fat.

Yet there are very few specific guidelines that help us understand how much activity we need to do in order to burn fat and really make a difference in the way we look and feel.

So, a good first target is to burn 400 calories at least 4-times a week – and here are some combinations that can get you there…

Assuming you are a 180-lb male, then you would have to…

• Bicycle at a leisurely pace for 1-hour, that will burn about 250 calories – pick up the pace or hit a course with some hills for half your ride and you will have easily burned your 400 calories
• Go and have a game of bowling for 1-hour and you will have reached half of your target – add to that another hour of moderate walking (30-minutes before work in the morning, and another 30-minutes at lunch or later at night) and you will have burned your extra 400 calories for the day
• Running is a great way to burn extra calories – a 5mph run for 30-minutes will burn about 280 calories, then you can add in a brisk walk, some Tai Chi, a quick game of tennis or 9-holes of golf to reach the 400 calories burned mark.

The point is that you can make weight loss fun – instaed of forcing yourself to run everday when you really don’t enjoy it (or you have gotten bored), then throw in other activities like walking, bowling, golf, tennis, or play some basketball. 

The more you vary your exercise routine, the simpler and more effective your quest to lose weight and keep it off will be.