Being obese or overweight is one of those problems which can give you sleepless nights. Frustration and hopelessness creep in when you fail to shed off that stubborn body fat. A majority of overweight individuals tend to rely heavily on running for losing weight. But not many are aware of the fact that running may not be the ideal exercise that will help you hit the bull’s eye. Your approach to cardio might not be the exact way you deal with a weight loss. Before you let your disappointments get the better of you, have a look at the common mistakes and simple solutions to make things fall into place.

You Don’t Alter Your Workout Regime

Your body is nothing short of a machine. If you repeat the same process time and again, it becomes easier. Relying heavily on running for your cardio means your body will adapt to the stress quickly. Consequently, there will be a limit on the benefits you get out of it! Irrespective of how much you pump your legs and sweat, the output will be the same. Your metabolism starts reacting the same way, and you burn fewer calories in the process.

Even running on the treadmill for almost an hour at a steady pace might help in losing weight, but only at the initial stage. You shed off some pounds in the first two to three weeks, and after that, just nothing. You will wonder why on earth did that happen. The reason is that within those first few weeks, your metabolism has adjusted to the entire program and doesn’t need to apply the same effort to burn off the body fat.

Weight training is much more useful than running. Lifting weights has positive impacts on your metabolism and causes muscle tears in your body that needs to repair over time. Healing procedure requires you to burn more calories. This continues for almost two days after your workout session.

You Cover a Greater Distance, but Your Pace Remains the Same

The critical factor in any workout is intensity. While running every day, you can cover a greater distance and maintain a speed you can stick to for a more extended period. But unless and until you increase your pace, the results will only disappoint you. You push yourself intending to sustain for a time you have set for yourself. You feel tired and optimistic. But the fact remains that your workout is excellent only for your endurance, not for a weight and a fat loss.

Five to six sets of 30-second sprints are more effective in burning body fat than going through cardio sessions for 30 minutes to an hour. Intensity makes all the difference. Those quick sprints will burn at least double the body fat.

You Pay Excessive Attention the Calories You’re Burning

People believe that all the calories you burn are from your workouts. This is a misconception. Eating, sleeping, walking, standing, sleeping requires a lot of energy and the calories that you burn during exercise is insignificant in contrast to your day to day activities and the normal functioning that your body goes through every day.

But that doesn’t mean you don’t need to hit the gym. The workout that you let your body go through will affect the number of calories you burn otherwise. Sprinting and weight lifting will help you build more muscles and will result in your body burning more calories than you expected.

You Rarely Opt for Other Forms of Cardio

You need to choose a form of cardio that will play a key role in building body muscles. This will give you positive results in the shortest possible time. Cycling, for instance, is better for fat loss and muscle building, than running. If you increase your intensity while cycling, you are in for a better and efficient weight-loss strategy. It will serve your purpose faster and better than relying on running, jogging, or a long walk.

You must remember that walking and running over a long period will only decrease your intensity. That implies you have to hang out there for a weight loss for a much more extended period, and results won’t be that much impressive. Intensity is the word. Nothing else matters.