Weight Loss Workout Plan

To lose weight, increase strength, get fit, be healthy and generally feel great – exercise is key. Just like the air you breathe, our body needs physical exercise. And it needs exercise in a way that is so far-reaching that scientists are only just starting to unravel some of the amazing effects exercise has on our bodies.

Exercise reduces the risk of suffering with a new chronic condition, reduces the risk of progression if you already have a chronic condition and improve quality of life and physical function, and decreases the risk of some cancers.1 In fact, exercise can actually reprogram your DNA in a good way.2

Weight Loss Workout Plan

Putting aside all the complicated, scientific reasons to exercise, exercise offers benefits that dieting just can’t. Dieting, though key to weight loss (because you can’t out-run a bad diet) only reduces weight. It doesn’t build strength or muscle. Nor does it improve fitness. And of course, in conjunction with diet, exercise speeds up the whole weight loss process, and who doesn’t want that? More than that, research shows that people who successfully lose weight and maintain that weight loss exercise regularly.34

It’s also important to follow a nutritious diet and practice healthy portion control. To lose weight you need to create a calorie deficit. The simple math of it is, eating fewer calories than you burn. If you’re not already eating healthily, don’t do everything at once. Do it in stages. Some simple healthy swaps and starting a workout plan is a great start.

Be sure to check with your doctor before starting a new exercise program, especially if you have a medical condition.

The Workout Plan

This weight loss workout plan consists of both cardiovascular exercise and strength training. You’ll be doing two types of cardio – steady-steate cardio and HIIT.

  1. Steady-state cardio: 3x a week
  2. HIIT (or interval training): 1x a week
  3. Strength training: 2x a week

Perform strength workouts on non-consecutive days. Warm-up before and cool-down after each workout.

Part 1

Steady-State Cardio

Steady-state cardio (simply referred to here as cardio, also called LISS) involves exercising (e.g. power walking, hiking, jogging, running, cycling) at about the same intensity for the entire workout.

Duration: Aim to exercise between 30 and 60 minutes. If are able a beginner start with 20 minutes. Also, if you’re following a beginner running plan follow the running plan schedule.

Type of Cardio

You can do any type of cardiovascular exercise, just make sure it’s something you like – or if you have no particular preference just stay away from those activities you know you do not enjoy. It is important that you like what you’re doing in order to stick with it, not just for the duration of this program, but also afterwards.

  • Low-Impact activities: If you are worried about high impact exercise, go for low-impact activities such as cycling, walking, swimming or using the elliptical machine.

How Hard Should You Exercise?

Aim to exercise at moderate intensity, a heart rate of about 70% of maximum heart rate (MHR). Another method of monitoring how hard you’re exercising by using the rating or perceived exertion (RPE) scale. The RPE Scale is a subjective measure of exercise intensity levels and uses a scale of 1 – 10. Aim to exercise at around level 5 or 6 RPE.

If you are a beginner, don’t worry too much about heart rate. Exercise at pace that allows you to speak in complete sentences. You should still be able to hold a conversation, but not sing. (This is called the “talk test“).

Progression: As you progress, your fitness levels will continually improve and exercising will feel easier. Therefore, to keep exercising at 70% MHR or RPE 6, you’ll need to slowly make your workouts more challenging.

For example, you can increase difficulty by walking a little faster, increasing workout duration, or walking on a slight incline. If you are using equipment in the gym you can increase the pace, level of resistance, or incline at which you’re exercising.

Part 2

HIIT or Interval Training

Interval Training

What is it: Interval training (IT) is a shorter cardio workout, that alternates between higher levels of intensity and easier recovery intervals. If you are just starting to exercise after a long period of being inactive, start with interval training, before trying HIIT.

How: Alternate between exercising at RPE 4-5 for 2 minutes (recovery interval) and exercising at RPE 6 for 1 minute (work interval).*

For example, if your steady state cardio consists of brisk walking: Walk at a steady pace (slightly slower brisk pace), and add a few very brisk pace intervals (faster than your usual brisk pace).

Your fitness levels will slowly increase or 6 – 8 weeks. When you’re ready, progress to the more advanced form of interval training – HIIT.

HIIT

What is it: High intensity interval training (HIIT) is a more intense form of interval training. It consists of short bursts of high intensity exercise, so it’s important to progress gradually.

Benefits: HIIT is a proven technique to massively increase cardiovascular fitness, improve health, and is great for weight loss.5678

How: Recovery intervals at RPE 4 to 5 for 1 minute; Start with an intensity of RPE 7 for the work intervals. As you become more fit, you can slowly and incrementally increase the intensity.*

*If you’re following a beginner’s run-walk plan, choose an activity other than running for your interval/ HIIT workouts.

Part 3

Strength Training

The other part of this weight loss workout plan is strength training. This is important because it’s the part that focuses on building muscle, increasing strength, health, and improving general day-to-day mobility.91011

Furthermore, during weight loss, not all the weight lost is fat, some of it is muscle. A full body strength workout helps to prevent the loss of muscle that usually occurs and may actually help you build muscle. It can also increase the amount of fat loss, compared to just dieting alone.1213 And as muscle is metabolically active, it means a faster metabolic rate!14

Aim to perform 2 strength workouts per week, on non-consecutive days. In terms of equipment, all you need is a pair of dumbbells.


How to Follow this Workout Plan

This plan is flexible and this is just a one way you can structure your workouts. If you can, try to complete four days of cardio and two days of full-body strength workouts. If you can only do 3 days of cardio and 1 day of strength, don’t worry. That works too! And if you get bored, switch up the activities and try something new. But keep going! It’s not an all-or-nothing plan.

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Recovery: Avoid back-to-back days of strength training and give your body enough time to recover from very hard workouts such as HIIT. It is during recovery your body actually gets stronger, repairing and rebuilding in response to those tough workouts.

The aim of this plan is to lose weight, get in shape and improve health. So the goal is not just to lose weight, but to do it healthily. That means you need to listen to your body. While you need to give each workout your best effort, you also need to make sure that you don’t overdo it.

Listen to Your Body

Every week you’re getting more fit and you’re burning more calories. With every workout your body becomes stronger – your heart, lungs, joints, muscles, tendons, and bones become stronger. But it is a gradual process, and you need to give your body time. Maybe you wanted to reach your goal in 4 weeks, but your body needs 6. What you want and what your body will do are not necessarily the same. So push yourself, but don’t shove.

This weight loss workout plan is just a guide. If you feel it is too easy, turn it up a notch. If you are struggling to keep up, take an extra recovery day or lower the intensity at which you are exercising – the options are endless.

Some weeks it may seem too easy, while other weeks you just seem stuck. Don’t despair. Just know that while it seems nothing is happening, there are a lot of improvements going on in your body you cannot see. Not all improvements are visible. So be patient and stick with it. Going slow, is better than not going at all!

No matter how long you decide to follow the exercise program, once you have achieved your goal, you should still continue to exercise regularly, in order to maintain a good level of fitness and to improve health.

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56 COMMENTS

  1. Hello,
    Awesome post! Going to start right away! But quick question
    Looking at the beginners chart, it says IT but doesn’t tell us what exactly to do for that IT portion. could you please post step by step instructions like you did for other workouts like you already did for core, total body, upper body.
    You could email me personally or post it on this amazing website!

    Thanks

  2. Firstly, this is a great article and thanks for the post but i have a question. Im starting this tomorrow as its a monday. For example when it says core workout, sometimes there is a star next to the word core. What does that mean and how does it differ? Thanks in advance

  3. Im really keen on starting this plan next week, just quickly wondering how much time should I be doing the core work out, upper body work out, and the total workout body for before going into the 20 min cardio (besides for the total body workout)?

    • Hi Amabel,
      Just work through the workout. Time isn’t really the focus when doing resistance training – it’s more about doing the exercises with proper form. That way you’ll get the most out of the workouts and avoid injury.

  4. Hi! I am new to a workout routine. Trying to get in a healthier lifestyle for my son, my husband and I also want to have another child. However, I am trying to understand the lingo… what does IT mean? I’ve grasped the rest of this workout and have a diet plan I am following, it’s to help lose 40-60 lbs in about the same amount of time. I just need to understand the lingo so I can start both of my new routines at the same time! Thanks so much for your help.

  5. is the exercise that u prepared for this workout plan will make me bulking up and gaining more muscle?i’d like to lose some weight without getting much muscle ?will this plan works out for me??

  6. This article sounds really great and I hope to start the exercise plan soon. I was just wondering what exactly the upper body workout is, is it the arm and shoulder picture one?
    thank you!

  7. Hi, im trying to figure out what exactly are the plans, like what am i supposed to do.. know i need to follow the week chart but what exact exercises do i have to do?

  8. Also as far as weight loss goes…I need to lose about 40 pounds…will this put me on a good start to lose ALL of the weight…or is it just a start into weight loss?

  9. Hi my name is Ana and I’m a weight loss beginner and I’m dying to lose weight and have decided to try this plan but I’m a little confused about how long long I have to do the core workouts or in how many reps if someone can help me with this it will be great thanks

  10. Hey, I really like this workout guide, but where do I find the specifics on the core workout, upper-body workout and total body workout? Also, specifics on what kind of cardio to do?

  11. I just finished the Beginners workout plan and loved it! However, I’m not sure whether I should continue where I left off on the beginners for the first week of the Intermediate or follow the Intermediate exactly the way it is…

    • Hi Haley, glad to hear you loved it! 🙂 Yes, just continue on to the more difficult exercise plan from where you left off. There’s no need to start from the beginning. To make things more difficult, you can also start changing the upper, lower and total body workout routines to make them more challenging. So instead of increasing how long you’re exercising to make it more difficult, just make the workouts more difficult. Plus, your body will get used to the workout routine after about 12 weeks. So even just changing the exercises you’re doing would be new and unusual for your body, making the new exercises more challenging. This will help you avoid a fitness or weight loss plateau, and help you to keep getting great results in terms of calorie burning, muscle strength and fitness, for a toned, strong body!

  12. I plan do this plan to lose weight and to feel better. I am a new momma. AND I plane get two of my other new momma to try it with me my calories a day will be 1,500. But what I don’t. Know is on week 5 on Saturday is say hiit 20 min? What that mean

    • Hi Samantha, HIIT stands for high intensity interval training, IV for interval training. If you’re a beginner start with regular interval training, which is bouts of more challenging exercise interspersed with short easier periods of exercise to allow you to recover, and repeat. Hope this helps! 🙂

  13. Hi, I have a few questions. Is this just an outline of what we are supposed to do to lose weight? There are no videos listed so I assume it is. So we look up a core workout and just do it? And change it up each week? I mean, is there a place we can get the actual individual workouts from?

  14. i am looking to start this program but i can’t seem to find the beginner weight loss exercise plan. Am i missing something? It says there is a beginner, intermediate, and a advanced plan right?

  15. I’ve been on this website for hours and I’ve learned so much! I’m an endomorph according to the information given and I would like to lose 10 pounds over the next 70 days. I want to tone my muscles too and have a sculpted body so should I follow this workout plan? I really want to loose the weight and then get toned muscles but I don’t want to lose strength during the weight loss. Let me know what you think I should do, thank you!

  16. Hi! I’ve been trying so many different workout plans and they just never stuck, so i’m excited to try this out! I’ll leave a new reply once I get to week 6 and/or when I finish! 🙂

  17. Hi guys! Just want to let you know that I’ve been folllowing the excercise plan for begginers, [almost done with week 6], and I definetly feel way better and stronger tha before, which is what I was looking for months and couldn’t get it, thank you very much 🙂

  18. Hi! Just want to let you know that I’ve been following this plan, I’m on the middle of week no. 6 and I’ve been feeling great! Haven’t lost any weight and not looking for it, but my body does feel stronger, thank yoooou very muuuuch!!!!

  19. Exercises like walking, jogging, running, cycling, swimming are effective in weight loss. Very nice workout schedule you have shared here. Thanks

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