Does aerobic exercise for half an hour have a weight loss effect

The answer is actually not that ambiguous - as long as your heart rate reaches the target during exercise and you can stabilize the calorie gap every day, half an hour of aerobic exercise will definitely have a weight loss effect. It is not at all like "less than 40 minutes is equivalent to wasting exercise" as many people say.

The saying "Only glycogen is consumed in the first half hour and fat is burned after half an hour" that has been circulated on the Internet for many years is actually a misunderstanding. Our body will use both glycogen and fat for energy from the first second of exercise. However, glycogen accounts for a higher proportion in the first 20 minutes, and the fat proportion will slowly increase with the duration of exercise, but this does not mean that fat consumption in the first half hour does not exist at all. A while ago, I took care of a young intern girl who had just graduated. She couldn't find time to go to the gym from 9 to 6, so she walked briskly around the park next to the company for 30 minutes after get off work every day. The pace was about 6 kilometers per hour, and her heart rate was just around 120. She didn't go on an extreme diet, so she replaced her afternoon full-sugar milk tea with sugar-free oolong tea. In three weeks, she lost 2.4 pounds, her waistline was 2 centimeters smaller, and the suit skirt that was stuck in her hips became a lot looser.

But there are some people who have practiced aerobics for three and a half hours and haven't lost any weight at all. The eldest brother across from me runs around the neighborhood for 30 minutes every day without hesitation. After two months of running, he still gained 1 pound in weight. After I asked him, I found out that every time he finished running, he had to eat half a plate of beef with cold beer. After running for half an hour, he only consumed about 250 kcal. Half a plate of beef with soy sauce would consume almost 500 kcal. On the contrary, it created a calorie surplus, so it was normal not to lose weight.

Controversy in the fitness circle about this matter has never stopped. Most of those who insist that "aerobic exercise must take more than 40 minutes to be effective" are fitness enthusiasts who are preparing for fat burning in preparation for competitions. Their body fat percentage is already very low. If they want to increase their body fat by two or three points, they really need longer exercise to increase the proportion of fat for energy. Half an hour of consumption is indeed not enough for them, but for ordinary people who just want to lose three to five pounds and maintain their daily metabolism, it is completely enough. Even if you really can't squeeze out the entire 30 minutes, break it into two 15-minute brisk walks, one each for commuting to and from get off work. The cumulative calorie consumption will also count. To put it bluntly, it's like saving pocket money. Although saving 10 yuan a day is not as fast as saving 50 yuan, it is still much better than spending it randomly without saving.

If you want to maximize the cost-effectiveness of this half hour, you can also add some interval training, such as walking briskly for 3 minutes and running for 1 minute, or adding leg raises and burpees from time to time during aerobics at home. Without adding extra time, the consumption can be increased by one-third. Recently, I was busy with projects and didn’t even have time to enter the gym, so I took advantage of my lunch break to climb the stairs, going up 15 floors and 10 floors down, for 30 minutes. In the past two months, my waistline has shrunk by almost 2 centimeters. The jeans that used to be tight around my belly can now be stuffed into a fist. If you say it doesn’t work, you’d be lying.

Don’t always look at the number on the scale to judge whether it is useful. Doing aerobic exercise for half an hour for a long time can slowly increase your basal metabolism. You will consume more than before when you sit at work. These invisible benefits are much greater than losing one or two pounds of water weight in a short period of time. Don't worry about whether you have enough time. Put on your shoes and go out for a 30-minute walk. It's much more useful than reading posts about "how long does aerobics take to be effective" at home for half a day.