FRIDAY, Oct. 30, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Searching for the single best workout to help you lose weight? There isn’t one, a sports medicine doctor says, because the smartest approach is mixing different types of exercise.
Switching between workout styles keeps the body challenged, which helps it keep improving.
“The body adapts to the demands we put on it,” said Dr. Russell Camhi, who works in primary care sports medicine at Northwell Health’s Orthopedic Institute in East Meadow, New York.
“If we do the same exercise regimen over and over, results are bound to plateau,” he explained.
“Now this doesn’t mean you have to change exercises every day or every week," Camhi added, "But a little variety will help the body change and grow.”
Why Food Matters More Than Workouts
Losing weight takes both exercise and nutrition, and food choices do about 80% of the heavy lifting, Camhi said.
Most people need to eat less and move more to drop pounds. Trimming 500 to 750 calories a day typically leads to losing about 1.5 pounds a week, the Mayo Clinic says, based on federal dietary guidelines.
Eating less accounts for most weight loss, but regular physical activity helps people keep lost weight off, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says.
Activity raises the number of calories the body burns for energy. Pair that with fewer calories at meals, and the resulting shortfall leads to weight loss.
Exercise also protects the body while the pounds come off. Bone density and muscle mass naturally decline with age, so people who diet without exercising can end up weaker. Adding aerobic workouts and resistance training helps preserve both, Mayo Clinic experts noted.
“Exercise is important and imperative for health and longevity, but all efforts to lose weight will fail without a nutrition program,” Camhi said.
How Much Exercise Do You Need?
For overall health, the CDC recommends that adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity each week, such as brisk walking, or 75 minutes of vigorous activity, like jogging or swimming laps. A combination of the two also counts.
Adults should add muscle-strengthening exercise at least two days a week.
Doubling that to 300 minutes of moderate activity a week may give an extra boost to losing weight or keeping it off, Mayo Clinic experts said.
But the amount needed to maintain a healthy weight varies widely from person to person, the CDC notes.
A Doctor's Workout Plan For Weight Loss
If weight loss is the main goal, Camhi suggests combining steady-state cardio with weight training.
He recommends cardio sessions of about 30 minutes, two to four times a week. Weight-training sessions should run 30 to 60 minutes, with sets of eight to 12 repetitions per exercise and short rests between sets.
“Steady-state cardio will burn fat when in the target HR [heart rate] zone,” Camhi said.
To estimate maximum heart rate, subtract your age from 220. The target zone falls between 50% and 70% of that number.
Heart rate monitors can help track those numbers, Camhi said, but there are simpler ways to gauge effort.
“Fat-burning zone is the point where you can hold a conversation, but it is a little challenging as you are primarily breathing through your mouth, not just your nose,” he said.
Ease into a cardio routine with low-impact options such as biking, swimming or an elliptical machine, Camhi advised. Treadmill walking with short running intervals is another good starting point.
Once the body has built up tolerance and the risk of injury is lower, people can progress to full runs or a stair-climbing machine.
Harder workouts burn more energy. A 154-pound person uses roughly 280 calories during an hour of walking at 3.5 mph, compared with about 590 calories jogging at 5 mph, the CDC estimates.
People who weigh more burn more, and those who weigh less burn fewer.
“Good entry weight-training exercises are squats, lunges, step-ups, pushups, rows and planks,” Camhi said. “It is imperative to include legs and large muscle groups when weight training for weight loss.”
Make It Fun Enough To Stick With
Staying motivated matters, too.
Signing up for a class or exercising with a friend can help, as can trying dance, yoga or karate, or joining a baseball, bowling or mall-walking group, the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM) suggests.
Everyday movement adds up as well. Taking the stairs, parking farther from the store and tackling chores like raking leaves or gardening all count. Even short bursts of activity spread throughout the day offer real health benefits, Mayo Clinic experts noted.
“The most important thing is that you do exercises that you enjoy and are practical so that it is easier to sustain what you are doing,” the NLM says.
And if progress stalls, be ready to shake things up.
“If progress plateaus for more than one to two weeks, it is time to change up your exercise routine,” Camhi said.
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on physical activity and weight.
SOURCES: Interview with Dr. Russell Camhi; Mayo Clinic, May 8, 2024; U.S. National Library of Medicine, July 15, 2024; U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, April 7, 2026
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