How Much Do You Actually Need To Work Out To Lose Weight?

Six months into your first professional job, it hits you: "I can't stand this job any longer." Translation? "My income isn't growing in relation to how hard I'm working."

Work productivity, specifically in sales jobs, can be a bit like fitness. More work doesn't always equate to better results. Heard the term "work smarter, not harder"? Executives often warn sales managers about "burning out" their team. Morale is a factor affected by burnout as well as the physiological effects of being overworked. Sales jobs often burn new hires out within a year.

Muscle gain isn't necessarily achieved by "more" working out. Pace yourself. It's vital you structure your workout plan to maximize the diet you're eating from.

Because fat loss and muscle gain relate directly to your metabolism and how the body cultivates energy from your food consumption, there are times when your body is burning fat and times when it's burning carbs (the majority).

There are several other options, but before we talk about workouts that burn fat, we must address how and why fat is burned. Since the human body burns primarily glucose for energy, working out uses carbohydrates most. Carbs are converted to glucose after consumption. If there are excess carbs consumed, they’ll be put away as stored fat, for later use.

After carbs, your body looks to protein for glucose production. So you'll actually consume muscle before burning "stored" fat. To burn fat, your body first has to be deprived of carbs, and then it needs high-intensity workouts to activate emergency fat stores—and convert them to energy. Contrary to carbs, though, when fat is converted to energy, it creates a ketone instead of glucose.

So if you simply drink an orange juice and then go workout, by the time you're done with one hour of moderate-intensity workout, you'll have burned almost no fat.

If you're looking to build muscle, take a one-day break between workouts to allow the body proper recovery time. Soreness should start to subside before you work out again. This schedule equates to three to four workout days per week.

Diet is. So you must strategically combine your workout frequency with a proper diet.

A few reasons some trainers recommend only dieting at first (and not working out) is that working out increases appetite, it provides a mental expectation of rewards (e.g., tasty food), and it helps us rationalize other unhealthy decisions.

If you're only dieting at first, you learn to get the self-control aspect under control before your expectations are elevated by what you think your body deserves after a hard workout. This is why many can be total gym rats who lift amazing weight but appear quite soft.