Female Weight Loss Workout Plan for Beginners: Where Should You Start?
Written by Mariia Roza
Mariia Roza is a weight loss and fitness writer at Unimeal. She is an expert in nutrition, wellness, longevity, and sports.
Fact checked by Pavel Balezin
Pavel Bazelin is a fitness expert at Unimeal. He owns a fitness studio and works as a personal trainer. His education includes a bachelor’s degree in Health, Fitness, and Recreation.
When people are overweight, they usually choose diets, but regular exercise is an equally effective method. We will figure out which types of workouts are best for slimming down and how to combine them with a balanced diet.
When the New Year comes closer, we start making commitments. We promise that we will spend more time with our family or work harder to make more money. Some of us vow to eat healthily and follow a diet. And according to statistics, many of us decide to start doing some sports. That’s a great idea, and we’ve gathered some recommendations on how to start working out, sustain the new habit, and get the most out of it.
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What kinds of workouts are the best for weight loss?
Every type of physical activity boosts your metabolism and helps you lose weight faster. Some of the exercises are focused on building muscle, and some allow you to burn more calories. However, the best choice for beginners is combining these kinds of exercises and having both cardio and lifting elements in one workout session.
Here are some examples of sports activities that might benefit your endurance, strength, power, and weight loss.
Dances
Dances make you more artistic. They are also a great way to meet new people and enjoy music and your body. All kinds of dances, especially ballet, make you more flexible. If you choose something like pole dancing, you will surely become more self-confident and tone your muscles.
Apart from that, dances are a focal point of celebrations, they are the main focus of discos, they can help you learn new cultures, and if you try pair dances, you will get emotionally closer to your significant other.
Dances are an excellent choice for weight loss because they combine aerobic (cardio), weight training (working with your body weight), stretching, and training for your brain as you have to learn new moves all the time.
Crossfit
Crossfit is a fitness regimen where you can lose weight due to intensive workouts and grow muscle thanks to a load of lifting exercises. It is not a perfect choice if you want to learn the proper technique, but it shows the whole assortment of exercises you can do alone or at the gym.
Another significant element of Crossfit is that even though you’re working out with other people, you’re still following your own plan. Crossfit communities are usually quite strong, and you’re almost sure to find new pals in these classes.
Some people say that Crossfit won’t work for you if you have weak muscles, but in reality, it always depends on your coach. Find a Crossfit class with a good coach who has a personalized approach, and you will evolve very quickly.
Martial arts
Wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, karate, aikido, krav-maga, taekwondo: They’re all great for improving your endurance, strength, and power. You will lose weight, become stronger, and grow muscles without even noticing it!
If you don’t want to receive punches on the head, avoid striking martial arts like box, kickboxing, or Muay Thai. Opt for wrestling instead, where you have more control over your body and have fewer chances of getting injuries.
Group classes
Most large gyms offer group training for beginners. There you can find yoga, pilates, biking, water fitness, Tae bo, step aerobics, workouts with your body weight, focused on specific muscle groups, and whatnot.
The main advantage of these classes is that you work out with a professional coach who pays attention to everyone in the room and composes enjoyable and fun workouts. Another great benefit of group classes is that you’re there with other people! When your workouts are also a part of your socialization, you have more motivation to show up at the gym.
How to create a fat-burning workout routine as a beginner?
If specific sports classes are not your cup of tea or you want to work out alone, start with cardio. Give long walks a try. They will improve your stamina, strengthen your muscles, and will surely boost your weight loss.
The next step is running or biking. These activities help you burn a lot of calories and don’t require a gym membership. Add some stretching and squats to your heating up, and do some push-ups and plank exercises as a cooldown.
When you’re comfortable with basic exercises, it’s time to get some gear or go to the gym. Earlier, we wrote about push-pull splits and composed a 5-day split workout to build muscles.
You can follow these plans, but if you’re totally new to the gym, it’s better to hire a personal trainer. Have at least one session with a professional who can watch you doing basic compound movements.
The thing is, you can easily get injured if you use dumbbells, barbells, and some machines the wrong way. Invest in your technique a bit. Getting the proper techniques from articles or even videos might be too challenging. It is always better to have someone who can make slight amendments to your moves when you’re performing them.
How to eat to make your workout plan help you lose weight?
One of the major reasons gym newbies and sports beginners don’t lose weight is that they start to eat more. Sometimes they justify their cravings with hard workouts (I’ve worked so hard, I deserve extra cheese to my pasta). But sometimes, our bodies plead for more food and we eat more after workouts without even noticing it. Be aware of this pitfall so that you can avoid weight gain when you start working out.
Follow some simple yet efficient tips on weight loss to stay in a caloric deficit and get to your goal weight faster.
- Keep an eye on your portion sizes,
- Don’t drink your calories,
- Minimize the consumption of highly caloric processed foods,
- Have fewer snacks,
And the results will follow sooner than you expect.
What should you do to make a new habit sustainable?
Don’t push yourself too hard
Yes, participants of different weight-loss show workout every day, sometimes twice a day, but this is not sustainable for most people. Committing to a professional athlete routine right off the boat most probably won’t help you succeed. Instead, it will wear off your willpower and might lead to injuries.
Add more motivation to your workout
It is much easier to stick to your new workout plan if you have more than one reason for going to the gym. Getting slim and building muscle is a good motivation, but that might not be enough.
Choose sports that teach you new skills. For example, opt for dancing to learn some moves and feel confident on the dance floor. Try out martial arts to be capable of standing for yourself and learn some self-defense techniques. Give football a try to become a part of a community.
Choose what you like
There are so many sports out there that you will surely find something that you will love. It might be yoga, kayaking, archery, paragliding, or lumberjacking sport. Check out the classes in your city. Ask friends who’re enthusiastic about their hobby.
Your choice doesn’t have to be “normal” or comfortable for others. Let your soul decide what you like, and then you will surely keep doing your thing.
Make it comfortable
That’s a bit opposite to the previous advice, but if you can combine both, you will hit your goal! Look for gyms and sports grounds near your house or office, so you have fewer justifications for not showing at the workout session.
Make it a part of your life
Great hobbies change our lives. We start traveling more to run all the marathons we can reach. We choose to go to Sri Lanka, Hawaii, or Spain on vacation to practice surfing. We marry a mate from the gym. We show our kids the world of our hobbies, demonstrating how great physical activity is in our own example.
Have more fun!
Remember when you were a kid you loved running, climbing trees and fencing, swimming, and playing around? What has changed? Offer your friends to visit the climbing center instead of going to the pub. Play volleyball on the beach instead of just laying on the deck chair. Chase each other with your kids or dog...
Summing up
You see that you don’t need tons of motivation, willpower, and the desperate desire to lose weight to make physical activity a part of your new life. Look for fun, socializing, great people around, and new skills instead! And soon, you will get a leaner body and stronger muscles, just like a side effect of your healthier lifestyle.
Unimeal does not diagnose or suggest treatments. Any description of the diet, training plan or supplement should be discussed with your current physician or nutritionist. This article does not address specific conditions and is simply meant to provide general information on healthcare topics. Following any advice is at your own initiative and does not impose any responsibility on the blog authors for your health and safety.
