When you’re trying to lose weight and you’ve dedicated yourself to working out, you want to make sure that you’re getting the best results for your effort. When weight loss is your goal, choose the workouts that will help you drop pounds healthily and as fast as possible.

Cardio Exercise with Intervals

According to the American College of Sports Medicine, you can boost your metabolism for as long as 24 hours post-workout simply by adding cardio intervals to your routine. Add short periods of heavy duty effort into your normal cardio workouts. For example, sprint for 30 seconds during your normal walk or run, or turn up the intensity on the elliptical machine for two minutes during your normal session. Go back to normal for at least twice as long as the interval and then give the intense interval period another shot. Always make sure your recovery time is quite a bit longer than the intense period.

Strength Exercises

Your organs and heart may not have advanced metabolic needs, but your muscles certainly do. The larger your muscles get, the more they’ll need from you. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, you should be targeting all of the body’s major muscle groups. Luckily, you can do this in less than 30 minutes a few times a week. The more you work out your muscles, the better able your body will burn calories before they turn into fat.

When you maximize the number of calories you burn per workout, you get through your exercise regime faster and drop weight quicker. This is especially helpful for people with busy schedules, because you can truly make every minute count and rely on shorter, more intense workouts to get the job done.

Morning Workouts

Whatever your preferred exercise is, you’ll get more out of it if you do it first thing in the morning. You’ll get it over with early on and won’t have the urge to skip it later in the day, which means you’ll probably get in more workouts each week. Also, working out boosts your energy, which will help you continue to burn calories throughout the day. To squeeze in a session before you have to head to work, consider a no-equipment routine that you can easily do in your living room, a barre workout, or even a brisk walk when the weather’s nice.

The Workout You Love

Ultimately, the workout that will help you lose weight is the one you’ll do on a regular basis. While interval training may zap weight quickly, it won’t work if you can’t force yourself to do it! Find an exercise that you look forward to doing, whether it’s dance class, spinning, or hiking.