Are you ready to torch those calories and blast away your excess pounds once and for all? This weight loss workout plan for beginners is the best thing invented for sustainable and effective weight loss. It is not overloaded with difficult exercises, simple to memorize and perform every single day even if you’re a busy person with little free time. You’ll need only seven exercises to lose weight, and you’re supposed to perform only one of them on a given day, gradually increasing the number of repetitions. These small workouts are accompanied by useful tips for lifestyle change throughout the month. Following them is absolutely crucial. The workouts will certainly help you reach your desired weight, but they will be much less productive without significant lifestyle change. So, let’s start the 30 day fat burning challenge right now!
30 Day Fat Burning Challenge
Day 1
High-knees sprint
Run in place, pulling your knees toward your chest while vigorously pumping bent arms (6). Perform 10 reps.
Pro Tip: Lose Your Blame
Fat-shaming doesn’t help you lose weight at all. A popular argument defending fat-shaming claims that bullying people for being fat stimulates positive changes in their lifestyle and diet and helps them get healthier. That is absolute bullshit. The only thing fat-shaming leads to is depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and self-destructive behavior (2). Fat people who experience fat shaming are likely to gain even more weight because of anxiety and negative attitudes towards themselves. That is why a positive relation with your body should ideally be a starting point rather than the result of your weight loss program. Try to perceive training and diets as acts of care, love and appreciation for your body. After all, your looks reflect your health, and focusing your mind on health benefits will yield a myriad of impressive results for your shape.
Read More: Lose 5 Pounds In A Week Meal Plan: Can It Really Help You Reach Your Weight Loss Goals In 7 Days?
Day 2
Jump Switch Lunge
Lunge forward with your left foot from a standing position, bending knees 90 degrees. Jump as high as possible, swinging arms overhead and switching legs in air. Land with your arms by sides and right foot forward, immediately bending your knees. Continue alternating sides quickly. Perform 10 reps.
Pro Tip: Set S.M.A.R.T Goals
Goal setting is not as easy as it might seem. Your success depends on the way you formulate your goal. That’s why it is often advised to set goals that meet the S.M.A.R.T criteria – that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (5). For example, “I want to lose weight” is a badly-formulated goal. It is not specific, not measurable and not time-bound. “I want to lose 30 pounds in 30 days” is a time-bound yet unachievable goal, since a healthy weight loss tempo is about 1-2 pounds a week. Your goals must be as concrete as possible, so you can check your progress and work towards your success.
Day 3
Squat Jack
Drop into a squat from a standing position, bringing fists in front of the chest with elbows bent at sides. Jump feet wide, straightening legs and swinging arms out to sides and up to meet overhead. Continue quickly and repeat 10 times.
Pro Tip: Steer Clear Of Added Sugar
Eliminating added sugars should be the first step of any healthy weight loss plan. Workouts to lose belly fat are all good, but you can’t flatten your muffin top without getting rid of extra calories that stem from added sugars. This does not mean you have to throw away the package of sugar in your kitchen – all the evil comes from processed foods. Adult men consume 24 spoons of sugar per day on average (7) – and that is not the fault of the one you pour in the morning cup of coffee. Soft drinks, fruit drinks, yogurts, muesli and granola, cakes, candy and other processed items contain insane amounts of sugar calories, and you should throw them away from your shopping list right now.
Day 4
Burpee
From a standing position, crouch and plant palms on the floor. Jump feet back to plank (while keeping abs tight), then lower chest and thighs to floor. Press up to plank and jump feet toward hands. Lastly, jump as high as possible (make sure feet are under shoulders before you launch), clapping hands overhead. Continue quickly and repeat 10 times.
Pro Tip: Avoid Refined Carbs
As you already know, added sugars are a no-go on a healthy diet. Products with tons of added sugars are full of refined carbs, but refined carbs do not exclusively come from added sugars. Refined carbs are empty and unnecessary carbs, they do not provide your body with essential nutrients, and, importantly, do not produce the feeling of satiety, so you tend to eat more. Refined carbs are upping your risks of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes (3). White flour and sugar are considered refined carbs, so you should limit the consumption of white rice, white pasta and white bread along with cakes, candies, soft drinks and other foods with added sugars.
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Day 5
Speed Skater Lunge
From a standing position, jump right foot to right, bending left leg and crossing it behind right to land in a deep lunge with right leg bent 90 degrees and on ball of left foot, leg slightly bent (keep butt as low as possible). Reach your left arm across your body to touch the floor in front of your right toes (to make it easier, touch right shin or just reach right). Switch sides and repeat 10 times. Continue quickly alternating sides.
Pro Tip: Put Down The Drinks
What you drink is just as important as what you eat. It is well known that sugary sodas are bad for your health and contribute to weight gain. Many people replace them with packaged juices while trying to lose excess weight. This is a mistake you need to avoid. Although 100% fruit juice is definitely more beneficial in terms of vitamins, consuming large amounts of juices (large means more than 150 ml per day) increases the likelihood of weight gain, since juices are high in sugar and calories and low in fiber (1). So, it’s better to focus on water and tea while consuming juices occasionally and in limited quantities.
Day 6
Pilates Teaser
Lie faceup on the floor with your knees bent over hips and arms extended up with palms facing each other to start. Roll your upper body up and extend legs until you’re sitting, body forming a V shape with your arms parallel to legs. Pause, and slowly roll the upper body back down, one vertebra at a time, keeping legs in the air. When your shoulders reach the mat, return to the starting position. Repeat 10 times. Continue slowly.
Pro Tip: Go For A Walk
When people think of sports and weight loss training, the first things that come to mind are exhausting squats and endless push-ups. In fact, there are many ways to combine training with pleasure – and you can choose from a myriad of types of physical activity for every taste. For example, walking for 30 minutes every day will help improve heart health, strengthen your bones, reduce the risk of diabetes, osteoporosis and other diseases (8). Of course, walking helps you burn excess fat as well.
Read More: Weight Loss Tools: Jumping Into A Weight Loss Journey Fully Prepared
Day 7
Pluo Push-Up
Begin on the floor in a palm plank. Push into palms to explode body off floor (feet stay planted), clapping hands if you can. Land in the beginning position with elbows soft. Repeat 10 times.
Pro Tip: Get Enough Sleep
Good sleep is a critical and often overlooked factor in successful weight loss.
First of all, poor sleep contributes to increased hunger cravings. You feel more hungry since your body wants to replenish energy sources it didn’t receive from sleep. That’s why people can successfully resist the temptation to buy that fatty donut when they sleep well while failing to do so when they don’t sleep enough.
Secondly, poor sleep negatively affects your metabolism. Poor sleep triggers cortisol spike, which is a signal for your body to conserve fat. A study found that those who did not sleep enough lost 55% less body fat than those who slept well (4). Both groups consumed the same amount of calories.
Finally, insulin sensitivity drops when you don’t get enough sleep. This is important because insulin is responsible for converting sugars and starches into energy, and when insulin levels drop, carbohydrates are converted to fat rather than energy.
What To Do Next?
Now you know all the basic exercises for the first week of your 30 day fat burning challenge. What you’ll need in the following weeks is a simple increase of the repetitions for exercises you already know. So, in the second week, you perform every single exercise just like in the previous week, but make 20 repetitions instead of 10. Third week – 30 reps, fourth week – 40 reps. Simple as that.
If you strive for the best results, it’s important to eat only when you’re hungry, at the table, and without distractions. This is a simple but very effective tip.
The fact is that people often consume excessive amounts of calories without even noticing it. Although their bodies no longer send hunger signals, they continue to eat automatically. This most often happens when people eat while watching TV, sitting at their computer or on their phone. That is why it is important to continue the tradition of eating at the table. It is not only a place to socialize with loved ones and share meals, but also a means of limiting calorie intake. So don’t get distracted while you eat and try to figure out if you really want to eat at a certain moment, or if you are simply bored or even stressed.
Conclusion
To sum up, 30 Day Fat Burning Challenge is an excellent way to burn excess fat and upgrade your lifestyle. Exercises for belly fat here are accessible for beginners and don’t take much time. Plus, this challenge includes useful tips for your diet, which are necessary to follow if you strive for impressive results. Those tips, however, are not exhaustive. Following the rules of a balanced diet is imperative for successful weight loss, and they are not limited to eliminating harmful processed foods and consuming more fruits and vegetables.
Keeping your fluid intake high is also crucial, especially when your physical activity levels increase. Water, unlike soft drinks, has multiple health benefits, and will help you shed those unwanted pounds as well.
DISCLAIMER:
This article is intended for general informational purposes only and does not address individual circumstances. It is not a substitute for professional advice or help and should not be relied on to make decisions of any kind. Any action you take upon the information presented in this article is strictly at your own risk and responsibility!
SOURCES:
- A lack of consideration of a dose-response relationship can lead to erroneous conclusions regarding 100% fruit juice and the risk of cardiometabolic disease (2019, ncbi.nih.nlm.gov)
- Does fat shaming help people lose weight? (2019, bbc.com)
- Negative Effects of Eating Too Many Refined Carbohydrates (n.d., livestrong.com)
- Sleep More, Weigh Less (2020, webmd.com)
- SMART Goals (n.d., mindtools.com)
- The 30-Day Weight Loss Challenge That Makes It Easier to Reach Your Goals (2015, shape.com)
- The sweet danger of sugar (n.d., health.harvard.edu)
- Walking For Good Health (n.d., betterhealth.vic.gov.au)