Essential reading for weight loss: Only aerobic exercise that reaches your target heart rate is effective.

Exercise is only effective if your heart rate is within the target range.

Since walking and Tai Chi are both aerobic exercises, why are they said to be ineffective for diabetic patients?

Yes, walking and Tai Chi do indeed fall under the category of aerobic exercise. However, the problem is that the intensity of walking and Tai Chi is insufficient, at least for those trying to lose weight. Such intensity is too low to be effective.

I remember in school, during PE class, the teacher would first assign exercises and then have everyone do them. But most girls only paid lip service; they would run slowly and swim half-heartedly, just sitting on the edge of the pool. Can such exercise really be considered exercise?

Some people think that aerobic exercise is a slow activity, so they can do it slowly. This is wrong, because aerobic exercise also has intensity standards.

The intensity indicator for fat loss through aerobic exercise is the appropriate heart rate.

We know that when a person enters an exercise state, the oxygen consumption of various parts of the body increases dramatically. The body's oxygen is primarily transported by the blood, and the heart is the "pump" of this blood. Each heartbeat delivers oxygen to the body. Therefore, heart rate during exercise is the most direct reflection of exercise intensity.

Everyone has a different optimal heart rate for exercise. To determine your optimal heart rate, you need to understand the concept of maximum heart rate.

Maximum heart rate is the highest heart rate a person can tolerate. Exceeding this rate can be dangerous. The relationship between maximum heart rate and optimal heart rate is somewhat like the maximum power and rated power of an air conditioner—one is the critical value, and the other is the normal value.

Maximum heart rate is calculated using a formula, commonly:

Maximum Heart Rate = 220 - Age

Multiplying this by 60% to 70% gives you your optimal heart rate for aerobic exercise. Besides this calculation method, the optimal exercise heart rate can also be calculated from the resting heart rate:

Optimal exercise heart rate = Resting heart rate + Resting heart rate × (50% ~ 70%)

Regardless of the calculation method, the optimal exercise heart rate for the average adult is 140 ~ 160 beats per minute. Some people may have a slightly higher heart rate, while others may have a slightly lower one. Generally, this frequency must be reached for the body to adequately supply oxygen. When the heart rate is higher than this value, the exercise is too intense, and the weight loss effect will be somewhat reduced.

Common data states that jogging for one hour can burn 2742 kilojoules (655 kilocalories). This figure is actually based on a heart rate of 150 beats per minute.

I know a woman who gained weight after giving birth, so she bought a treadmill for home use and ran on it for half an hour every day. However, after several months, her weight did not decrease significantly, so she went to a gym to have her body fat percentage measured, and found that it had not changed much from before she started running. She trusted me and asked for my advice. After listening to her, I guessed her heart rate wasn't at the optimal level for exercise, so I had her measure it. Sure enough, it was only 95 beats per minute! At this heart rate level, even with daily running, there wouldn't be much fat loss.

Knowing the importance of the optimal heart rate for exercise isn't enough; the key is knowing how to maintain that heart rate level. Like the woman mentioned above, she ran for half an hour, and her heart rate was only 95 beats per minute. Why? Because she was running too slowly!

The first step to ensuring an optimal heart rate for exercise is to consistently monitor your heart rate. Many women trying to lose weight simply run mechanically on a treadmill without paying attention to their heart rate, or even the treadmill speed and distance. This approach is largely ineffective. Measuring your heart rate is actually very simple. After exercising, just press your left chest and count your heartbeats per minute. There are also heart rate wristwatches on the market that can conveniently measure your heart rate during exercise.

When you first start doing aerobic exercise, it's easy to reach your optimal heart rate, or even higher, because you're not used to exercising and only need a little bit to raise your heart rate. However, as your body adapts to exercise, reaching your optimal heart rate becomes increasingly difficult.

Therefore, when you hit a plateau, you need to find new ways to increase your exercise heart rate. However, simply increasing the intensity of your exercise is not enough. If the intensity is increased too drastically, your muscles will struggle to cope with post-exercise soreness, shortening your continuous exercise time. Too high an intensity, and it becomes anaerobic exercise, which is less effective for fat loss.