Setting up the right workout schedule can be difficult, because there are so many factors at play.

As an online personal trainer, one of the most common pieces of feedback I get is how helpful it is for my clients to get a customized workout program. It takes a lot of the stress and anxiety of fitness away, because you no longer have to worry about if what you’re doing is correct. There’s no guesswork.

Clearly, figuring out the right workout schedule is a pain point.

And it’s a pain point, because there are so many things to consider…

• What’s your primary goal?
• What’s optimal for achieving that goal?
• Should you lift weights?
• What exercises should you do?
• What type of cardio is best?
• How much time do you have to work out?
• How much is too much?
• How little is too little?

The list goes on and on.

But you’re in luck! In this article, I’m going to simplify everything for you and outline how many days you should work out each week to lose weight.

Let’s start with a basic breakdown of what exercise frequency is, and how it should be applied. And then we can move into specific coaching cues that outline what’s going to be best for YOU.

Finally, I’ll outline some common mistakes you should avoid as you get started on your weight loss journey.

Let’s dive in!

Exercise Frequency

Exercise frequency can be defined pretty simply. It’s the amount of times you train each week. This can be viewed as overall frequency (ie. how many times you workout total) or more specific, like per muscle group (Ex: how many times you train chest each week).

Whether you should train a lot, a little, or somewhere in between is going to depend on various factors. And for weight loss, specifically, it’s going to differ from a lot of other goals.

For example, if you’re training to run a marathon, you’ll probably want a pretty high exercise frequency, as you’ll need to be consistently running and building up your mileage over time. Same goes for trying to build muscle. We know that each muscle group needs a certain amount of volume that causes it to grow, and typically that’s achieved by training each muscle group multiple times a week.

On the flip side, some forms of strength training actually require less frequency because the recovery demands are so high.

So as you can see, there’s a lot of variability. But with weight loss, it’s a much simpler process.

So… How many days should you work out if you want to lose weight?

Do You Have to Work Out Out Every Day to Lose Weight?

The answer here is pretty simple.

You should work out as much or as little as you can be consistent with.

When it comes to weight loss, the 100% absolute best program you can use is the one you can be consistent with. So to figure out how many days a week you should work out to lose weight, you should first examine your daily lifestyle and determine what’s feasible.

• What are your daily and weekend demands or obligations?
• How many days a week do you work? What hours do you work each day?
• Are you in school? What’s your class schedule and where are your windows of free time?
• Do you have a family? What’s required of you each week with your husband, wife, and kids?
• What other hobbies or events do you like to prioritize each week?

You’re a busy person, so it’s important to outline the things that occupy large portions of your time each week. Once you do that, ask yourself the following question: What can you realistically see yourself doing, and accomplishing each week?

If anything, it’s best to start small. Build and add over time as you learn what you can handle, and if you find that you can take on more.

If you can only work out once a week, then make sure you plan to make the most out of that one day. Don’t skip it. Be consistent with it. And I guarantee you’ll see progress with it over time.

Because here’s the thing….

The Real, True Key to Weight Loss is Nutrition

You can lose weight without working out. It’s been done. People successfully lose weight all the time without ever doing a planned workout.

That’s because to lose weight — no matter how much or little you work out — you simply need to be in a calorie deficit.

To be in a calorie deficit, you need to be eating fewer calories than your body burns each day.

If you’re controlling your calories and carefully managing your nutrition, you can get in a calorie deficit and lose weight without any specific workout schedule.

Now, do I recommend you go that route?

Probably not, because there are so many unbelievable health benefits to regular strength training and cardiovascular training.

Regularly exercising will make the process of losing weight easier. As you already know, it helps you burn calories. But even more importantly, it can improve your overall body composition. You can lose more weight from body fat, and preserve (or even build) muscle throughout your weight loss journey. And the more muscle you build over time, the more you’ll raise your metabolism (meaning you’ll naturally burn more calories).

Coaching Cues

If I was your coach, here’s what I’d have you do…

1. First, go through some of the self evaluation I mentioned earlier in this article. Give your lifestyle a hard look and determine what’s feasible.
2. From an exercise standpoint, evaluate some of the things you like and dislike. Having a list of what you enjoy (and hate) with exercise can start to create a clear picture of what will be sustainable. If you like it, there’s a good chance you’ll stick to it.
3. Start on the lower end of what you think is feasible, and slowly and incrementally add to that over time.

The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans suggests that adults do two or more days of strength training a week, and I think that’s a great place to start. Try doing an upper body and lower body day each week (or you could even do two full body days) for a while, and see if you can build from there.

With cardio, I’d recommend picking another two days (or more) to do some low intensity cardiovascular training. This could be walking, jogging, going for a bike ride, or anything else that gets you up and moving. And once again, do this for a period of time to see how feasible it is before adding more.

The goal is not to maximally overload yourself every day, and every week. Instead, try to overload yourself over time by slowly and incrementally adding to a routine you know you can stick to.

Do’s and Don’ts

Finally, let’s dive into some quick do’s and don’ts to remember as you begin your weight loss journey!

Do This:	Don’t Do This:
Focus on sustainability	Do as much as humanly possible right from the start
Prioritize your nutrition	Focus on calories burned instead of calories consumed
Strength train 2-5 days a week	Focus solely on cardio and burning as many calories as possible
Cardio 2-5 days a week	High-intensity interval training every day of the week
Slowly, incrementally add exercise over time	Try to do as much as humanly possible in every training session

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If you’re interested in having the guesswork taken out of fitness, definitely check out my coaching page to learn more about online personal training. I work with my clients 1-on-1 to create customized training programs and nutritional strategies that work. You can also browse through my client testimonials to learn more about some of the programs we’ve worked on, and the results they’ve seen.

Thanks for reading!

~ Chris