f you are someone who is out of shape but too lazy to go to the gym or follow a stringent workout regime, outdoor recreational sports are one other thing that you can choose. There are many outdoor sports that are both exciting as well as are great in burning belly fat and can help you lose all your extra weight. Kayaking is one of the outdoor sports that is getting very popular in recent times. It is liked by people of all age groups and sizes and is often a sport opted by many who is go out looking for some adventure.
But the Question is Does Kayaking Burn Belly Fat? Is it a good outdoor activity for someone who is looking for some weight loss? Let us find out the answer to that question in the next section.
Related Content: Do Kayak Have Weight Limits?
The Obvious Answer – Yes Kayaking Burns Belly Fat.
Table of Contents
Kayaking is a fun activity that involves quite a lot of effort. It is in fact a fun exercise that also relaxes and rejuvenates your mind. This activity involves physical effort involving your upper body muscles, arms, and even legs and as such, it is also a complete body workout. This type of complete body workout may not be achieved in traditional cardio workouts that you often rely on for burning belly fat and losing weight loss.
So to answer the Question – Does Kayaking Burn Belly Fat? – Yes, Kayaking is a wonderful outdoor recreational activity that helps in burning your stubborn belly fat and some of your extra weight. To understand how Kayaking helps in losing Belly Fat let us first begin by understanding the process of weight loss.
What is the process of weight loss?
Before we dive deeper into how Kayaking helps in weight loss, let us find out more about how your body loses weight. If you get the science of weight loss right, you can do the right thing to lose weight. But don’t get scared already. It is no rocket science.
It is simple and logical science. Your body needs a fixed amount of calories to perform all your day-to-day activities and basic functions. This number of calories would vary from one person to another but the usual range of the required calories is usually between 18000 and 2200 calories. For weight loss, you just need to consume a lesser amount of calories so that your body does not get the full supply of what it needs. Alternatively, you will need to burn more calories than what you consume every day. The entire idea is to ensure that you create a calorific deficit to ensure weight loss.
Once you succeed in creating this calorific deficit, your body will be forced to burn the extra fats stored and that is how the body starts losing all the extra weight. For instance, if you need 2000 calories daily, you can create a deficit by either eating fewer calories or by exercising. Some people combine both and it is this combination that leads to effective weight loss.
If you are able to keep a calorific deficit for even one week the cumulative calorie burn gets close to 3500 calories which can help you lose at least 1 pound a week.
Now that the weight loss process is clear, let us now see how Kayaking and help you lose weight.
How Does Kayaking Help in Burning Belly Fat?
Kayaking is an excellent activity in burning calories rapidly that is necessary to sustain an effective weight loss. It is an activity that involves your entire body. Kayaking is a fun activity that engages your upper body, arms, legs, glutes, and also your abdominal muscles – so all in all it is a full-body workout. When you have to paddle and maneuver the boat, all the sets of muscles such as biceps, triceps, upper, and lower back are mobilized.
As such Kayaking is an effective way of burning your stubborn belly fat apart from helping your body get fit in a lot of other ways. It helps you in building your muscles, enhancing your strength, flexibility, and helps in toning your body in its entirety. The amount of calories that you can burn with Kayaking is based on a number of things and in the next section let us look at those factors.
What factors affect weight loss while you are paddling?
While weight loss due to any exercise is based on a lot of factors when it is Kayaking and Paddling, weight loss is based on things like the intensity of the workout or how slowly or quickly you start paddling. If you take a route that is full of scenic beauty, paddling for a few minutes then stopping by, and occasionally grabbing a bear, your calorie burn will also be minimal. If, however, you paddle continuously for a few miles at a constant speed, you will burn a lot of calories.
So, the rule is simple. The more amount of effort you put in, the more amount of calories you burn. Also, the calorie burn will be more if you are carrying a significant amount of weight paddling through the water which can include your own weight. Then there can be other factors as well that is the speed and direction of the wind, the current, and the speed of paddling, etc. also impact your calorie burn. Simply put, anything that will increase the resistance, or make Kayaking a tough activity is going to help you burn more calories and will increase your calorie burn.
How many Calories Can You Actually Burn through Paddling?
Now that we already know that Kayaking is a good fat-burning exercise, one must be wondering how much calories can you actually burn with Kayaking. Kayaking is a good weight loss activity as it helps in effective and sustained calorie burn. The amount of calories burnt is as we explained depends on a number of factors that we already talked about. However, there are certain statistics and numbers to go with the intensity of Kayaking you are doing.
As per the American Exercise Council, the average amount of calories burned per hour by a paddler weighing 125-pound paddler burns around 283 calories, and a 150-pound person can burn up to 340 calories in an hour. As per Harvard Studies and Health Publications, a person using a lightweight Kayak of 125 pounds can burn up to 150 calories in 30 mins whereas a Kayak belonging to the heavy category that is of 200 pounds can burn up to 450 calories in about 1 hour. Similarly, a heavy class weight category kayak of 175 pounds is capable of letting you burn about 397 calories in one hour.
That is about how much you can burn about Kayaking. But is Kayaking better than other activities? Let us find out.
Is Kayaking Better than other exercises or activities?
On average if you weigh 150 pounds, you will burn around 340 calories per hour of Kayaking. And if you weigh about 200 pounds it will come to 400 pounds. That is massive in terms of Calorie burn in an hour. And how does it fare when compared with other exercises or activities?
Here is a list of how some other activities compare with that of Kayaking:
- Jogging leads to a calorie burn of 476 calories per hour.
- Swimming is equally effective with 476 calories per hour.
- Cycling around leisurely burns 272 Calories per hour
- Working in a Yard regularly burns 272 Calories per hour.
- Normal Walking burns 224 Calories per hour.
- Low Intensity Weight Training burns about 204 Calories in an hour.
So, other than high-intensity activities such as jogging, and swimming Kayaking is certainly better than most other activities that you may choose for calorie burning.
Jogging may not be the best or the ideal exercise for people who are on the heavier side as it puts a lot of pressure on your joints and bones. So, if you really want to lose weight and jogging is not a very good option for you – Kayaking should be the exercise of choice.
Does Kayaking Really Help in Losing Weight and Fat Burning?
If you are still not convinced, let us look at a few real-life examples to see how Kayaking has actually helped people lose all their extra weight and lead healthy and better lives.
Jennie weight about 410 pounds when she started Kayaking. She was unhealthy and sick and once she became an avid kayaker she managed to lose about 240 pounds. Read Jennie’s full story to believe what we say.
We have another story that is too hard to believe. Mary struggled all her life to get in shape. She did everything she could to lose weight and ultimately took up Kayaking. Today she leads to a healthy life – Thanks to Kayaking. Read Mary’s story to know how she did it.
Final Thoughts
Kayaking is undoubtedly one of the best outdoor recreational activities that can help you lose belly fat and help in sustained and long-term weight loss. The amount of weight loss, the number of calories burnt, sure depends on certain factors such as the weight of the paddler, the wind direction, current, weight of the kayak, etc. But considering all the factors, and comparing Kayaking with other activities, kayaking still emerges as a clear winner when it comes to weight loss.
So, if you are still in two minds – think no more. Take that leap from flab to fab. Just go Kayaking and see your life change for Good.
