Even though physical efforts may have great impact on your results, you must first adopt healthy eating habits which will meet your personal energy needs. When going for changes, take it easy and make good use of common sense, after all, what brings results for one does not always bring the same benefits expected to another desperate individual. The strategy might even be the same: drink lots of water, eat clean, sleep well, be physically active, but once we apply the basics in our quest for wellness, understanding the difference between aerobics and anaerobics may be the cherry we were missing on the cake, or better, the Olympic bar they were missing at any 1st Avenue high-tech gym. So let's squat down to the basics:
The aerobic activities are those that we can sustain the pace for longer periods, like running, dancing, walking, cycling, swimming, etc. Energy production is based mainly on our volume of Oxygen intake.
Anaerobics, on the other hand, are those that promote physical activity peaks as in sprints, high-intensity circuits, exercising with heavy weights, Olympic weightlifting, pole vaulting, etc. During this type of activity, oxygen by itself is no longer sufficient for sustaining the required energy production; other systems come into prominence, and for this and other reasons, these ones are classified as anaerobic activities.
In order to burn fat, both types work, but aerobic activities, when carried to excess, tend to decrease our lean body mass retention (muscle), resulting in slower metabolism. The anaerobic activities, on the other hand, require less time, they promote muscle growth and increase muscle growth hormone production, thus also increasing our metabolism.
If you are interested in overall health improvement, merging both types of training may be the best option as you will be able to avoid boredom, get your body out of your comfort zone and make it ready to perform optimally any given challenge . Regardless of what you do, I suggest you get out of the mainstream fitness and start questioning and checking what works for you. Change your program once in a while and please ... Turn off that noisy treadmill!