If you want to lose 10 percent of your body weight and keep it off, then you need to exercise almost an hour a day, five days a week, claims a University of Pittsburgh study.
Confirming that exercise is essential for weight loss, the research published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that a 55-minute workout was the minimum required to maintain a 10 percent drop in weight.
Researchers observed 200 overweight and obese women over a four-year period and told them to eat between 1,200 and 1,500 calories a day. They were randomly assigned one of four different exercise programs, which varied in intensity and physical activity.
After six months, all of the study participants lost up to 10% of their body weight--however, only those who exercised about 275 minutes a week were able to successfully keep it off. The rest couldn't maintain the weight reduction.
Photo Credit: Mike Baird (Wikimedia Commons)
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Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Exercising an Hour a Day is Key to Weight Loss
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2 comments:
But what about the intensity of the exercise? Did the study say that this had to be almost 1 hour of walking or something where you are going to break a sweat?
Integrative Nutrition - The first part of the study, when people lost the initial weight, the study participants were in one of four groups: one that burned 1,000 calories a week, one that burned 2,000 calories a week, one that exercised moderately and one that exercised vigorously. Everyone who did this for 6 months managed to lose between 8-10% of their body fat. The study did not specify what kind of exercise or intensity level the participants who were able to maintain the weight loss did. Researchers only stated that the participants who kept the weight off expended on average 1,835 calories a week, or 275 minutes per week. Hope this helps! - Deanne
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