Exercise: It's an hour a day, people. Seriously.

That 30 minutes of daily exercise you think you’re supposed to do to keep weight off? You need to step it up, people. As much as twice that amount may be needed to lose weight and keep it off.

A recent study found that overweight and obese women needed to exercise about an hour a day, five days a week to sustain weight loss. The findings bolster what some health experts — and those who have lost weight and kept it off — have been saying for years: copious amounts of exercise and adherence to a strict diet are necessary to take off the pounds and keep them at bay.

The women who exercised more and stuck to their diets kept off a 10% weight loss over two years, compared with others who maintained only 5%. The report, which appeared in the July 28 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, studied 201 women during an intervention that spanned from 1999 to 2003. All the women were asked to consume 1,200 to 1,500 calories a day, and they were assigned to 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. Participants also attended group meetings where they learned how to change their diet and activity and received follow-up calls via telephone.

Six months later, all four groups had lost an average of 8% to 10% of their body weight. But it didn’t last. After two years, the average weight of all participants was only 5% lower than their initial weight, and there was no difference among the groups.

But some did better than average. About a quarter of the women who managed to sustain a 10% weight loss exercised more, adhered to better eating habits and engaged more often by phone with the intervention team. For them, exercise amounted to an average of expending 1,835 calories a week, or 275 minutes per week.

"This clarifies the amount of physical activity that should be targeted for achieving and sustaining this magnitude of weight loss, but also demonstrates the difficulty of sustaining this level of physical activity," wrote the authors (headed up by John Jakicic, director of the Physical Activity and Weight Management Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh), who also recommended further research to discover how to continue to motivate people to exercise.

-- Jeannine Stein

Photo credit: Robert Lachman / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Joodle]

diet soda is why you are fat

i'm vegan, i'm green, i dont have cable, i dont have internet at home, and i dont drive my car anywhere and i'm awesome and hot.

[theo]

cut high-density carbs out of your dinner plate. that is usually the portion that puts people over the top and causes weight gain. in other words, eat a smaller dinner and be sure you've always a protein source at all your meals (costco's protein shake is great) that reduces the sugar rush which would otherwise induce sugar cravings at the end.

it works for me. after 6 months hitting a weight plateau, i decided to cut [brown!] rice out and sub it with veggies, like peas. provides the same carb balance at a fraction of the calories. it put me 3 pounds under the plateau within a week. and the nice thing is, i eat as much veggies (with protein or fish) to satiate my hunger after which i *don't* crave for more.

it works because it reduces cravings and hunger pangs throughout the day. and actually balances your calories in with out.

[Bud]

WHAT IS YOUR HEALTH WORTH???

[theo]

and btw, i've 10x the energy then before. i am up and about the house doing chores, have tons more energy for exercise, and just plain think better and faster.

plus i now feel the fish oil, multivitamin, and b-complex even more. it's great. if you can get over the last trip-wire and get rid of high density carbs at dinner which just get stored away overnight as fat...

[Jimi F]

Stories like this are pretty discouraging, if not counterproductive to overall health. So it's an hour a day minimum or...what, a waste of time? Not everyone can dedicate his or her life to exercise. Articles like this actually encourage many people to become couch potatoes.

[mark]

BOOOH TO ALL THOSE FAT PEOPLE OUT THERE. HAVE YOU EVER LOOKED IN THE MIRROR AND THOUGHT, MAN, I AM ONE DISGUSTING PIECE OF FAT. IF SO, MAY I SUGGEST TO YOU THAT IT'S TIME TO GET OFF YOUR FAT REAR AND START EXERCISING!!!

[Duane]

It may be discouraging, but face it - you spent years getting lazy and eating fatty foods. So it's going to take you years to get back to where you should be by doing the opposite. Discouraging or not, it's time to take your medicine for all of those pizza eating, football watching, beer drinking, donut dunking days!

[Laura Kitty]

Dance Dance Revolution -- it combines Television, Music, and lots of cardio. I dropped from 175 to 140 in a matter of months after being pregnant, and have managed to keep my weight down since then as well.
Stop eating out, or if you do, remember: they have "to-go" boxes for a reason! Save some for lunch tomorrow!
Remember, weight makes no difference if you still LOOK heavier than you ARE.
Try Callanetics (welcome back to the 80s!) -- I feel stronger, don't look my weight, and can still enjoy the occasional chocolate :)

[mrPete]

Just to chime in here with, what I've found, is a really good alternative.

I work from home as a computer programmer. I was active before I started my career and the long hours staring at a screen for years just really got to me. So after some web-searching and finding some good examples, I built my own Walkstation. I now walk between 7 and 10 miles a day while working. My co-worker, who works in the main office, also built one there.

It's doable, and it took initiative, but it's been one of the best investments I've ever made. As you can guess, it's not for everyone. Contact me if you have any questions about it!! I can give advice about what to watch out for if you want to build your own.

[Strange Proportion]

I should weight 190-200, but I started off the summer at 260. I'm 34 now and have been carrying extra weight since I was 10 years old. I've been a member of a gym for 3 years and weigh 15 pounds more now than when I started. An hour a day at lunch took up valuable free time and had zero results. Then I started biking to work every day in early June. It's abut 40 minutes each way, twice a day. Driving takes 30 minutes with traffic, so it's hardly an extra time commitment. Instead of getting a turkey sandwich for lunch, I snack on mozzarella cheese sticks, raw almonds, apples, peaches, and vegetables/hummus all day, never really eating breakfast or lunch proper. But I'm rarely hungry. Success? I've taken off 15 pounds so far, and I'm on track to take off another 15-20 before summer is over. I feel more energetic and healthier than ever. My legs look great. My belly is smaller. I need less sleep. I save a fortune on gas. And I don't at all feel like I'm "dieting." I've just made a basic lifestyle change. It was so easy, and I'm so much happier, that I wonder why it took so long to start in the first place. In no way does it feel like I'm sacrificing anything at all.

[timmie]

Diet is more effective than exercise. As someone in the health care industry I want to point out this is a proven fact and it is not rocket science.

Sure exercise is better for cardiovascular health, but for a pure weight standpoint all it takes to lose weight is to eat healthy. Spread out 2-3 typical meals to 5-6 meals all through the day and drink lots of water. Gee, pounds just seem to magically disappear, and this is with zero exercise.

Admittedly eating multiple small meals can be a pain but overall if you don't have the time to exercise you have to make eating small meals a point.

And as to that last post; if you're hungry at 9pm than you can eat. Or you can go to bed hungry and not complain. Eating before bed will put on the pounds and prevent any weight loss. Going to bed hungry will put your body into an anabolic state so during the night the body burns fat, not just what you ate right before bed.

[Philiy]

While people do have vastly different metabolisms, they can be modified. The study reported was for overweight and obese folks. It is useful to know that they must change their exercise habits dramatically to lose and keep the weight off. At 50 (and 5' 10") I was 194. At 57, I am 175. It took a low-carb diet (which I still pretty much follow: no "white" foods, sugar, flour, rice, etc.) and an hour a day of intense exercise (running, spinning, weightlifting, or aerobics). The exercise is not just about weight loss. It is about having enough stamina and energy to feel like when I was 30 (except for more creaky joints), able to run 3 miles, dance 6 hours a week, press, squat, dead-lift, pull-up my own weight (7x). My friends are generally tired, sore, and overweight. I want to have an active life as I age and not develop diabetes, heart disease, and HBP. We have bodies designed for 12 hours a day of exercise (hunting/gathering or stone-age farming/herding) and low-energy content foods. An hour a day of exercise and avoiding sugars and starches is a pretty small price to pay for health and longevity, in my opinion.

[Amie]

In high school/college I was fairly muscular (worked out or walked a lot), so when I took my office job after college, I actually lost weight as all my muscle turned to fat. Not all weight loss is good. When my weight started to go back up, I knew it was time to do something. Getting started from ground zero is hard.

After 3 years of planning to exercise (I kind of used the gym membership, and the treadmill I bought only has a thin layer of dust), I finally decided that I couldn't get myself to do it all on my own. So I joined a swim team. They practice 3 times per week and it's on the way home. Swimming is way more fun than running (and hurts less) and having a team environment really helps motivate me to go. And, yes, I'm the slowest person there, but I'm getting better.

I don't consider myself a particularly lazy person, but I had a lot of trouble getting myself to exercise. Joining an exercise group adds accountability (don't be afraid of being slow...people have even more respect for those who are obviously pushing themselves, and as the slowest person your progress is even more obvious). In addition, the regular workout schedule helps make the exercise part of your routine and less of an intrusion in your free time.

And maybe you won't lose weight (or build muscle) very quickly but the psychological benefits begin immediately. A good workout, especially one supported by fun people, can make you a much happier person.

[Sabrina]

I wonder if that hour has to be all in one time frame or can it be broken down...say a half hour in the morning and a half hour in the evening? I ride a bicycle to and from work in that time. Yet other folks don't have the time, especially if they have to juggle children and career.

[Loup]

Don't bother posting about your diet and lifestyle if you're under 25, we'll listen to you in 15 years...if you're still thin.

[Marty K]

I will add to what J Sanders said. About 7 years ago when I was 38, I moved to Munich for work for one year. During that year I did not own a car. Instead I used public transportation or a bicycle to get to and from work. In total I was walking or cycling about 1.5 hours per day. During that year, with no special dieting, I dropped 15 pounds (172 to 157), which I promptly gained when I moved back to the US (and started driving to work). I realized that I was getting my exercise for FREE because it was a part of my daily routine.
I believe the car-culture and general lack of public transport are important components of the obesity problem here. To sustain exercise over the long haul, we need to find ways to integrate exercise with our daily lives instead of exercise being a separate activity.

[Ariel]

If you are struggling to loose weight and feel you are fat, please take responsibility for yourself! No one can do it for you. Spend one hour a day focusing on your health. Do you sleep soundly through the night? Do you have too much stress in your work or home life? Are you eating wholesome nutritious food every day? Do you feel you have the energy to exercise? These are all a lot of work, but if you focus on yourself and know that you deserve to live in a healthy, fit, energetic body it is worth it!

Here's my advice to anyone who is trying to loose weight:

1) Listen to your body. Give it good fuel. If you eat fruits and veggies and whole grains, your body will crave those foods. It takes time to change your diet. Be patient with yourself. Eat before you get too hungry. Pay attention and stop eating when you are full.

2) Doctors have no more training in nutrition than you do. Strangely this is not a requirement to become an MD. The FDA recommends foods that make the best profits for agribusiness. They don't care about your health. You are on your own to determine what is healthy for you. Food is labeled "low fat" or "whole grain" or "no trans fats" to trick fat people into buying it. Healthy, skinny people don't eat food out of a bag or box.

3) Exercise should be fun! Do you remember riding your bike all day as a kid? or going down the slide 100 times in a row? The right exercise program for you will make you feel more energetic and happier. Focus more on the type of activity than your heart rate or amount of time you spend working out. Pick something that you think is fun and go at your own pace. Take a class or join a group if you need support.

4) Stop feeling bad for yourself. Yes, it is hard to loose weight. You may feel more at home in the McDonald's drive thru than at the gym, but don't let other people's perception of you rule your life. If you want to be a thin healthy person, just start acting like one.

[Gigi]

I guess nobody here ever has to work late unexpectedly or has kids to take care of or has a job where people would be offended if you smell bad (from riding your bike to work)... Get real, folks. Most of squeeze in a half-hour class or run or tennis game two or three times a week if we're lucky because we have families and jobs and hectic schedules that demand a lot of us. The real world doesn't let us make everything revolve around ourselves. Yes, we can change our diets. But sometimes, that's about all we can do. And you folks who don't know what it's like to to try to lose 100+ after we've been carrying it for more than 10 years have no idea how difficult it can be. Unless you've walked a mile in my shoes... it's not always as simple as laziness.

[Joe]

Scientists might not be able to figure out why some people have more trouble losing weight then others, but they can certainly point out the obvious. In other news people that do not sleep enough should sleep atleast 8 hours plus a few extra to keep themselves from becoming tired. Science is pretty amazing.

[Steve]

Anyone who looked at the results must assume that the diet that these folks were on was just plain poor. I recently went from 189 Lbs to 160Lbs. This took me about 12 weeks. So by my calculations, I took off about 15% of my weight in three months. My wife got similar but slightly lower percentage loss of weight. We have changed our eating habits dramatically, and generally eat about 5 times a day rather than three. I exercise for 45 minutes 5 days a week. I understand that it more difficult for women to lose weight, but it should not take a 200lb women (as an example) a year to lose 20lbs. Let alone gain 10lbs back.

Do be discouraged, this study was poorly done.

[steve]

Sounds to me like a lot of excuses. Erin says it's so sad that fat people will be discouraged, and Kate says this study absolutely proves there's a biological and metabolical difference between fat and people with more normal proportions. And this may be true. But, the question is, even so, what are you prepared to do? If your quality of health and life span depends on doing everything in your power to counteract your genes, and this may include your having to work harder at it than someone with a better set of metabolical genes, than are you still going to say, it's not my fault, it's because I'm different?
But no one has all the correct answers anyway. If they did, athletes wouldn't drop dead from cardiac arrest. But they do, so life isn't all that fair anyway.

[Erinn]

This may be true for people genetically prone to gaining weight. My husband and I, however, have always been skinny and basically eat garbage all day. We don't exercise much, either. We've often commented on the injustice of it all. In other words, take it easy on the overweight people.

[heather]

to eric:

[quote] "“Look” the first rule of loosing weight is to shrink your stomach. I do it all the time by allowing myself to starve a little. it's painful but once you do it you will be forced to eat less"

nice to know you make your own body starve itself. i'm sure it loves you. and we all need a little pain now and again, don't we?

wow.

[Did It Myself at Age 46 ... You Can Too!!]

Love this article. Love the comments.

I didn't work out from age 18 to 43. Hired a trainer at age 43. Wanted to lose some weight -- the kids were in high school -- I had a little time. I was not, however, willing to give up my precious butter fat, sodium, red wine, gee -- did I mention butter fat? or pasta, rice, beef, etc. I worked pretty darn hard -- for three years at the gym and lost and gained and lost the same 10 lbs. I ended up at my 45th birthday weighing just under 200 lbs. and I am a 5' 4" woman.

So I said -- enough already. And I looked at my 6'3" husband and his 275 lbs. and said enough for you too.

I bought every book I could get my hands on about diet, nutrition, exercise, etc. -- I hired a nutritionist to confirm that I had it right. I mostly followed the Dr. Oz books (You on a Diet, You Staying Younger, etc.) -- we started getting up at 5:30 a.m. and walking 30 minutes in the morning. I actually read labels on food. We started doing some serious weight training at the gym, and more cardio -- lots more. We were fat, and it wasn't fun.

Well, one year later I have gone from a size 16 to a size 4 and my husband is in 34 - 36 pants (from a 42). I also subject myself to hydrostatic body fat testing -- (where they weigh you under water) and I could care less what I weigh on a scale, what really matters is my body composition -- my body fat percentage vs. lean. People don't have a clue about this stuff. If you diet alone you lose fat and lean -- then you simply gat fat back. Yo-yo dieting yourself into a big fat blob without any metabolism. I lived my entire adult life doing that. Now I am super lean -- I am 26% lean and I my arms are cut -- and I'm turning 47 in less than 5 months and look better than I did from ages 25 - 45. What a shame. And I sleep like a baby -- because I am physically tired. We go to spin class at the gym Monday through Thursday for 45 minutes after work and kick the butts of all of the young people. And my husband is 57. We have lost a combined 130 lbs. and a zillion inches.

I still stay away from ice cream, potatoes, rice, bread or pretty much anything white. We eat six small meals a day comprised of healthy, lean proteins and complex carbohydrates. I am never hungry. I feel better than I have my entire life.

We now run in the morning -- because we can -- not because we have to! We hike 12 mile hikes weekend after weekend and we have road bikes and mountain bikes and try to find a way to move all day long.

If you really don't think it's calories in and calories out -- you are crazy. If you need help with this there are some great tools out there. Check out the bodybugg -- it records your calories expended and then you record your calories consumed and go for a certain caloric deficit each day. It's just simply math people. You have to exercise. And woman my age have to lift weights -- we lose muscle every year and continue to do so because of hormonal changes. And what do you think doctors tell you to do when you are 60 years old and find out you have bone density issues? that's right -- they say hire a trainer and start resistance training -- call it what you want, but I can leg press 225 lbs. and am proud of it. And no, you won't get "bulky muscles" and look like a guy. But you will get lean, cut, toned, whatever you want to call it. But you have to do lots of cardio to burn the fat -- which sits on top of the muscle and it's the only way to look toned.

Everyone - please, for the the love of family -- and for our rising health care costs -- just start one step at a time, one meal choice at a time, one day at a time. My husband's blood work is amazing now -- his triglycerides went from 220 to 80 in a year -- he is 57 years old and these are important issues that concern every American who has been sedentary for most of their adult lives, and we need to stop sucking down sodium, fat, high fructose corn syrup and enriched flour. We are being used to line the pockets of the food industry and restaurant executives' pockets and we must open our eyes and start taking care of ourselves -- we must set an example for our children. This crazy behavior must end.

Trust me -- I was so exhausted with 60 extra pounds on me that I hated going to the gym -- of course it feels horrible. Pick up six 10 pound bags of potaotes and carry them with you all day and you too would be exhausted. But start moving and start getting rid of that fat and you will find energy you never thought you had. It is all true -- it can happen to you. I didn't want to exercise EVER -- hated it -- more than life. But now, I can't imagine going through my life carrying all of those extra pounds around and being a slave to food. I feel completely set free and look 10 years younger than I did two years go. It can happen to you . . . make it happen.

[Vicente]

The problem is not how many excercise we do, is what type of calories an how many we eat every day.
If you go to the Gym 2 hrs a day and eat a pizza and a cheese burger that day, you're in the bad-side still.
You need to eat a high percentage of high-nutrient foods like green vegetables, legumes and fruits EVERY DAY in order to loose some pounds. Plus some excercise would be helpfull.