Summary

Regular exercise is important but it has not been clear how much is needed to maintain a weight loss. Researchers have now studied the impact of varying levels of exercise upon a group in a weight loss program. They learned that doing an hour a day for five days is needed to stop piling the pounds back on.

Introduction

Diet and exercise together can reduce body weight. This is hard enough - requiring motivation and discipline. Harder still is keeping the weight off. There's some debate currently over how much physical activity might be needed to maintain weight loss. The current recommendations on exercise are that you should do 30 minutes a day to stay healthy. But this might not be enough to keep the weight off.

What was done

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues, enrolled a group of 201 overweight and obese women in a weight loss program. They ate between 1,200 and 1,500 calories per day. They were assigned to four exercise groups depending on the amount and intensity they did. They were monitored through a series of meetings and phone calls over the two years of the study.

What was found

At six months, women in all four groups lost around 10% of their body weight. But only around a quarter of them managed to maintain the loss for the duration of the study. These women reported more physical activity than those who put some of the weight back on. On average, they were doing 275 minutes a week of physical activity - which is about an hour a day for five days - expending 1,835 calories. The researchers report that these women also ate more healthily, including consuming less fat, and also had more telephone calls with the research team.

What this study tells us

Losing weight is relatively easy, but keeping the weight off is hard. In this study, the women who maintained their weight loss seemed more motivated than those who did not. They took up the option of supportive phone calls more often, they kept up their healthy eating, and they exercised more. The last finding suggests that maybe aiming for an hour a day, rather than the prescribed 30 minutes, might be what's required to keep to a healthy weight.