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Apr 2010  |  By Christy Coughlin  |  Comments

Exercise and Weight: How Much Do You Need to Move to Lose?

This March, when The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) released a 15-year Harvard study of exercise and body weight in middle aged women, you could hear the ripples of dismay across the country.

The study of 34,079 women found that middle age women of normal weight, who exercise moderately for 60 minutes per day (7 hours per week) maintained their weight rather than gaining.

To get under 60 minutes per day, the exercise needs to be vigorous. Overweight women require more than 7 hours each week to prevent weight gain and even more exercise to lose weight.

We know that’s a lot of time and you might be tempted to just hang it up, but don’t.

Deep down, we know that exercise (and plenty of it) is what our bodies need and crave. It’s our contemporary lifestyle—driving, watching TV, and sitting at the computer—that keeps us from moving.

We can all find an hour, every day, to be active. It might mean walking to the train, dancing with our kids, doing an exercise DVD, or saying yes to a friend’s repeated requests to bike. Consider two 30-minute sessions including a walk in the morning and a visit to a health club at lunch or in the evening.

Log your exercise for a few weeks, and before long it will be a habit.  

Adding vigorous exercise to your regimen can help you lose weight. Vigorous exercise, according to the study, included running and intense biking.

Use the talk test to determine if you are exercising vigorously. During moderate activity, you can easily maintain a conversation, while vigorous exercise makes it difficult to talk. Vigorous activity strengthens your heart and increases your fitness level.

Always check with your doctor before undertaking any new exercise program.    

“Training for my first marathon, two years ago, really kicked me into gear,” says Kim Rust, a 51 year-old mother of three girls, who lives in Wilmette. “I realized that I needed to change it up in order to see results. By increasing the distance of runs and adding speed work, I was able to lose two dress sizes and feel stronger.”

Kim also plays tennis, paddle, strength trains and does yoga. She even throws in a few minutes of jumping rope while watching her daughter’s soccer practice.

“I admit it’s hard,” she says. “Women don’t realize how intense they need to workout to look and feel good.”