An hour of daily exercise needed to stay slim

The recommended half an hour of exercise a day may not be enough to stop weight gain. According to a US study of 34,000 women, an hour a day of moderate exercise is needed to fight the flab. Overweight women need to diet as well as exercise, a Harvard team reports in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The UK government advises adults to exercise for at least half an hour five or more days a week. While 30 minutes exercise is recommended for health reasons, people need to exercise for longer to avoid weight gain
Professor Paul Gately, Leeds Metropolitan University

The US study followed 34,000 middle-aged women over 13 years. The women completed regular questionnaires about the amount of time they spent on physical activity. They were classified into three groups: those who did the equivalent of less than two and a half hours of moderate exercise a week, between two and a half hours and seven hours a week, and more than seven hours a week. The average age of the women was 54, and the average weight gain was 2.6 kg over the 13 year period. The high exercise group gained significantly less weight than the rest. But there was no difference in weight gain between the two lower exercise groups. The only group who didn’t gain weight during the study were normal weight women who exercised for an hour or more a day.

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