Is it true that to sustain weight loss in adulthood participate in at least 120 to 180 minutes of daily moderate intensity physical activity?

Answer 1

First off, I'm not a doctor but I do have some extensive weight loss experience.

I would say that 120 minutes of "moderate" physical activity is plenty, and maybe even more than necessary. Right around an hour a day is more realistically necessary and attainable.

By moderate, I'm assuming we're talking about walking.. slow jogging.. or moderate weight lifting.. I would say any exercise is moderate if you are able to carry on a conversation while doing it.

So with that definition in mind, in my experience between 60-100 minutes should be plenty.. But of course there are other factors such as your diet. If you consume 5,000 calories a day, 60-100 mins obviously won't cut it.

The important thing is to figure out your BMR (basal metabolic rate, which means how many calories you will burn in a day simply by existing).. And figure out how many calories you burn doing your exercise, and simply eat a few hundred calories less than what you burn in a day.

No matter what someone tells you, counting calories in this way WILL yield results, period. If you consume 1800 calories in a day, and burn 2500, you WILL lose weight. That would mean that your body used 700 calories that you did not consume, so it took it from your body's fat instead. An lb of fat is approx. 3500 calories, so if in a week you have burnt 7000 calories more than you consumed.. you have lost 2lbs. It is that simple.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Not really. Calories are so much faster eaten than used up, so unless you have your eating under control it's virtually impossible to exercise long enough and hard enough to lose weight that way. One cupcake's worth of calories can take one hour to burn off. OTOH, if you eat right you can lose weight even w/o exercise. But exercise helps, and is also good for your overall health. What is true though is that if you're exercising for weight loss, you do need to keep going a while. When you exercise, the body will use up the most easily accessible fuel FIRST, before starting to burn off fat. Depending on what when you ate last, it can take around 40 minutes before your body goes to fat burn.