How Much Exercise Prevents Weight Gain?

NY Times ^ | March 31, 2010 | RONI CARYN RABIN

[neverdem]

Losing weight is difficult, and keeping it off may be even harder. So Harvard researchers set out to determine exactly how much physical activity women need in midlife to avoid gaining weight as they age.

The researchers found that an hour of moderate activity a day — including such recreational activities as brisk walking, leisurely bicycling, ballroom dancing and playing with children — prevented women of normal weight from gaining more than five pounds over any three-year period. Half that amount of vigorous activity, like running, jogging or fast biking, will do the trick as well, they said.

Women who got the same amount of exercise but were heavier to start with were not able to avoid gaining weight, however. Neither were women of normal weight who got less than seven hours a week of moderate activity, according to the study, published in the March 24 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association...

[GOP Poet]

yep.

[glorgau]

The one food that is most likely to cause weight gain is wedding cake.

[willyd]

I knew a German once that followed similar diet. He didn’t eat after dark and he didn’t drink before dark.

[neverdem]

A Record Drop in Tuberculosis Rates

Mount Sinai study finds only a weak link between fruit and vegetable and reduced risk of cancer

Clinical trial to test whether vaccine can effectively treat melanoma

Eating eggs for breakfast helps reduce calorie consumption throughout the day by 18 percent

FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.

[raybbr]

Most calories are burned not through exercise but by the natural workings of the body.

Do you have a source for that or is that a guess?

[neverdem]

Look up basal metabolism and set-point, setpoint, setpoints, etc., however the latter is spelled. This is the latest explanation that seems to make sense. Diets that restrict calories reset and lower the amount of calories needed to maintain any organism's basic metabolism. Any excess caloric intake will be stored as fat. Hence the yo-yo effect with respect to regaining weight once someone returns to a regular diet as opposed to remaining on a calorie restricted diet forever while doing the same amount of physical activity/exercise.

[1010RD]

Check Art DeVany’s Evolutionary Fitness. He talks about 1/2 a week is sufficient if you have the right diet.

[BIGLOOK]

Although the holidays are now over, this little mot always gives a chuckle.

Contrary to the popular belief that people gain lots of weight during the holidays, i.e. Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter, the increase in their weight is only about a pound.

But the kicker is.....they never, ever loose it. (Unless they travel far on the airlines while visiting relatives.....then it's a push.)

[Condor51]

The researchers found that an hour of moderate activity a day — including such recreational activities as brisk walking, leisurely bicycling, ballroom dancing and playing with children — prevented women of normal weight from gaining more than five pounds over any three-year period. Half that amount of vigorous activity, like running, jogging or fast biking, will do the trick as well, they said.

What if you Ballroom Dance on a Bike? Do you lose twice s much?

'series' this research is bogus...
shopping isn't mentioned.
...............

[SupplySider]

Learn to appreciate feeling hungry and you will experience weight loss. I guarantee it!

That sounds weird, but I agree 100%. Several years ago I lost 100 lbs. I grew to actually enjoy feeling hungry after a while.

In my experience, much of being fat is habits of eating and exercise. Overeating and not exercising is not intrinsically more fulfilling. When you change to healthy habits, after a while you become just as addicted to them