A new study says women need to exercise for an hour a day to keep weight off.
First thing, I love that this study supports the need to exercise. There is so much garbage I read that you can achieve your goals by diet alone. (Maybe in 1910 when we walked everywhere). Exercise is a part of life, there is no escape – at least in the western world. Yes, diet is critical. But as we sit at our computers all day we must face the fact that we have to exercise.
This latest study covered almost 5000 women whose average age was 52. They found that during the 13 year study, women gained an average of 5.7 pounds. These women were not “dieting”. (That’s another reason I like this study). The women who gained no weight in those 13 years exercised on average of one hour a day.
Let’s unpack “one hour”. The researchers used a measurement called Metabolic Equavilent (MET). The women who gained nothing during the study had 25 MET “units” per week. Using the MET measurement as a scale, that means that the activities they did (either throughout their days or as intentional exercise) totaled up to 25 MET units in a week.
Here are some examples:
Watching TV is for an hour is 1 MET unit, slow walking is 2, light cycling for an hour is 3. Biking to work (at about 10 miles per hour) is a 4. Jogging is a 7 and calisthenics (TheDailyFit’s style) is 8 MET units.
The researchers said these results show that a woman needs to bike casually for 60 minutes every day to get “near” the total of 25 MET units per week (it’s actually 21 MET units for cycling an hour every day). That’s a lot of bike riding.
First thing, I love that this study supports the need to exercise. There is so much garbage I read that you can achieve your goals by diet alone. (Maybe in 1910 when we walked everywhere). Exercise is a part of life, there is no escape – at least in the western world. Yes, diet is critical. But as we sit at our computers all day we must face the fact that we have to exercise.
This latest study covered almost 5000 women whose average age was 52. They found that during the 13 year study, women gained an average of 5.7 pounds. These women were not “dieting”. (That’s another reason I like this study). The women who gained no weight in those 13 years exercised on average of one hour a day.
Let’s unpack “one hour”. The researchers used a measurement called Metabolic Equavilent (MET). The women who gained nothing during the study had 25 MET “units” per week. Using the MET measurement as a scale, that means that the activities they did (either throughout their days or as intentional exercise) totaled up to 25 MET units in a week.
Here are some examples:
Watching TV is for an hour is 1 MET unit, slow walking is 2, light cycling for an hour is 3. Biking to work (at about 10 miles per hour) is a 4. Jogging is a 7 and calisthenics (TheDailyFit’s style) is 8 MET units.
The researchers said these results show that a woman needs to bike casually for 60 minutes every day to get “near” the total of 25 MET units per week (it’s actually 21 MET units for cycling an hour every day). That’s a lot of bike riding.
Here is another prescription: do TheDailyFit for 30 min and jog for 30 min afterward, three times a week. Your MET total is 22.5 units, and it took you less than half the time (not to mention you’ll look a lot better!)
Remember, this study was for women in their 50’s. If you’re younger, you probably don’t need quite so much time to keep the weight off. So keep going; don’t get discouraged, you’re on the right track!
Get Strong!
Brian
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-women-weight-gain24-2010mar24,0,4377150.story?track=rss
Remember, this study was for women in their 50’s. If you’re younger, you probably don’t need quite so much time to keep the weight off. So keep going; don’t get discouraged, you’re on the right track!
Get Strong!
Brian
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