Losing weight is often a small part of the challenge that faces you. Maintaining your weight is often much harder, and it is something that accompanies you for years, for the rest of your life, in fact.
A new study claims that women will have to put in a lot more time at the gym than most of them do today to simply maintain their current weight. Again, this isn’t about weight loss, just not getting fatter.
The study, published in the Journal of American Medical Association by the which followed more than 34,000 U.S. women who were, on average, age 54 at the start of it, examined their weight, physical activity habits, as well as other factors such as smoking and menopausal status.
The study was held for 13 years. At the end of it, the average weight gain in the study group was 5.7 pounds. This is hardly surprising as the older we get, the heavier we tend to be.
While the recommended amount of exercise by the Federal government is a mere 150 minutes a week (translating to just over 20 minutes per day), the study found that only those women who were normal weight at the start of the study and engaged in moderate-intensity activity an average of 60 minutes per day, seven days a week, maintained a normal body weight, defined as a body mass index of less than 25.
Let’s define what this level of activity means as this isn’t so simple or clear. Moderate-intensity activity includes walking or hiking, jogging, running, bicycling, aerobic exercise or dance, use of exercise machines, yoga, tennis, squash, racquetball and swimming. Naturally, it’s not just the nature of the activity but how you actually perform it that counts. You need to put in an effort to make sure you actually reap the benefits.
I believe that many women do not train as hard as they should. Let me share some exercise tips for women that you should know about:
- Lift more weights – There is no reason why women shouldn’t lift weights. It is not just for men. You can get amazing benefits by lifting weights. It can help you get toned and leaner fast.
- Do intense cardio – don’t settle for long and mediocre cardio workouts. You need to push yourself during each workout.
- Take every moment you can and use it to be active. The more active you are the more calories you burn. It’s easier to maintain weight this way.
A great fitness program for women which I recommend is the Fit Yummy Mummy program. This is program that can help you workout correctly to lose weight or to keep the pounds away, whatever it is you wish to accomplish.
It is still unclear whether such a high level of exercise is really required to maintain weight or can women choose to follow healthier eating routines to help them maintain weight with less exercise. After all, eating sensibly is the real key to weight loss maintenance with physical activity coming a distant second. It’s also unclear how much exercise younger women require to maintain weight as the study looked at women over the age of 50.
Many fitness experts such as Craig Ballantyne, for example, will tell you that the right kind of exercise can get you results with a lot less time investment. In today’s busy society with so little free time on hand, it is difficult to see how women could fit 60 minutes of intensive exercise to their schedule. Even if you use home workout DVDs, not a lot of women can spare the time for this while still holding a job. However, at 54 years of age on average, it is likely that taking care of children is not a time issue any longer.
It seems that more research is called for and that the conclusions of this one are far from being in the consensus. However, it is time to make more time for exercising. It may help you stay lean for years to come.
Source: Journal of American Medical Association
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