The Importance of Exercise for Weight Maintenance

An hour per day—done your way—is the sweet spot for fending off weight gain

When it comes to keeping weight off—or avoiding weight gain as we age—exercise is key: Multiple scientific studies have found that people who are more active are less likely to regain weight they’ve lost, and are better able to fend off age-related weight gain.

That makes sense, of course: You’re burning more calories, so fewer calories that you are stored. But how much activity do you need to maintain your weight? While 30 minutes of movement can do wonders for your blood pressure, blood lipids and more, the magic number for weight maintenance seems to be an hour.

Why 60 Minutes is the Sweet Spot

Getting moving for 30 minutes, five days per week does wonders for your health. It can reduce your risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease, strengthen your bones and even reduce your chances of an early death. That’s why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends 150 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio activity, like brisk walking, per week.

But for fending off weight gain, a little more helps. Bumping activity up to 60 minutes per day seems to be a magic number. In a study that followed 34,000 women for 13 years, scientists found that those who were successful in maintaining their weight over the period studied averaged 60 minutes of activity per day.

It’s all about the extra calories the bonus exercise burns. In one study, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 90 percent of people who exercised enough to burn 383 calories per day were successful at keeping weight off after they’d lost it. When scientists looked at 20 different studies on weight maintenance and exercise, they concluded that burning an extra 1,500 to 2,000 calories per week was key for keeping weight off.

For most people, an hour per day nails or outstrips that number: For a 185-pound person, walking at four miles per hour for 60 minutes will burn 378 calories. In a week, that’s more than 2,600 calories burned each week.

Those extra calories burned mean wiggle room that fends off unwanted pounds—if you grab an extra fry or eat an extra PowerFuel (or an extra Extra!) in a day, you may have already banked the calories during your exercise time.

That’s why Nutrisystem’s meal plans designed for weight maintenance prescribe an hour of activity each day. It’s a good-for-you habit that helps you maintain everything you’ve worked so hard to achieve.

You Don’t Have to Work Out for An Hour All at Once

If an hour sounds like a lot, break it up! In the past, the CDC guidelines used to dictate that their 150 recommended weekly minutes occur in chunks of at least 10 minutes. However, now they say any amount of time counts towards that goal.

So if 60 minutes straight sounds like drudgery, break it up: Try for 12 “blocks” of five minutes of activity each day—and stack them where you can. Here are some easy “blocks” you can incorporate:

• Do a high-knee march while your coffee’s brewing in the morning
• Go for a brisk walk after lunch
• Take the dog for an extra walk each day—you’ll both benefit!
• Do a 5- or 10-minute yoga video from YouTube after work
• Walk or jog to the end of the block and back during a phone call
• Do a circuit of five squats, five pushups and five high-knee marches while the shower warms up

If you can turn one of these five-minute blocks into 10 minutes, great! Just aim to have all your daily blocks—including a daily workout or longer walk, if you do one—add up to 60 minutes or more.

Make Some of Your Exercise Hard

While an easy stroll provides some benefits, amping up the intensity of some of your exercise—even a little—is more effective for weight maintenance. In a study that followed 18,000 nurses for 16 years, scientists found that those who bicycled or walked faster than three miles per hour gained significantly less weight over the period studied than other nurses who walked slowly.

Another study, of more than 4,500 women, found similar results: Those who jogged or walked fast kept weight off better than those who walked slowly.

So try to make some of your exercise sessions hard—or at least harder. Set the treadmill to 4.0, hop on a bike instead of walking a few days per week, or pump your arms and see if you can make it to the next mailbox on your block a little faster—you’ll improve your fitness and your weight maintenance results!