Walking one hour a day keeps the weight away
Related: health, Walking, Weight, women
According to a study, normal-weight women who want to prevent weight gain as they age need to do an hour a day of moderate-intensity physical activity like walking. It’s something they have suspected for awhile, but this is one of the first large-scale studies to examine the question.
Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston tracked the leisure-time physical activity and weight of more than 34,000 healthy women over 13 years. The women were an average age of 54 at the start of the study. They followed a regular diet and didn’t try to lose weight. Participants were divided into three groups: Women who were the most active and did at least 60 minutes a day of moderate-intensity physical activity, most of it walking. Those who were moderately active, at least 150 minutes a week. And women who were the least active, at less than 150 minutes a week.
The results? Overall, study participants gained an average of 6 pounds in that time. Those in the two less-active groups were more likely to gain 5 pounds or more than the most active women. Overweight and obese women tended to be less active than the healthy-weight women, and overall their physical activity didn’t help them control their weight.
But 13% of women were “successful weight maintainers”. They started at a healthy weight and gained less than 5 pounds at any checkpoint during the 13 years. These women consistently did about 60 minutes a day of moderate-intensity exercise.
Last Updated on March 24th, 2010
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