How to Exercise for Weight Loss

Studies comparing the roles of calorie reduction and exercise in weight loss have generally found that the greater benefit comes from the dieting. But combining exercise and diet is usually best. Exercise not only burns calories and makes you trimmer and fitter, it also helps prevent the loss of muscle mass and the drop in metabolic rate that usually accompany dieting. And once you’re at your desired weight, exercise is an effective way to prevent or minimize future weight gain.

For overall good health, the U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommend that adults do at least 150 minutes a week of moderate intensity exercise (such as 30 minutes, five days a week) or 75 minutes a week of vigorous aerobic exercise. To lose weight and maintain weight loss, aim higher: 300 minutes a week at moderate intensity or 150 minutes at high intensity. To meet the goals more easily, you can break up your exercise—even into periods as short as 10 minutes.

You should also aim to be more active all around—taking the stairs instead of the elevator, parking farther away from your destination (or, better yet, walking instead of driving for shorter distances), and avoiding too much TV or other “couch potato” time. Find activities and sports you enjoy so you will be more likely to stick with them (working out shouldn’t feel like “work” after all). Using some type of fitness tracking device or smartphone app can be motivating.

Another perk of exercise: It can help ease snack cravings, some research has found. In a study in PLOS ONE, for example, overweight people reported reduced cravings for high-calorie sugary snacks after a brisk 15-minute walk. And in an earlier study in Appetite, people who walked and then did computer work ate half as much chocolate from a bowl at hand as those who rested before the task. Brief bouts of exercise may help elevate mood, similar to what chocolate and sugary foods do. Any kind of physical activity may do the trick.

Doesn’t exercise make you hungrier, though, so you may end up eating more calories than you’ve burned off? Most studies suggest that when people exercise moderately, they tend to eat only slightly more than when they don’t work out. But it’s hard to generalize, since appetite regulation is a complex process, involving blood sugar levels, a variety of hormones and other chemicals, and psychological factors. Exercise’s effect on your appetite may also depend on your gender, body weight, and fitness level, as well as on the frequency, duration, and intensity of your workouts. And the effect is likely to be different once exercise becomes habitual, because of the body’s adaptation processes during a long-term exercise regimen. However your appetite is affected by exercise, watch how much you eat afterwards, and don’t use food as a reward for your workout efforts.