It has generally been accepted that people wanting to lose weight need to do more exercise than someone who isn't focused on their weight.
However a recent study has shown that for anyone wanting to lose weight, you may not need to "exercise" more.
The study found that people who exercised for just half an hour a day lost a third more weight than those who did an hour long work out.
The researchers found that those who did the shorter exercise sessions were left with more energy and motivation to live healthier lifestyles.
A full hour of hard fitness training was more likely to leave participants feeling tired and burned out.
According to the researchers, the subjects in the group that exercised the least, commented they had increased energy levels and greater motivation for exercising and pursuing a healthy everyday life.
It seems they made healthier and more active choices for the other hours of the day, such as taking the stairs, taking the dog for an extra walk or cycling to work.
This contrasted with the men who exercised for one hour a day. After training, they reported feeling exhausted, demotivated and less open to making active choices when not exercising.
The study, which is published in the Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, monitored 60 moderately overweight but healthy Danish men for 13 weeks.
Half of the men were asked to exercise vigorously for 30 minutes a day by jogging, cycling or cross training while the other half exercised for a full hour daily.
On average, those that exercised for half an hour lost more weight over the three month period than those exercising for longer.
With so much focus on weight and how much exercise people need, this study helps us understand how exercise contributes to weight management. We know that the amount of calories used while exercising is not that great. (if you don't believe me, work out haw far you have to run to burn up the calories in a Mars Bar).
However, there is no doubt that exercise plays an important role in weight management.
Firstly, it makes our metabolism better at burning calories especially fat. So rather than storing fat the body is able to use it to fuel everyday activities.
Exercise also helps to get sugar out of the blood and into the muscles where it can be used. This means the pancreas doesn't need to release insulin into the blood, which promotes the storage of fat.
And, as this study shows, exercise makes everyday activity easier and therefore more likely to be done.
So what does it mean?
Your exercise should be aimed at getting you fitter and feeling good, so you can enjoy the rest of the day and make active choices. If you do so much exercise that you are too tired to be active the rest of the day, you are probably doing too much.
It's no good exercising so hard that you spend the rest of the day too tired or sore to move.
Article Author: David Beard, Calico's Exercise Physiologist & Healthy Aging Expert