How to Lose Weight

How much exercise do I need to do lose weight?

This is a quick read about 90 seconds.

According to the ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) 150 – 200 minutes per week of moderate-intensity physical activity is associated with the PREVENTION of weight gain – not actual weight loss. More than 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity physical exercise is associated with MODEST weight loss – define modest I guess?

These stats are generally accepted as industry rules, which means you need to do quite a lot of physical activity just to MAINTAIN your weight before you START losing weight.

Slightly depressing (I know!) that you can do 3 hours moderate-intensity exercise (think 45 mins on a cross trainer 3-4 x per week) and you will only maintain your weight, and that’s if your calorie intake is not overly surplus.

The better news is the more intense your physical activity is, the less time you need to spend doing it. According to the Centre for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), performing 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise will MAINTAIN your weight – so just over an hour which isn’t too bad, but we are still maintaining here!

That said, 2-4 hours of exercise out of the 168 hours we all have each week is surely manageable, no?

The take home message is, all the above is for weight maintenance or MODEST weight loss at best – not overly inspiring is it and is probably the reason why many people give up on exercise feeling like they are doing quite a lot but the weight isn’t shifting.

But do not despair! It just means you have to start thinking about your weight management, not obsessing, just thinking sensibly.

From my experience and the research tells us, you can lose weight and keep it off easily at ANY AGE by doing these 3 things.

1. Perform HIIT (high intensity interval training) on an exercise bike / rowing machine 3 times per week. HIIT training increases your metabolism which means you burn more fat at rest!
2. Build lean muscle with a good strength / resistance programme 3 times per week. You can do both 1 and 2 with around 3-4 hours per week at the gym, and maintain when you have a busy week with say 1-2 hours gym time per week – but let’s get you in a good place first!
3. Have a good healthy eating plan and know your calorie intake so you understand how much food you are eating, and be in a small calorie deficit to lose weight

12 weeks of a good training programme and eating plan should deliver really good results.