Walking to Weight Loss

You may have heard the news that women need to exercise an hour a day, five days a week to keep post-diet weight loss from coming back. And you may have been tempted—like I was—to mentally file it under Super Depressing Health News That Must Be Ignored. 

Who has time for five hours of exercise a week? The current recommendation is 30 minutes a day, five days a week, and I don’t even get close to that. If you have kids, a job, or a life, an hour of daily exercise can seem like a luxury reserved for tennis-playing socialites.

So I talked to the lead researcher, John Jakicic, PhD, chair of the department of health and physical activity at the University of Pittsburgh, to get a reality check.

In the Archives of Internal Medicine study, Jakicic and his colleagues put 201 women (all overweight or obese, and aged 21 to 45) on a 1,200-1,500 calorie-a-day diet and one of four exercise regimens.

The women lost 8%-10% of their body weight in six months, regardless of the group they were in. Most of them gained it back by the end of the two-year study.

But the researchers took a glass-half-full approach and zeroed in on the weight loss “success stories”—the 25% of women who did manage to keep the weight off.

They found these women were exercising more—about 275 minutes per week, or roughly one hour five times a week—than the weight gainers.

The good news is that they weren’t training for a triathlon.

“When I talk about exercise or physical activity, I’m not talking about going to the gym—95% of these women didn’t go to the gym,” he tells me. “These people basically, most of the time, elected to go out for a walk. And that walk can be as short as 10 minutes at a time.”

It all sounds great. But really—how did they do it? I think even 10 free minutes would be tough to find on some days.

Sweating not necessary
Turns out the women squeezed exercise into super-packed schedules, says Jakicic. The women had once-a-week group meetings in which they talked with their peers about their diet and exercise problems. And the group offered solutions.

“We’re not talking about major changes here, we’re talking about little things that make a difference,” says Jakicic. “We hear this all the time: ‘I always have to take my kids to a soccer game and I have to be there an hour and a half and all I do is sit.’ Well, [I tell them to] get up off the bleachers and walk around the soccer field and all the sudden the light goes on and they go, ‘Yeah.’ It s almost like it’s so simple they couldn’t think of it on their own.”

Apparently, sweating isn’t necessary.

“Instead of going for half an hour and just sitting there and eating on your lunch break, go outside and take a walk for 10 minutes and then come back and have your lunch,” he said. “Absolutely you can do this and not sweat. It makes a big difference for people.”

Jakicic emphasizes that you do have to change your diet to lose the weight in the first place. And as we all know, cutting out the cake isn’t a cakewalk.

“But the only thing worse than having to diet to lose weight, is to have to do it again.” It’s enough to get you moving.

I know walking one hour a day, for some, is a dream. If you slip on those sneakers and walk out your door, taking the first manageable walk for 15 minutes or even a block. Once you take that first step, you’re on your way and can build an exercise program slowly and carefully. After you’ve put in the time to build some stamina, your walks can get to longer and more vigorous walking. The secret is in the starting.

“Exercise an Hour a Day? Here’s How to Make It Painless” by Theresa Tamkins writes in Health.com that starting and maintain an exercise program, in a busy life, is manageable and that success develops over time with a commitment to starting and slipping exercise into a busy life. The one hour day will develop as you develop and gain confidence.

MikeZ_the secret is in the starting. 

Please consult your physician before starting any exercise or weight loss program.
Your physician is your very best resource.