This is for people with busy schedules.
A recent study suggests that individuals can effectively shed pounds by condensing their weekly exercise into just one or two days, contrary to the traditional advice of spreading physical activity throughout the week. Typically, guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week or 75 minutes of vigorous activity.
Published in the journal Obesity on February 20, researchers discovered that those adopting a “weekend warrior” approach, where they concentrate their exercise into fewer but more intense sessions, achieve comparable weight loss results to those who exercise more frequently but for shorter periods. This finding offers hope to individuals struggling to incorporate regular physical activity into their daily routines.
Lead researcher Lihua Zhang from Fuwai Hospital’s National Center for Cardiovascular Diseases in Beijing suggests that people with sedentary jobs, such as office workers and bus drivers, could particularly benefit from this exercise pattern due to their limited time for physical activity.
Analyzing data from over 9,600 participants aged 20 to 59 in a U.S. health and nutrition survey from 2011 to 2018, the study found distinct exercise patterns. Roughly 772 participants followed a weekend warrior routine, while 3,277 adhered to a regular exercise regimen meeting the guidelines, and 5,580 remained sedentary.
Both the weekend warriors and regular exercisers exhibited lower measures of belly fat, waist circumference, body fat mass, and body mass index compared to the sedentary group. Dr. Beverly Tchang, an endocrinologist at Weill Cornell Medicine’s Comprehensive Weight Control Center in New York City, underscores the study’s findings that any form of physical activity is beneficial for health, with higher intensity and longer duration workouts associated with greater reductions in abdominal fat.
In summary, the study highlights the importance of finding an exercise routine that fits individual lifestyles, stressing that consistency and intensity are crucial factors in achieving weight loss and maintaining overall health.
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