When it comes to losing weight spending hours exercising may not be the most effective option. Mads Rosenkilde and colleagues at the University of Copenhagen (Denmark) conducted a randomized controlled study on 60 sedentary and moderately overweight young men to examine the effects of increasing doses of aerobic exercise on weight loss. Half of the men were assigned to exercise for an hour a day, while the second half only had to exercise for 30 minutes. Results showed that, on average, the men who exercised 30 minutes a day lost 3.6 kg in 3 months, while those who exercised for a whole hour only lost 2.7 kg. The reduction in body mass was about 4 kg for both groups. Furthermore, participants who exercised for just 30 minutes burned more calories than expected. “Exercising for a whole hour instead of a half does not provide any additional loss in either body weight or fat,” concluded PhD student Rosenkilde.
30 Minutes Exercise Equally Effective as 60 Minutes for Weight Loss
Rosenkilde M, Auerbach PL, Reichkendler MH, Ploug T, Stallknecht BM, Sjödin A. Body fat loss and compensatory mechanisms in response to different doses of aerobic exercise - a randomized controlled trial in overweight sedentary males. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2012 Aug 1.
