WEIGHT LOSS EXERCISES

WALKING & WEIGHT MANAGEMENT

Information: weight loss exercises. Weight will most successfully be lost through a combination of diet and exercise. But exercise alone can also be very helpful in weight maintenance through energy expenditure.

The energy expenditure of walking depends on body weight, walking pace and the walking surface. Heavier person expends more energy than a lighter person at the same speed. The faster the walking speed and the softer the surface the more energy will be consumed.

Walking is one of the most feasible exercise regimens in the treatment of overweight individuals, because the cardiovascular fitness of an overweight person is probably poor, and thus other, more strenuous exercise modes such as jogging and aerobics may be hazardous.

However, obesity intervention studies have shown conflicting results. Relatively small amounts of walking, e.g., 3 km/day 3 times a week, are not associated with changes in body weight over 12 to 24 weeks.

If walking is done above this amount, there tends to be a consistent loss of body fat. The most important factor in achieving a change in body mass by exercise is total energy expenditure.

For weight loss purposes a daily walking dose of 50-65 kJ or 200-300 kcal is recommended. The result is the same whether it is from a single walking session or from two sessions combined.

Most people who exercise for weight management seek to lose as much fat as possible. They have to remember that both carbohydrates and fat are used as energy sources during the exercise.

However, the lower the intensity and longer the exercise period, the higher proportion of fat compared to carbohydrates is used.

A 40-year-old person, who weighs 70 kg, walks two sessions, each for the same length of time but at a different speed.

During the first session, a brisk walk for 30 min at a heart rate 140-150 bpm (75% of maximum aerobic capacity), she expends in total 250 kilocalories (30 x 8.3 kcal).

During the second, a lower pace walk (55 % maximum aerobic capacity, heart rate 100-110 bpm), she expends only 180 kcal (30 x 6 kcal).

During the higher intensity session 45% of the energy sources are fats and 65% carbohydrates, and during the lower intensity session 65% is fat and 45% carbohydrate.

During the brisk walk 113 kcal (250 x 0.45) are expended as fat and during the less brisk walk 117 kcal (180 x 0.65).

Thus, the amount of fat used in these two sessions is more or less the same. However, because the more brisk session expends more energy it is thus more beneficial for total weight loss. Adding about 10 min to the less brisk session will result the same total energy expenditure (250 kcal).

For the majority of overweight persons, it would most probably be better to increase the length of a walking session rather than its intensity. It is also important to keep in mind that during the same day one longer session can be divided into two or more smaller ones.

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