Does exercise help you lose weight?

Exercise is a vital part of weight loss and maintenance, despite the fact it won’t work in isolation. pexels/gustavo fring, CC BY-SA^[9]

Exercise helps keep weight off long term

Exercise will improve your body composition^[10] and prevent muscle decline. Our metabolic rate – how much energy we burn at rest – is determined by how much muscle and fat we have, and muscle is more metabolically active than fat, meaning it burns more kilojoules.

Relying on diet alone to lose weight will reduce muscle along with body fat, slowing your metabolism. So it’s essential to make sure you’ve incorporated sufficient and appropriate exercise into your weight-loss plan to hold onto your muscle mass stores.

Incorporating strength-building resistance training is also important. This doesn’t mean you need to be in the gym every day. Just two days per week and in the comfort of your own home is perfectly fine.

Research^[11] confirms moderate-volume resistance training (three sets of ten repetitions for eight exercises) is just as effective as high-volume resistance training (five sets of ten repetitions for eight exercises) for maintaining lean mass and muscle when you’re following a diet incorporating moderate calorie restriction.

Studies also show physical activity and exercise have a substantial effect in preventing weight regain after weight loss. A longer-term study^[12] found those sustaining high exercise levels (expending more than 10,500 kilojoules or 2,500 calories each week, for example by walking 75 minutes per day) maintained a significantly larger weight loss than participants exercising less.

Read more: Taking a break from your diet helps long-term weight loss^[13]

Exercise has overall health benefits

Before you start to see the results of exercise on the scales, you’re almost guaranteed to experience the many physical and mental health benefits that come with exercise.

Even low levels of exercise reduce^[14] your chance of developing diseases^[15] such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Research^[16] shows exercise is just as important as weight loss for improving health, because most diabetes and heart disease risk markers associated with obesity can be improved with exercise, even if you don’t lose weight.

A physically active person with obesity can be considered metabolically healthy^[17] if they maintain good blood pressure, cholesterol and insulin levels. There is good evidence^[18] to show the risk of early death associated with obesity is largely reduced or eliminated^[19] by moderate-to-high levels of fitness.

Alongside improving your health, regular exercise has other physical benefits^[20], such as improving strength and mobility. It also reduces stress levels, and even low levels of exercise will prompt a decrease in depressive symptoms^[21], improve mood^[22] and promote better sleep.

This, in turn, will help you manage your diet better, with the boost to your mood helping you choose healthier foods and prevent impulsive food choices.

Exercise has a multitude of benefits aside from weight maintenance. Shutterstock

The bottom line?

Exercise will help you lose weight and prevent you putting on weight again – it’s just that it won’t help you achieve your weight loss goals in isolation.

Exercise is one of the key pillars of long-term weight management. It plays an essential role in weight loss and maintenance, as do our diet and sleep choices.

To encourage more exercise, take up something you enjoy. Be sure to include variety, as always doing the same daily routine is a surefire way to get bored and give up.

Read more: The last 5 kilos really are the hardest to lose. Here’s why, and what you can do about it^[23]

Read more https://theconversation.com/does-exercise-help-you-lose-weight-198292