Exercise and weight control

Published by Bupa's Health Information Team, December 2010.

Being active is an important part of losing weight and keeping it off. When you’re more active you burn up more calories, which can make it easier to lose weight.

This article explains how you can manage your weight by exercising.

Why does weight matter?

Most people worry about their weight at some point during their life. You may have struggled with your weight on and off for years, or your weight may have steadily increased. If you’re overweight or obese, you’re not alone – around one in four adults in the UK are obese. But being overweight or obese can increase your risk of developing diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. Not only that, it can also cause breathlessness, aching joints and back pain. It can even go as far as leading to problems sleeping or low self-esteem.

Why do I gain weight?

You gain weight if you consume more calories in food and drink than you burn up. To maintain a steady weight you need to use up the same number of calories as you take in. To lose weight the calories you take in must be less than those you burn up.

It’s easy to be less active than you should. Spending too much time in front of the computer or TV, or doing an office-based job can mean that you burn up less energy than you need to, to keep weight off.

In practice, it's difficult to monitor exactly how many calories you eat and drink. One way to make sure you’re getting it right is to keep an eye on your weight and try to keep your body mass index (BMI) within the healthy range. BMI doesn't apply to everybody. If you have a lot of muscle, you may have a BMI over 25 but very little body fat. Similarly, if you have very little muscle, you may still have too much body fat, even though your BMI is in the healthy range. Use our online BMI calculator.

Why is exercise important?

It’s no secret that physical activity is good for you. Keeping physically active can improve your health by lowering high blood pressure, raising ‘good’ HDL cholesterol levels and reducing your risk of developing certain cancers. It can also make you feel happier and increase your self-esteem.

If you’re overweight, even losing a small amount of weight is beneficial for your health. The best way to lose weight if you're overweight or obese is to combine a healthy, balanced diet with regular exercise. Physical activity burns calories, so the more you do, the more weight you will lose. It will help you to lose fat without any loss of lean tissue – which is mainly muscle.

Get moving

Aim to lose weight gradually – around one to two pounds (0.5 to 1kg) per week. Reduce your overall calorie intake by about 500 to 600 calories per day, aiming for about 1,500 calories for women and 1,800 for men, and exercise regularly. If you’re carrying a lot of extra weight, you may find you lose weight quickly in the first few months – don’t be disheartened if the rate slows down as time goes on. As you start to exercise you may find that your weight goes up at first because you put on muscle before you lose fat.

All adults should do 30 minutes of moderate exercise on five or more days a week. But you might need to do 45 to 60 minutes a day to stop gaining weight. And you still need to keep up the exercise once you have lost weight, with about 60 to 90 minutes of activity a day to stop you putting it back on.

Sounds like a lot? Don’t worry, you don’t have to do the whole lot in one go to get the benefits. You can break up the time throughout the day. If you haven’t exercised for a while or find this amount of exercise daunting, you can start by doing 30 minutes a day and break it into three sessions lasting 10 minutes. As you become stronger and more energetic you can gradually build up the time.

Top tips

You can achieve the target by building activity into your everyday life. Walking is good because it doesn’t cost anything. Try walking to the shops instead of driving or take the stairs instead of the lift.

It’s important that you reduce the amount of time you spend sitting down. Watching TV, playing on the computer or sitting at a desk burns up very few calories.

Combine aerobic training that will burn fat, such as running, with resistance exercise such as weight training, to build muscle.

Calorie counting

How many calories you burn up during exercise will depend on your body weight, age, fitness levels and the type of activity you do. The table below shows the average number of calories a person weighing 60kg burns up when doing exercise for 30 minutes.

Changing behaviour

You may find that some days it’s harder to exercise than others. There are a number of things you can do to help keep you motivated.

• Make exercise enjoyable – doing activity with a friend or listening to music can help.
  
• Take different routes when cycling, walking or jogging. This will help to make your activity more interesting and stop you from getting bored.
  
• Keep a diary of your activity and you will see your progress and how much you have achieved.
  
• Set long- and short-term goals.

Once you start to lose weight and become more active, you will find that you can do more at a higher intensity. It’s important that you carry on being physically active and eating a healthy diet after you have lost weight to make sure that it stays off for good.

Action points

• Aim to keep your body weight within the healthy range for your height.
  
• If you’re overweight, you will need to do more than the recommended target of 30 minutes of moderate intensity activity on five or more days a week.
  
• Try to combine more physical activity and less food to lose weight.

For sources and links to further information, see Resources.