Exercise Guidelines: Health vs. Weight Loss

There is a difference between exercising for health and for weight loss. Most agree that getting in 30 minutes of physical activity on most days of the week will improve health and lower your risk of chronic disease. Incorporating a small amount of daily activity may result in blood pressure lowering, improved cholesterol levels and weight loss if you’ve been quite sedentary. Newer guidelines have been proposed for weight loss and maintenance. To maintain weight or see weight loss the Institute of Medicine along with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends 60 minutes of moderate physical activity. Essentially, what this means is that over time you will probably need more activity as you continue to loss weight.