How much do you exercise per week? Are there guidlines out there??
I am doing the monthly challanges, and see some people exercising 7 days a week. I exercise between 5-6 days a wk, for 60 minutes . How much do you exercise?
Are there guidlines out there to say how much/long you should exercise? Tia Cheryl
Cheryl, in 2005, the US Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Agriculture jointly put out the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Chapter 4 focuses on Physical Activity. Its key recommendations are:
Quote:
KEY RECOMMENDATIONS
* Engage in regular physical activity and reduce sedentary activities to promote health, psychological well-being, and a healthy body weight.
o To reduce the risk of chronic disease in adulthood: Engage in at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity, above usual activity, at work or home on most days of the week.
o For most people, greater health benefits can be obtained by engaging in physical activity of more vigorous intensity or longer duration.
o To help manage body weight and prevent gradual, unhealthy body weight gain in adulthood: Engage in approximately 60 minutes of moderate- to vigorous-intensity activity on most days of the week while not exceeding caloric intake requirements.
o To sustain weight loss in adulthood: Participate in at least 60 to 90 minutes of daily moderate-intensity physical activity while not exceeding caloric intake requirements. Some people may need to consult with a healthcare provider before participating in this level of activity.
* Achieve physical fitness by including cardiovascular conditioning, stretching exercises for flexibility, and resistance exercises or calisthenics for muscle strength and endurance.
You may have read about the exercise recommendations when they were released because people were moaning and groaning about the ones to prevent weight gain (60 minutes on most days of the week) and for weight loss and maintenance (60 - 90 minutes daily).
My personal exercise falls right in line with the recommendations for maintenance: "to sustain weight loss for previously overweight/obese people, about 60 to 90 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per day is recommended." I do 30 minutes of high intensity cardio intervals daily and lift weights five days a week.
As far as your heart health is concerned I believe the recommended amount is 4 -5 days a week, 30 minutes a day of cardio.
Now in order to lose weight, that's another story. That's personal preference. Obviously the more exercise you do, the more calories you burn, the quicker you will lose weight - in theory at least. I personally exercise 7 days a week, 1 1/2 - 2 hours per day. I don't burn calories the way I used to when I was 287 lbs. I burn them waaay slower now, so in order for me to keep on losing, I had to either increase my exercise or decrease my calories. Or both. So yeah, I went with the increasing the exercise part. I have mentioned that I still love to eat, haven't I?
Remember that it also depends on the intensity of your exercise. If you're walking, you can probably do that every day. If you're running, for example, you'll need to take a day off here and there. You can crosstrain of course, but I've found that with increasing my mileage on my runs, I need one day a week where I do absolutely nothing. Your muscles need recovery time to actually repair themselves. That's when the growth occurs. If you never give them recovery time, they don't actually build and you can injure yourself as well. That's especially true for strength training -- don't train the same muscle on consecutive days. I know lots of people do that with their abs, but I don't think you should (based on what I've read and on my experience). With that line of thinking, it makes sense to stagger your higher-intensity cardio as well instead of doing it every single day. Depends on your goals, though. Right now my goal is more about a certain number of miles per week than it is about how many calories I burn. It's changing the rate of my weight loss in weird ways, but I'm more concerned about training for a race right now.
For general weight loss purposes, though, I'd say six days of cardio is good, with a few shorter or lower-intensity days thrown in there.
I was at my yearly doc appt. today, and she said 150 minutes of cardio a week is ideal. In my case, 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. But every body is different, and every situation is different, and every doctor has a different idea. That's just what I was told today.
How much do you exercise per week? Are there guidlines out there??
