Exercise Continues, Weight Loss Never Stops
With rising living standards and decreasing physical activity, more white-collar workers are becoming overweight. Obesity not only hinders movement but also poses serious health risks, making weight-loss exercise urgent.
Although there are numerous theories and methods regarding weight loss, practical experience shows that the key lies in exercise. Currently, experts agree that weight loss requires both dietary control and increased physical activity—either reducing calorie intake or increasing calorie expenditure.
Generally, simply restricting food intake and moderately reducing carbohydrate and fat consumption only works for mildly obese individuals. For more severely obese people, strict dietary restriction combined with intensified exercise is necessary to achieve weight loss. Therefore, when formulating a weight-loss exercise plan, consider exercise intensity and select suitable activities.
From the perspective of energy expenditure, moderate-intensity exercise (such as long-distance running) can be sustained longer, resulting in greater total energy consumption. Moreover, moderate-intensity exercise uses fat as a major energy source besides glucose. Based on this principle, prolonged, moderate-intensity exercise yields the best weight-loss results.
The Aichi University Center for Sports Medicine in Japan recommends the following exercise regimen for weight loss: exercise intensity at 40% to 60% of maximum capacity; each session lasting 2.5 hours, consuming 1,004.5 to 1,255.7 kJ (240 to 300 kcal); at least three sessions per week. Some suggest calculating the ideal exercise heart rate as: [(220 – age – resting heart rate) ÷ 2] + resting heart rate.
Choose aerobic exercises that enhance overall physical strength and endurance, such as long-distance walking, jogging, cycling, and swimming; static exercises like resistance bands for building muscle strength and endurance; and stretching exercises for warm-up and cool-down. It is particularly important to vary exercise content regularly to avoid boredom. However, those with hypertension or coronary heart disease should avoid isometric (static) exercises to prevent excessively rapid heart rate and elevated blood pressure.