Lose weight at a moderate pace

The September 2003 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association has great news for anyone trying to lose weight: moderate exercise is as beneficial as an intense workout to reduce weight and maintain the loss. A group of 21- to 45-year-old women was put on a reduced calorie diet and each participant was randomly assigned to one of four different exercise groups. The regimen within each group was of moderate or vigorous-intensity walking for a short or longer period of time. All groups had an exercise calorie expenditure of about 1,000 to 2,000 per week.In this yearlong study, all of the women decreased their body weight, maintained their weight loss for the year, and improved their cardiovascular fitness. The exciting news is that the amount of weight loss and fitness improvement wasn't significantly different from one group to the next. All participants had an average weight loss of about 13 to 20 pounds each and all received cardiovascular benefit regardless of whether their exercise sessions were moderate or more intense.