Exercise Duration Vs. Weight Loss

Many people ask me how much time do they need to exercise every other day in order to lose weight! Well, the answer in the weight loss factor is total number of calories you consume vs the number of calories you burn.

So at the end of the day, if you've burned 2000 and consumed 1500 then you are in 500 calorie deficit. If you do this for 7 days then you are in 3500 calorie deficit and that is one pound or around 1/2 a kilogram (figure that 3500 calories = one pound). If you burn 500 calories with your exercise, another 300 through the rest of your activities of daily living, and then 1200 for metabolic processes to keep your heart beating, organs working, digesting food, and other essential functions to stay alive, you have burned 2000 calories in one day. If you consumed 1500 calories that day you are in 500 calorie deficit.


As for exercise, for the same period of time and activity, you will burn more at a higher intensity. If you walk on the treadmill at 4 mph for 30 minutes you will burn more than if you walk for 30 minutes at 3 mph.

I suggest working as hard as is comfortable without risking injury. This will get you as aerobically fit as possible, and being as fit as you can has advantages for weight loss because you probably will be able to do more activity (exercise and activities of daily living), and that will contribute to how many calories you burn all day. But keep in mind that no matter how many calories you burn with exercise you still will not lose weight if you consume more calories than you burn. If you burn 2000 calories all day with exercise and all other activities, but you consume 2500, you won't lose weight. And keep resistance exercise like weightlifting in mind since it helps you build muscle, and muscle helps set your metabolic rate, so you want as much muscle as possible!