Rev up the treadmill, new research spells out just how much exercise women need to keep the flab off as they age. It says middle aged women at a healthy weight who aren't dieting need at least one hour of moderate activity a day.
Overweight women will need even more to avoid gaining weight without eating less. The findings, published in the American Medical Journal, are based on more than 34,000 non-dieting middle-aged women over the course of 13 years.
Participants were 54 on average, and each woman gained an average of almost six pounds during the study.
"One of the things that the study didn't address is the nutrition side of that, uh, and so that we have to remember that nutrition and exercise go hand in hand when it comes to weight gain. Most of the time as we get older we become more sedentary but never change our eating habits. Um, so as we become more sedentary we have to be able to cut back on those calories as well," said Andrew Chaddick, the Downtown Athletic Club Executive Director.
Moderate exercise includes brisk walking, leisurely bicycling, and golfing.
