Vote in This Week's Poll: How much do you exercise each week?
In one recent study, scientists looked at more than 200 overweight and obese women who participated in a weight loss program between 1999 and 2003. They found that almost all the women lost about 8-10% of their initial body weight after 6 months, but that only 24% of these women were able to maintain that weight loss over two years. Those women reported an average of 275 minutes a week of exercise, which comes out to about 55 minutes 5 days a week, or 1835 calories.
I'm curious about you (male and female, of course) - how much are you exercising each week? I try to follow a no-math rule for most Mondays, but I'm going to break that rule and ask you to add up how many minutes you exercise each week and then vote in this week's poll. In the study, they didn't specify the kinds of workouts these women were doing so, for our very unscientific survey, I'll have you include both cardio and strength training in the total. Get out your calculators and vote!
Poll: How much do you exercise each week?
1. More than 275 minutes
2. Between 200 and 275 minutes
3. Between 150 and 200 minutes
4. Between 100 and 150 minutes
5. Less than 100 minutes
6. Zero minutes
7. I avoid math whenever possible
8. Other-please explain in comments
Source:
Jakicic, John M., et al. Effect of Exercise on 24-Month Weight Loss Maintenance in Overweight Women. Arch Intern Med. 2008;168(14):1550-1559.
Comments
I know I should be exercising more and I will be walking more since we’ve got a dog now. I tend to go in spurts. There are times when I am really good at exercising and other times I slack. I get caught up in vacations, life, etc.. I keep moving but I also eat a bit to much sometimes and my problem is actually specific, set exercise. But I can do it, I’ve done it before!
I guess I am on the extreme from most people. Tuesdays I teach Group Ride and do weights, Wednesdays I ride my bike for 1.5 hours. Thursdays I usually take a break. Friday run a 5k on the treadmill, weights. Saturday or Sunday ride my bike for 4 hours. I average over 7 hours or about 5000 calories burned a week.
my weeks vary with work and the season. This last summer I played on 2 soccer teams, 2 softball teams, a golf league and I went to the gym.
Now I have 4 soccer teams for fall - and go to the gym. So anywhere between 200 and 275 mins. I also hike with my dogs, and do many other out door activities that aren’t sports related.
But you really have to make a concious choice to make time for it - it doesn’t just fall into your life. You have to juggle to accomodate.
I’m figuring about 550 min/week. 3 days @ the gym (2.5 hours) and 2 days of brisk evening walks (45 minutes). It still doesn’t seem like enough but I’m feeling pretty darn strong these days!
My main exercise is on an elliptical machine 45 mins 6 days a week. I supplement this with 3 days upper body, high reps using light weights. This includes a set of stomach crunches and push-ups.
I’m burning about 3500 calories a week, at a cardio level I can easily maintain.
All of my workout data on the elliptical is stored in a Polar website going on 3 years. A complete log of time, calories burned, distance is all there. The data is recorded from my wrist unit during the workout, subequently uploaded to the website, so manual logging is un-necessary.
well i exercise daily, but its because i now have a sedentary jobs. So even some cardio is not overdoing it, but important to maintain my fitness( and health )
i work out for about 15-20minutes a day,3-4days a week………all kinds of exercise…..works well for me…..keeps me in shape and weight down….i believe all u need is a half hour a day for 3 days a week,u dont want to over do it……xoxoxo
Monday’s I like have a dance class for about 1hr & 15 minutes then a yoga class for an hour. Tuesday’s aerobics for 50 minutes, dance class for 45 minutes and weights for about 30 minutes. Wednesday’s I have 30 minutes at the gym and 1 hour of yoga. Thursday’s 50 minutes aerobics and 30 minutes at the gym. Roughly about 475 minutes a week, plus whatever I chose to do on the weekends. Sometimes I just catch up on house work and stuff!!! LOL
I found the poll results hard to believe at first then I realized it’s probably the fact that the people who are interested in articles like this one are the ones who actually exercise the most. I think you’d get a very different result if you took a poll from a website where readers are reading blogs about soap operas or tv shows.
Mon-I take a spinning class-going all out. Tues-1 1/2hr.weight lifting and running. Thurs-1 1/2hr. weight lifting and running. Sat- long run up to ten miles if Im feeling it. Sun-single track bike riding in the forest. The goal is not to have the cheese burger catch you.
i have ballet classes 5 days a week for 2 hours. and i try to do crunchs everyday and bike ride or jog everyday