60+ minutes of exercise per day to maintain weight after age 50

[OakLeaf]

It's been a long time, but I always thought it was easier to spend time on rollers than on a trainer. At least a little bit of your mind has to stay engaged keeping you centered. A lot of LBSs and bike clubs have winter group trainer sessions. Always more fun with company.


I also finally read the article and found that it doesn't define "moderate intensity" physical activity. The original study apparently is in next week's print edition of the JAMA, not online yet, and who knows if it's free anyway (I don't subscribe). But the CDC gives the following examples of "moderate" physical activity:

Walking briskly (3 miles per hour or faster, but not race-walking)
Water aerobics
Bicycling slower than 10 miles per hour
Tennis (doubles)
Ballroom dancing
General gardening

So I still think that a lot of ADLs rise to the intensity level they're calling for. "General gardening" is the only one they mention, but the way I do it anyway the "moderate to heavy housework" I mentioned is at least as intense as "general gardening" - sure it's harder pushing a rear tine tiller than a carpet shampooer, just for instance, but most people shampoo a much larger area than they till, and do it more often as well; as far as the lightest activities in the categories, dusting is at least done standing and picking up objects, while weeding is practically a seated meditation.

[malkin]

... weeding is practically a seated meditation.

Maybe for the civilized part of the yard, but out in my wild back yard, weeding can be more like MMA or cage wrestling.

"Heavy housework" must mean moving furniture and dragging the vacuum cleaner up the stairs.

[OakLeaf]

Yeah, whatev', but the couple of activities we all do, walking a 20-minute pace or cruising/coasting <10 mph on a bicycle (I'm assuming they mean flat pavement or they'd have said so) - none of that raises our HRs over about 90 bpm (50% of max, 180% of resting), right? So wear a HRM doing your ADLs. I'm thinking the only people who aren't getting that much activity either are the kind of people who get home from their desk job and collapse in front of the TV for the rest of the night ... or the ones who are injured/sick/disabled and really would like to be doing more if they could.

[goldfinch]

I think the biking 10mph is misleading to us. That would be pretty speedy for my spouse and for my sister and would get their heart rates up about equivalent to a brisk walk. It also probably does not assume a lightweight road bike either.

[Crankin]

I agree, Goldfinch.
I can only take about 45 minutes on the trainer. Most of the Cyclo-Core programs I've done over the past 4 years are about that long. Of course, there's no video, just a list of the drills. I use my own music. A few are an hour. I also have a really good interval workout that is 30 minutes long, that I got, from all places, Runner's World magazine. That's my favorite. I sweat more than anything else and it's over with quickly. During the winter, I tend to do one trainer workout and one spin class a week. Any other aerobic stuff I do depends on my schedule and if there is snow for nordic skiing/snowshoeing. I feel as if I work as much in 45 minutes on the trainer than in an hour ride outside, maybe even more. I'm not doing drills outside, just riding up hills. Since, I maintain my weight this way, I think intensity trumps time for me. And i am working out 5-6 days a week.

[jobob]

I think the biking 10mph is misleading to us. That would be pretty speedy for my spouse and for my sister and would get their heart rates up about equivalent to a brisk walk. It also probably does not assume a lightweight road bike either.

Of course. Common sense has to come into play here, most of us here probably know what constitutes moderate activity for us as individuals, and what kind of activity is necessary to elevate our heart rates enough to be worthwhile. These guidelines are likely meant for sedentary people to give them some ideas.

[OakLeaf]

But I don't think walking 3 mph is misleading to any of us. Most of us do at least a little walking with people who are mostly sedentary, don't we? A 20-minute mile isn't a leisurely stroll, but it's not exactly brisk, either. It's just kind of a "normal" walking pace that most people would use to get from one place to another when they aren't in a particular hurry. And they aren't talking about how high we need to elevate our HRs to get cardio fitness. They're only talking about maintaining weight after menopause. And I maintain, as many other studies have found before, that a reasonable "suite" of ADLs is all one needs to do that.

[beccaB]

I'm having a challenge with the 5 pounds I gained since last Christmas, but I know I'm not always eating correctly. Just seems less forgiving since I turned 50.

[PamNY]

They're only talking about maintaining weight after menopause. And I maintain, as many other studies have found before, that a reasonable "suite" of ADLs is all one needs to do that.

I'm inclined to agree. I have very few friends who are overweight -- of course, they may have gained a bit after age 50; I haven't interrogated them. But most people I know don't look heavy at all to me.

I'm convinced that being largely car-free in NYC is the reason I haven't experienced (or seen much of) mid-life weight gain.

[emily_in_nc]

I'm having a challenge with the 5 pounds I gained since last Christmas, but I know I'm not always eating correctly. Just seems less forgiving since I turned 50.

Ditto. I used to be able to take off 4-5 lbs. with very little effort. Now I have to do a lot more involving both diet and exercise, not just skipping dessert for a few days!

[emily_in_nc]

I'm convinced that being largely car-free in NYC is the reason I haven't experienced (or seen much of) mid-life weight gain.

Very good point, Pam. My mom lived in Manhattan car-free from her early 40s to early 50s and kept the weight off fine. She walked all the time. Once she moved back to North Carolina and to a car-based, suburban lifestyle, the pounds started coming on rather quickly, and she's never been able to get them off -- she's 78 now. She also quit smoking around the same time, which was certainly part of it, but the change from an active lifestyle to a much more sedentary one was obviously a major factor.

[Crankin]

Well, almost everyone I've known since moving back to MA is a lot heavier. That's over 22 years, from ages late 30s to late 50s/60-ish. Of course, this doesn't count the people i know from riding, but I didn't know them in 1990. An astonishing number of them (particularly the men) have huge guts. And these people are super strong riders. Not so much the women. Funny, everyone i've reconnected with from my childhood is thin. And my friends in AZ, well, they are the same. The heavy ones are heavy and the thin ones are still thin.
I do believe that living in a city keeps you thin. Every vacation I've ever taken that involves a lot of city walking and a lot of eating has been a test of this factor. I never gain weight on these trips.

[shootingstar]

All my friends, except for 1 over the past 25-30 years, who are around the same age as I, either are healthy slim or if they've gained weight it's been under 5-10 lbs. with effort to do something about it over the years.

It's not that I choose friends like that..just life works out that way sometimes. Each woman has found something to help herself: walking, organized yoga/pilates classes, weights, cycling, volleyball and x-country skiing. More proof that it does require some mindful habits and healthy diet.

Note: I actually haven't engaged much in any of these physical activities with each friend...except maybe for walking which we end up talking/catching up on news. So I haven't selected friends initially based on a type of exercise....there's other things that hold our friendship together. We actually don't have time when we see each other, to undertake some sort of physical exercise together.

[Slowspoke]

Update. I did get down those stairs and on to the trainer. I listened to couch to 5k to do a little interval work. That seems to help. I need some spinervals I think. I can tell you right now, my attention span will not last a full hour on a trainer!!!

[goldfinch]

Very good point, Pam. My mom lived in Manhattan car-free from her early 40s to early 50s and kept the weight off fine. She walked all the time. Once she moved back to North Carolina and to a car-based, suburban lifestyle, the pounds started coming on rather quickly, and she's never been able to get them off -- she's 78 now. She also quit smoking around the same time, which was certainly part of it, but the change from an active lifestyle to a much more sedentary one was obviously a major factor.

I recently read that one of the strongest correlations between the growing obesity problem in the US is the decline in smoking. The two track each other far more accurately than things like the growth of the fast food industry, lack of exercise, or portion size track weight gain. I thought it was interesting.