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Doubling the recommended weekly exercise amount may help postmenopausal women lose significantly more body fat, according to research findings reported in JAMA Oncology.
Christine Friedenreich, PhD, a scientific leader in the department of cancer epidemiology and prevention research at Alberta Health Services-Cancer Control in Calgary, Canada, and colleagues recruited 384 women whose BMI ranged from 22 to 40.
All women were disease-free, nonsmokers and were not taking hormone replacement therapy. Half of the women were asked to exercise the recommended minimum amount of 2 hours and 30 minutes a week, while the other half exercised for 5 hours a week.
The women could take part in any aerobic activity they liked, as long as they kept their heart rate within 65% to 75% of their heart rate reserve for at least half of each exercise session. Most activities involved an elliptical trainer, walking, bicycling or running.
The researchers measured each woman's body fat before and after, using X-rays and computed tomographyn (CT) scans, to track their progress after a year's worth of exercise.
The women who got the minimum amount of exercise did experience improvements in weight and BMI and, on average, lost body fat, the researchers found.
However, women who doubled their exercise regimen experienced significantly more reduction in BMI and total body fat. They also lost more subcutaneous abdominal fat, and their waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio decreased significantly more.
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