Get moving to control weight

Many people believe that the secret to a healthy weight lies in healthy and balanced nutrition. But where does physical activity fit in? Well, it’s a key element in weight management: by being active every day, you expend more energy and burn calories more quickly.

The 30 habit

The first goal to aim for is being active for at least 30 minutes every day. Walk, bike, swim, play badminton… It doesn’t matter how – just get moving!

Burn more calories

Next, to increase your energy expenditure, you can increase the intensity or duration of your activity, depending on your physical condition. For example, you could walk for 45 or 60 minutes, or even add intervals to your regular 30-minute session. For the intervals, do your regular 30 minutes in a continuous time block and include one-minute periods, or intervals, in which you increase the intensity. To up the intensity, you need to do something that makes you a little out of breath, like increasing your speed, climbing stairs or a hill, or jogging lightly.

Because only the total counts

To arrive at the same energy expenditure, you can do shorter sessions at a higher intensity, or longer sessions at a lower intensity. For example, 30 minutes of jogging corresponds to about 60 minutes of walking at a good pace. People with limited time can intensify their effort and condense their practice time. Just make sure to respect your own physical condition.

Perseverance… that’s the way to do it!

It seems that people who do medium-intensity physical activity for around one hour per day are more likely to stick with the habit in the long term. So it’s up to you to see how much time you have and what activity you like. Because what counts is to stay in the habit of regularly being active – ideally every day!