What's Considered Moderate Intensity?

Experts say we should perform 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per week of, which translates to 30 minutes a day, five days a week. But what exactly constitutes moderate intensity? If you’re walking, it’s 100 steps per minute--at least according to a new study.

That means completing 3,000 steps in 30 minutes five times a week. If you want to keep tabs on your activity level, you can use a pedometer to help you meet the exercise guidelines.

If you’re just staring out and can’t keep up the pace for the duration, you can break up a 30-minute walking sessions into smaller ones.

"Because health benefits can be achieved with bouts of exercise lasting at least 10 minutes, a useful starting point is to try and accumulate 1000 steps in 10 minutes, before building up to 3000 steps in 30 minutes," explained the study’s lead author, Dr. Simon J. Marshall of San Diego State University’s School of Exercise and Nutritional Sciences.

The study was published in the May 2009 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Why does this matter to you? If you include brisk walks in your weekly exercise regimen, make sure you’re walking at least 100 steps per minute! Investing in a pedometer is a low-cost way to ensure you are getting the most out of your walks.

The Link Between Women, Fat and Estrogen

Although women burn off more fat than men during exercise, they don't lose as much body fat with exercise. That’s because women store fat more efficiently then men, despite eating proportionally fewer calories. But why?

New research from the University of New South Wales suggests a link between estrogen and its impact on fat storage for childbearing.

According to the studies, the female sex hormones estrogen reduces a woman's ability to burn energy after eating, which results in more fat being stored around the body.

On average, women store 6 to 11 percent more body fat than men.

"Female puberty and early pregnancy--times of increased estrogen--could be seen as states of efficient fat storage in preparation for fertility, fetal development and lactation," study author Anthony O'Sullivan explained.

A pesky hormone
Meanwhile, in his post 3 Foods Vegetarians Must NOT Eat for Fat Loss, fitness trainer Craig Ballantyne warns against consuming excessive amounts of soy, which has an estrogenic effect in the body.

"Most vegetarians consume copious amounts of soy. Heck, it is not uncommon to see soy milk for breakfast, soy burgers for lunch and soy ice cream for a late night snack," Ballantyne writes in the post, which is aimed at vegetarians trying to lose body fat.

"These foods can stop your fat loss dead in its tracks. In addition to all of the sugar and salt these products contain, soy has an estrogenic effect in the body," he warns. "Excess estrogen binds to the fat cells and causes an increase in the size of estrogen-sensitive fatty tissue such as belly fat."

Weight gain and birth control
And now, a recent University of Texas Medical Branch study found that women using the birth control shot depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) gained an average of 11 pounds and increased their body fat by 3.4 percent over three years.

"One concern is DMPA's link to increased abdominal fat, a known component of metabolic syndrome, which increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and diabetes," lead author Abbey Berenson said.

Berenson, however, notes that the mechanism by which DMPA causes an increase in weight gain and fat mass is not known. No link was found between DMPA use and caloric intake, fat consumption or amount of exercise on body mass changes.

The women who switched from DMPA to oral contraception gained an average of four additional pounds in the same time span while those who switched to non-hormonal contraception slowly lost the weight and fat mass they had gained.

Berenson suggests women and their doctors should factor in this new data when choosing birth control methods.

Why does this matter to you? Because while estrogen promotes body fat storage (testosterone, by contrast, promotes lean body mass), exercise and a healthy diet can turn the ill effect around. And women taking hormonal contraception were also less likely to lose muscle mass and gain body fat when they exercised regularly and consumed a healthy diet that included increased protein intake.

Push Away from the Table: Why Only Calories Count

High carb, high fat, low-fat, high protein … when it comes to diets, do macronutrient ratios count? Not really. The key to losing weight is calorie reduction.

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Pennington Biomedical Research Center found that heart-healthy diets that reduce calorie intake--regardless of differing proportions of fat, protein, or carbohydrate--resulted in more weight-loss success.

The study found similar weight loss after two and a half years among participants assigned to four diets that differed in their proportions of fat, protein and carbohydrates. The participants lost an average of 13 pounds at six months and maintained a 9-pound loss at two years.

The main similarity between the four diets was calories: participants averaged a 750-calorie reduction per day. Average-sized males who ate 2,800 calories a day, for example, were prescribed just over 2,000 calories, while women who consumed 2000 calories a day were prescribed 1,250 calories.

"These results show that, as long as people follow a heart-healthy, reduced-calorie diet, there is more than one nutritional approach to achieving and maintaining a healthy weight," Elizabeth G. Nabel, director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, said.

The study, she adds, provides people who need to lose weight flexibility to choose an approach they are most likely to sustain and is most suited to their personal preferences and health needs.

Wet Wolf, who specializes in physique transformation and sports performance training, agrees.

"A female over 25 percent body fat asking for exact gram amounts of macronutrients per day is akin to a girl who has never lifted weights before asking to be put on steroids," Wolf explains in Food Addictions: The Last Stand.

"Surely nothing as simple as losing fat could be as easy as making smart eating choices and exercising?"

In the end, losing weight boils down to consuming fewer calories than your body needs or increasing activity to burn more energy.

Why does this matter to you? If you consistently make smart eating choices and stick to a sensible diet, excess pounds will melt off. And don’t forget to exercise! Lift weights and perform energy system workouts for a well-rounded fitness regimen. More importantly, be realistic about how quickly the weight will come off.