Research

Energy balance

Lifestyle interventions involving ≥150 minutes of exercise per week combined with caloric restriction are associated with the highest odds of long-term weight loss maintenance (5-10%).

To keep weight off long-term, aim for at least 150 minutes of exercise per week, ideally closer to 275 minutes, while maintaining a healthy diet. This combination offers the best chance of keeping 5-10% of your weight off permanently.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
275 min/ week of physical activity when combined with restricted caloric intake was found to be associated with the highest odds of long-term weight loss maintenance of 5-10%.
Stefan D. Anker et al. · International Journal of Cardiovascular Sciences · 2026

Why this rating

Based on an RCT (Jakicic et al.) and National Weight Control Registry data.

Source

iCARDIO Alliance Global Implementation Guidelines for the Management of Obesity 2025

Stefan D. Anker et al. · International Journal of Cardiovascular Sciences · 2026

DOI 10.36660/ijcs.20260056

clinical_guideline
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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