Weight affects the amount of effort required to perform any activity, including walking, getting up from a chair and performing exercise. Just as a person of normal weight burns more calories hiking with a 30-lb. pack, an obese person expends more energy than a non-obese person of the same height exercising at the same intensity. An obese person who exercises vigorously, with doctor approval, and maintains a restricted-calorie diet, can lose weight more rapidly than a less-overweight person, because the extra weight increases the calorie burn.
Background
Losing as little as 5 to 10 percent of your excess weight can reduce the risk of major diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and certain cancers. Focusing on making two or three healthy changes at a time, such as adding a walk to your daily routine and choosing foods rich in fiber such as whole grains, fruit, vegetables and beans in favor of processed foods can help get the process started. Anyone who is obese or has any medical conditions should talk to a doctor before beginning an exercise program.
Calorie Burning
A 240-lb. person who walks at a 2 mph pace for an hour burns 273 calories, according to MayoClinic.com. After losing 40 lbs., that person burns 228 calories doing the same amount of walking. A 240-lb. person burns 545 calories in one hour of low-impact aerobics, while a 160-lb. person burns only 365 calories for the same exercise. Although a tall, athletic person may not be obese at 240 lbs., a person with a 30 percent or greater body fat percentage is obese. The higher the body weight, the greater the calorie burn, provided the exercise intensity and duration are the same. Increasing exercise intensity or adding a more vigorous form of exercise as fitness improves helps to reduce or overcome weight-loss plateaus as an obese person loses weight.
Exercise Benefits
American participants, including formerly obese people, lost a minimum of 30 lbs and maintained their weight loss for over a year exercising an average of one hour a day, the National Weight Control registry reports.
Exercising regularly increases the body's calorie-burning efficiency. Strength training, with a doctor's approval, helps to keep the metabolism from slowing down during a reduced-calorie diet. Becoming stronger makes it easier to perform aerobic exercise and to perform common movements that may be a strain for an obese person. Strengthening exercises including weightlifting or using resistance bands.
Pointers
Improving physical fitness at any size provides health benefits. Exercise reduces stress, strengthens muscles and conditions the heart and lungs. Weight-bearing exercise such as walking, dance and gardening help to maintain bone strength. Starting with 5 to 10 minutes of walking twice a day can help make physical activity a habit.
Low-impact exercise such as walking, pool exercises and low-impact aerobics put less stress on an obese person's joints and feet. Jogging causes an impact to the feet equivalent to four times a person's body weight, and exercise on a trampoline reduces that impact by 80 percent, according to the Rice University website.
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