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recommended amounts of exercise vary from group to group, so
figuring out how much you need can be tricky. The 2008 US
federal recommendation is at least 150 minutes of moderate-
intensity physical activity per week in order to obtain
“substantial health benefits.” The Institute of Medicine
recommends almost three times this amount—420 minutes per week,
or 60 minutes per day. The new study asked a different question:
How much exercise prevents weight gain? Using information drawn
from more than 34,000 women who took part in the Women’s Health
Study over a 15-year period, researchers measured the amount of
exercise that the women were doing and how much weight they
gained over the years. The women were grouped into three
exercising categories: Those in the groups who exercised less
than 420 minutes per week gained similar amounts of weight, and
higher levels of physical activity only seeme