Does Physical Fitness Help You Lose Weight

Medically reviewed by Daniel Bubnis, M.S., NASM-CPT, NASE Level II-CSS, Fitness — By Helen West, RD — Updated on April 19, 2023

Exercising has many benefits. Resistance training can help with weight loss by maintaining muscle mass and boosting metabolism. Cardio can also help but may make you hungrier, so try to eat mindfully.

If you’re trying to lose weight, you may be wondering how much you should be exercising and what types of exercise you should be doing.

Physical Activity For A Healthy Weight

At its simplest, losing weight means burning more calories than you consume. So, it makes sense to include exercise in your routine, since it helps you burn more calories.

However, vigorous exercise can also help you work up an appetite. This may cause confusion about the role of exercise in weight loss and whether it can help.

So, what exactly is the purpose of exercise if you’re trying to lose weight? This article takes a look at the evidence to help you find the answer and figure out what’s best for you.

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Aerobic exercise doesn’t have a major effect on your muscle mass, at least not compared to lifting weights. However, it is very effective at burning calories.

A 10-month study examined how cardio without dieting affected 141 people with obesity or overweight. Participants were split into three groups and not told to reduce calorie intake (

Those who burned 400 calories per cardio session (5 times per week) lost 4.3% of their body weight, while those who burned 600 calories per session (also 5 times per week) lost a little more, at 5.7%. The control group, which didn’t exercise, actually gained 0.5% of their body weight.

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Other studies also show that cardio can help you burn fat, especially the dangerous belly fat that increases your risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease (

That means adding cardio to your lifestyle is likely to help you manage your weight and improve your metabolic health, if you keep your caloric intake the same.

However, resistance training — such as weight lifting — has benefits that go beyond that. Resistance training helps increase the strength, tone, and amount of muscle you have.

Reasons Why Exercise Is Important

One study of 141 older adults with obesity examined the effects of cardio, resistance training, or both on body composition during a period of intentional weight loss. This study found that those who did no exercise or cardio alone lost fat but also lost more muscle and bone mass than the groups that did resistance training (

Higher amounts of muscle also increase your metabolism, helping you burn more calories around the clock — even at rest. This is because muscle is more metabolically active than fat, meaning it requires more energy (

Because of this, doing some form of resistance training is a crucial addition to an effective long-term weight loss plan. It makes it easier to keep the weight off, which is actually much harder than losing it in the first place.

The Mental And Emotional Benefits Of Exercise

High intensity interval training (HIIT) is a type of exercise characterized by short bursts of intense exercise followed by a brief rest before repeating this cycle. HIIT can be done with cardio or resistance training exercises and provides the benefits of both (

One 2017 review of 13 high quality studies found that HIIT and cardio exercise provided similar benefits — namely, reduced body fat and waist circumference — for people with overweight and obesity.

Because of the intensity of HIIT, you should consult a healthcare professional before starting a new HIIT routine, especially if you have known heart concerns.

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You’ve probably heard that physical exertion is a good way to work up an appetite, or maybe you even found yourself eating more than usual after a vigorous workout.

One study in 20 active, healthy adults noted that they ate more food in the meal prior to a workout than after — and actually found that, overall, participants ate less food on the days they exercised than the days they didn’t (

In another study in 26 women with obesity on low calorie diets, researchers found that short HIIT sessions had a strong appetite suppressing effect (

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Researchers have also noted that morning exercise appears to be more beneficial for energy balance and calorie intake than evening exercise — further supporting the theory that exercise can reduce appetite (

Regardless, more research is needed, and hunger responses to exercise are likely highly individual. If you’re trying to lose weight but tend to eat more than usual after vigorous or long exercise sessions, consider shorter durations (like HIIT) or less intense exercise.

Regular exercise can improve your blood sugar control and may help reduce your risk of chronic diseases like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers (

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Exercise also helps you to maintain and grow your muscle mass, keep your bones strong and dense, and prevent the onset of conditions like osteoporosis — which is characterized by bone brittleness (

Additionally, exercise offers some mental benefits. It can help you reduce your stress levels and manage stress more effectively, and it appears to offer some protection against neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s disease (

Keep these benefits in mind when you consider the effects of exercise. Even if it doesn’t make a huge difference for weight loss, it still has other benefits that are just as (if not more) important.

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Because of its numerous health benefits, exercise should absolutely be a part of your routine — regardless of your weight goals. In fact, most successful weight loss maintainers listed in the National Weight Control Registry, who have lost at least 30 pounds (14 kg) and kept it off for at least 1 year, report exercising for at least 1 hour per day (

The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans outline ideal exercise amounts for all ages to help optimize health. For adults, they are (

However, if your goal is weight loss, you should prioritize diet over exercise because it will have a much larger impact. If your time is limited, consider resistance training (rather than cardio) to help maintain your muscle mass and metabolic rate or HIIT to help you achieve a similar calorie burn as cardio in less time (

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Additionally, don’t depend just on the scale to track your progress. If you are gaining muscle while losing fat, your weight may not change as quickly as you’d like it to — however, you’ll be healthier for it. Consider taking your measurements as well, and keep track of how your clothes fit. These are much better indicators of fat loss than weight alone.

Summary Whether you’re trying to lose weight or not, aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise and 2 resistance training sessions per week for optimal health.

If you’re trying to lose weight, you may particularly interested in resistance training, which can preserve your fat-free mass and increase your calories burned at rest, and HIIT, which provides the same benefits as cardio, but for less time.

I'm A Scientist

But remember, with a goal of sustainable weight loss, it’s also really important to follow a modestly calorie restricted diet comprised mostly of whole foods.

Exercise can play a role in weight loss, but diet is definitely the most important aspect. If you’re stumped about where to begin with diet changes to promote weight loss, read our guide on how to lose weight fast.We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use, which became effective December 20, 2019.

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How A Treadmill Can Help You Lose Weight

Welcome to Show Me the Evidence, where we go beyond the frenzy of daily headlines to take a deeper look at the state of science around the most pressing health questions of the day.

I'm going to make you work hard, a blonde and perfectly muscled fitness instructor screamed at me in a recent spinning class, so you can have that second drink at happy hour!

At the end of the 45-minute workout, my body was dripping with sweat. I felt like I'd worked really, really hard. And according to my bike, I had burned more than 700 calories. Surely I had earned an extra margarita.

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The spinning instructor was echoing a message we've been getting for years: As long as you get on that bike or treadmill, you can keep indulging — and still lose weight. It's been reinforced by fitness gurus, celebrities, food and beverage companies like PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, and even public health officials, doctors, and the first lady of the United States. Countless gym memberships, fitness tracking devices, sports drinks, and workout videos have been sold on this promise.

To find out why, I read through more than 60 studies on exercise and weight loss. I also spoke to nine leading exercise, nutrition, and obesity researchers. Here's what I learned.

When anthropologist

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