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Obesity - Management
What advice should I give about physical activity?

  • Any advice given about exercise activities and duration should consider the person's current physical fitness and ability.
  • If appropriate, encourage the person to:
    • Reduce the amount of time they spend being inactive (e.g. watching television or using a computer).
    • Do at least 30 minutes of at least moderate intensity exercise on 5 days a week or more (this can be in one session, or split into a number of sessions lasting at least 10 minutes).
    • Build up to these recommended levels, encouraging the person to set realistic goals, and to adjust these as their physical fitness improves.
  • Recommended types of physical activity include:
    • Activities that can be incorporated into everyday life, such as brisk walking, gardening, or cycling.
    • Supervised exercise programmes.
    • Other activities (e.g. swimming, aiming to walk a certain number of steps each day, or stair climbing).
Clarification / Additional information
  • A pedometer may be useful for motivation and to help a person monitor their activity levels. If appropriate, adults can gradually work towards a goal of 10,000 steps a day [DH, 2006b].
  • The 'Your Weight, Your Health' booklet available from the Department of Health website www.dh.gov.uk is aimed at people who are ready to address their weight, and discusses incorporating exercise into a healthy life [DH, 2006b].
Basis for recommendation
  • This recommendation is based on guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) on the prevention, identification, assessment, and management of overweight and obesity in adults and children [NICE, 2006b].
    • There is evidence to suggest that physical activity in people with overweight or obesity is effective in terms of weight loss, and that this effectiveness is increased when dietary interventions are combined with physical activity [National Collaborating Centre for Primary Care, 2006].
    • Adults should be encouraged to increase their physical activity even if it does not result in weight loss, because of the other health benefits physical activity can provide (e.g. reduced risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease) [NICE, 2006b].
    • NICE have also produced a public health guidance entitled 'Four commonly used methods to increase physical activity: brief interventions in primary care, exercise referral schemes, pedometers, and community-based exercise programmes for walking and cycling' which can be accessed at www.nice.org.uk [NICE, 2006a].

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