Study finds everyday activity is critical to weight loss

January 27, 2005
Associated Press

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic believe that everyday pacing, fidgeting and restlessness may play a bigger role in whether someone is fat or thin.  According to their small study of self-described couch potatoes, scientists found that the obese people they studied sat for about two-and-a-half hours more per day on average than their lean subjects.  That meant they burned about 350 fewer calories a day.  According to the study, the overweight subjects could lose about 33 pounds a year if they could match the behavior of their lean counterparts.   

Mark Pereira, an obesity researcher at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and his colleague in the epidemiology division, David Jacobs, share their opinions about the study in an Associated Press story published in the Pioneer Press.  Click here to access the article.