{"id":511287,"date":"2026-05-31T05:40:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T05:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/511287\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T05:40:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T05:40:14","slug":"exercise-less-burn-more-fat-scientists-unveil-a-simple-method-for-weekly-weight-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/511287\/","title":{"rendered":"Exercise less, burn more fat: Scientists unveil a simple method for weekly weight loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to a new study, doing interval training just once a week can be as effective as exercising three times a week for losing weight and improving cardiovascular health.<\/p>\n

This finding, published in the journal Nature Communications, offers a structured and time-efficient approach for people who, because of work or family commitments, do not have enough time to go to the gym on a regular basis.<\/p>\n

A breakthrough in managing abdominal obesity<\/p>\n

Abdominal obesity is one of the most dangerous forms of fat accumulation in the body and is directly linked to cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders and an increased risk of death.<\/p>\n

Although exercise plays a key role in treating this condition, maintaining regular physical activity is a major challenge for many people, especially those who are overweight.<\/p>\n

The research team at the School of Public Health at the University of Hong Kong found that \u201cintermittent brisk walking\u201d, even if done only once a week, can reduce body fat mass and significantly improve cardiorespiratory fitness.<\/p>\n

\"Scientists<\/p>\n

Scientists say that to reduce fat accumulated around the abdomen, there is not necessarily a need for daily or very frequent workouts – \u0639\u06a9\u0633: \u06a9\u0627\u0646\u0648\u0627 <\/p>\n

Why is interval training more effective?<\/p>\n

Interval training consists of short bouts of high-intensity physical activity (such as very brisk walking) alternated with periods of rest or light activity (slow walking).<\/p>\n

Compared with steady, continuous walking, this method is considered a much faster way to burn visceral fat (fat around the internal organs).<\/p>\n

Professor Parco Siu Ming-Fai, head of the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Hong Kong and lead author of the study, says: \u201cCurrent guidelines usually recommend exercising three times a week, but our study shows that if the total weekly exercise time stays the same, splitting it into fewer, higher-quality sessions produces similar results.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related<\/b><\/p>\n

Clinical trial details: 75 minutes a week is enough<\/p>\n

The study was conducted between September 2021 and September 2024 on 315 adults in Hong Kong with abdominal obesity.<\/p>\n

Participants were divided into three groups: one group did 75 minutes of interval training in a single weekly session; the second group did the same 75 minutes split into three 25-minute sessions a week; and a third control group received only health education.<\/p>\n

\"Researchers<\/p>\n

Researchers found that intermittent brisk walking, even if done only once a week, can reduce body fat mass – \u0639\u06a9\u0633: \u06a9\u0627\u0646\u0648\u0627 <\/p>\n

After 16 weeks, the results were striking: both exercise groups, regardless of whether they had trained once or three times a week, experienced similar reductions in total body fat mass, body fat percentage and waist circumference. Their heart and lung fitness had also improved to the same extent.<\/p>\n

An ideal option for ‘weekend warriors’<\/p>\n

The findings support the exercise pattern known as \u201cweekend warriors\u201d: people who concentrate all their weekly physical activity into one or two days off.<\/p>\n

Professor Siu says: \u201cFor many adults juggling work, study and family, lack of time is the biggest barrier to exercising. Our findings suggest that working out once a week is a practical and effective alternative for people who cannot free up several days a week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Experts emphasise that the key to success with this method is maintaining the intensity of the workout in that single weekly session.<\/p>\n

In fact, this research opens up a new way of managing obesity in today\u2019s busy societies and shows that the quality and total duration of physical activity matter more than doing it every day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"According to a new study, doing interval training just once a week can be as effective as exercising…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[278],"tags":[196123,221689,40112,16183,98019,18,110307,525,135,19,138639,17,44179,8296,79183],"class_list":["post-511287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-abdominal-obesity","tag-body-fat-mass","tag-body-fat-percentage","tag-brisk-walking","tag-cardiorespiratory-fitness","tag-eire","tag-exercising","tag-fitness","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-interval-training","tag-ireland","tag-nature-communications","tag-physical-activity","tag-visceral-fat"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}