To keep the weight off, Biggest Loser contestants must exercise like crazy

Enlarge / THE BIGGEST LOSER -- Season 13 Live Finale. (credit: Getty | NBC)

Switching up your diet can help you shed pounds. But to keep that lost bulge at bay, ambitious dieters may have to turn to exercise-a lot of exercise-according to a study on 14 former contestants of The Biggest Loser.

On average, the contestants who kept their weight down six years after the television contest did so by taking on more than triple the amount of physical activity recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That is, they burned around 12 kilocalories per kilogram of their weight per day. That works out to a daily total of more than 80 minutes of moderate exercise, such as brisk walking, or 35 minutes of vigorous exercise, such as jogging-and weekly totals of 560 minutes of moderate exercise or 245 minutes of vigorous exercise.

Currently, the CDC recommends that adults get 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week.

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