Unfortunately, many patients fail to accept the slow rates of weight loss and abandon their efforts before significant weight has been lost. Ongoing compliance to the diet is the key to long-term success. Exercise Exercise will only create a modest increase in energy expenditure and hence a rather slow rate of weight loss. However, in combination with a controlled diet, exercise will promote the loss of fat rather than lean tissue and help to preserve metabolic rate. Any increase in habitual exercise will make an independent contribution to improvements in a patient's health.
Exercise also has important psychological benefits to patients.
For all but the most severely obese patient, walking can usually be encouraged as a safe and effective method of exercise, gradually increasing the duration and speed of walking as fitness improves. For the severely obese increasing amounts of daily activity should be carefully and gradually introduced as weight reduction proceeds, within the individual capability of the patient. However, today, elements of this approach are also used by other health professionals to change long-established eating and exercise habits. The principle of behaviour therapy is that eating and exercise behaviours are learnt and with appropriate treatment can be relearnt in a manner more conducive to weight control. Studies suggest that, although weight loss may not be increased, behavioural interventions may improve subsequent weight maintenance.