I have written about reasons to exercise for both adults and kids frequently on this blog. I even discussed it on The Dr. David Geier Show. Well, for those of you trying to burn fat and lose weight, here is another reason to exercise. It burns calories even after you finish.

In a study published recently in Medicine & Science In Sports & Exercise, the official journal of The American College of Sports Medicine, Amy M. Knab et al. presented the results of a study they performed looking at energy expenditure after 45 minutes of exercise. They studied 10 active males and tightly controlled their diets and baseline activities to match days of rest and days of exercise. On the exercise days, the ten males performed 45 minutes of vigorous cycling. The researchers then analyzed the amount of energy burned by the subjects before exercise, during exercise, just after the exercise session, at rest after exercise, and sleeping. Can exercise burn calories at rest?

The ten male subjects burned 519 kcal during the exercise session, on average. An hour-by-hour analysis of the energy expenditure of these males after the exercises showed that the 45 minutes of cycling helped the subjects to burn another 190 kcal in the 14.2 hours after exercise that was not burned on the rest days. Tweet this statistic. This extra 190 kcal included 32 kcal during 3.5 hours sleeping. The extra 190 kcal burned in the 14 hours after exercise represented an additional 37% energy expenditure from those 45 minutes of exercise. In a 24-hour period, the males burned 750 kcal more on the exercise days than on the rest days.

I think that this study helps demonstrate what many have believed. Exercise helps to increase metabolic rate and burn calories. The 519 kcal of energy burned with 45 minutes of cycling is not particularly surprising. But the subjects burned another 190 calories in the next 14 hours while at rest. So I would argue that if you can make your self do some activity to increase heart rate and burn calories at rest, whether it be jogging, cycling, swimming, sports, or any vigorous-intensity sport or exercise, you will benefit throughout the day. And if you can control your diet and not add caloric intake, the 750 kcal you burn each day you exercise will quickly translate to pounds lost.