Table 1.

Evidence-Based Physical Activity Guidelines for Healthy and Overweight/Obese Adults

Agency	Target Population	Benefit	Recommendation
United States Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS)(37)	Healthy adults	General health benefits*	≥150 minutes (min) of aerobic moderate-intensity physical activity (PA) or 75 min of aerobic vigorous-intensity PA per week in episodes of ≥10 min, plus muscle-strengthening activities for major muscle groups ≥2 days per week
Institute of Medicine (IOM) (16)	Adults	Prevention of weight gain Weight-independent health benefits	60 min of moderate-intensity PA per day
American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) (12)	Overweight and obese adults	Weight loss Prevention of weight regain	≥250 min of moderate-intensity PA per week
International Association for the Study of Obesity (IASO) (32)	Formerly obese adults	Prevention of weight regain	60- to 90-min of moderate-intensity PA per day (or lesser amounts of vigorous-intensity PA) on most days of the week

^*Improved cardiorespiratory fitness and muscular fitness, prevention of falls, increased bone density, reduced depression, improved sleep quality, better cognitive function, and lower risk of early death, coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension, adverse lipid profile, type 2 diabetes, and colon, breast, endometrial and lung cancer.

Abbreviations: PA, physical activity, Min, minutes