For anyone wanting to lose weight, you may need to exercise less than you thought.
A new study has found that people who exercised for just half an hour a day lost a third more weight than those who did an hour long work out.
The scientists behind the study found that the shorter exercise sessions left the participants with more energy and motivation to live healthier lifestyles.
A full hour of hard fitness training was more likely to leave those taking part feeling burned out.
Dr Astrid Jespersen, one of the authors of the study, said the findings could help encourage people who normally struggle to do exercise.
She said: “The subjects in the test group that exercised the least talk about increased energy levels and a higher motivation for exercising and pursuing a healthy everyday life.
“They take the stairs, take the dog for an extra walk or cycle to work.
“In contrast, the men who exercised for one hour a day, after training, felt exhausted, demotivated and less open to making a healthy change.
“We are thus seeing that a moderate amount of exercise will significantly impact the subjects' daily practices.”
The study, which is published in the journal Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, monitored 60 moderately overweight but healthy Danish men for 13 weeks.
Half of the men were asked to exercise vigorously for 30 minutes a day by jogging, cycling or cross training while the other half exercised for a full hour daily.
On average, those that exercised for half an hour lost 7.9lbs over the three month period while those exercising for longer lost just 6lbs.
Interviews with the participants also revealed how they felt during the study period.
The findings build on work that has suggested even shorter periods of exercise can be beneficial.
Recent research from Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim found that just 12 minutes of intense exercise a week – in four minute bursts – could increase the body’s ability to take up oxygen and reduce blood pressure.
Health guidelines generally state that adults should perform 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise to stay healthy.
Another recent study found that each additional minute of intense exercise can result in a small reduction in weight. Women experienced a reduction of 0.7 in their BMI per minute each day.
However, with busy office jobs, where workers spend much of their time seated, many people find they struggle to exercise enough.
One in four adults in England are now considered to be obese, with the situation predicted to get worse over the coming decades.
The latest findings suggest that just short periods of exercise each day can help people trying to lose weight.
Professor Bente Stallknecht, who led the research at the faculty of health and medical sciences at University of Copenhagen, said it was surprising that shorter bouts of exercise were more beneficial than longer sessions.
He said: "Our motivation basically stems from the interest to examine if the calories combusted during an exercise intervention are compensated by the body - for example through an increase in food intake and/or a decrease in physical activity level during the rest of the day.
"Surprisingly, we found indications of a reverse compensation in the moderate dose exercise group indicating that they became more physically active also outside the exercise program."