I've really been exercising a good bit lately, with 20 minutes on the treadmill 5 days a week, and an hour to an hour 1/2 of semi speedy Dance Dance Revolution almost every day (unless I'm just too busy or tired for whatever reason, which rarely happens to the point of me skipping my DDR exercise.

Then there's the occasional workouts (2 or 3 days out of a week) which usually for me consists of ab exercises and some arm exercises, as well as some lunges to work on that butt of mine, haha.

But is that enough exercise? What do you think? I'm also currently keeping my calories at about 1,800 per day, or trying to. Please let me know! Thanks!

I found Exercise: How much is enough? article... I like the way they explain it...



I aim for an hour to 2 per day...

To answer your question is it enough for YOU? If you are not tired, getting injuries and are losing weight, well, yes, it is enough for you at the moment... But that may change in time... You may have to intensify your workouts and lower your calorie intake when you reach a plateau...

Ah, I see. Thanks a bunch for letting me know!!! Ugh, anymore exercise to my schedule and I'll be good for nothing but exercising and then falling asleep. My oh my, the things we do for health.

LIPODISSOLVE ANYONE!? hehe.

Well I just got done running one hour at 4 mph on the treadmill so I'm beat. Have a good night and happy Easter!!

I'll second what Ilene said. When I started (or re-started, this year), I just started with trying to get the most out of the skating I was already doing 3 days a week. Later, I added in jogging/walking, working my way up to jogging 30+ minutes. For a while, that was a good workout for me, but then it seemed to get too easy and my weight loss seemed to be stalling out. I started spicing up my jogging workout by doing some stairstepping, pushups, crunches, and the like, while jogging in between. I didn't lower my calories, though, and they're about the same as yours or a little higher. Not sure if it made the difference, but I started losing again that week. Recently, I switched to weight lifting, followed by jogging, those 3 days a week, still with the skating the other 3 days (which for some reason, always kicks my butt and never gets "easy"). I figure, all I can do is eat well, eat enough, drink my water, and make every workout count. So far, that strategy is still working.
Best of luck to you! Sounds like you're doing well so far!

I started out with an unambitous program, since I was REALLY out of shape - I walked every day for 1 1/2 miles (slowly around my neighborhood) and then braved a water aerobics class 1x a week (I had to take a nap afterwards at first, I was so tired). I kept trying, though, and reminded myself that I had been a competitive swimmer way many years ago and therefore surely could still get into shape. Long story short, I kept adding activities as I was able (surprise surprise, the more I did something, the better I got at it and stronger, etc.!) I went as my body could handle it and I tried lots of activities as I found that I was more enthusiastic about things I liked to do (another big discovery!)

For me I really accelerated my improvement when I joined a fitness center about 1 1/2 years ago, (having vowed in the past never to do that, too difficult and could I keep up?) ) and saying at the time, "All I'm going to do is swim." I gradually inched my way into trying just about everything they offer and now have gotten a regular routine of about 1 1/2 or 2 hours of exercise 5 x a week and 1 on the other 2. I vary my activities between cardio and weights and also make sure that some days are lighter than others (kickboxing vs salsa dance aerobics vs swimming vs yoga, all for 1 hour but very different in how they affect my body, for instance).

I also really like doing classes. I work harder with the group atmosphere and we encourage each other. Kept my interest and that kept me going to the gym.

So my answer to how much is enough would have been different whenever you asked me over the last 2 1/2 years (the amount of time I've been losing weight and maintaining). It's related to my fitness, time, and inclination, and I also pay close attention to the type of activity and how it relates to the other things I'm doing. Also, if something hurts, I take that into account, so that it doesn't grow into a bigger problem.

Seems to me that if you take it as it comes, and up the intensity or difficulty as you get stronger, exercise will define itself for you. And that may change as you go along, so re-evaluation of your routine every so often is helpful, I think.

About having enough time for exercise. I seem to 'make time' when I exercise. What I mean is if I do an 30 minutes or even better an hour of moderate or intense exercise a day I am much more productive and full of energy that day. Now you obviously have to set aside time to exercise (I exercise and watch DVRed tv at the same time to 'kill two birds'), but also please think about how much more you get out of your day when you exercise.

I know this is hard to quantify, but my guess is that most people with a higher energy, better mental framework, better sleep from exercise, can easily 'make up' that hour and then some. I hope people reading this thread keep that in mind. I think exercising for an hour actually GAINS you time for the rest of things in your life, odd as that may sound at first.