I know this is a basic question, but I'm curious.
If you're overweight, and can't see your muscles what's the point?

Exercise burns extra calories, so it will speed your weight loss up a little bit. It also strengthens your muscles which can prevent injury in the long run as long as you are exercising correctly. It strengthens your heart and lungs. It can help keep depression away. Some crazy people find that they actually enjoy excersize;-)

I think that exercising just to lose weight is silly. Exercising to boost fitness and get some endorphins and strengthen your body- now that's worthwhile.

What danzingurl said! Also, when you're restricting calories you're bound to lose a little muscle mass throughout your weight loss. Exercise helps maintain your muscle mass. More muscle mass = higher BMR and more calories burned.

Also, you will look better after you lose the weight. AND certain types of workouts burn calories for the rest of the day...again, elevating your BMR.

Exercise can help reshape your body... Toning and firming your body.

But weight loss is mostly about diet.
I had to focus primarily on my diet for months before I could wrap my head around the concept of exercising.

Everyone pretty much nailed it on the head with above posts.

I prefer strength/weight training because it will help your body look better due to more muscle mass even at a higher weight as opposed to just losing weight through diet alone. It also makes you more stronger. I like the 30 Day Shred, pretty much 20 minutes of **** but well worth it. You may not lose many pounds at the end of 30 days but you sure will lose inches.

ditto to the other responses. And even if you cannot see the muscles, they are helping you burn calories. And once you lose the weight, I am guessing you would want some muscle rather than lots of loose skin and lots of lost muscle mass. Also, exercise is not just to have muscles. It helps with your heart health, blood pressure, and other medical problems - since i have started exercising regularly, my migraines are gone




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For me, at my age and body, I lose very little by calorie restricting alone and that is for two reasons. One, I find it hard to eat under 1400 calories a day, so I usually don't. When I don't exercise and I eat 1400 a day, I lose, but I lose VERY SLOWLY.

BUT, if I exercise, I don't eat back those calories lost, so I actually lose weight faster. A good workout 6 days a week can mean I lose a pound JUST from adding the exercise - easily a pound.

But also, exercise does two things for me that make it easier to stick to a 1400 healthy diet. First, exercise is an appetite suppressant for me. Yes, if I exercise, I'm actually LESS hungry for the day than if I didn't exercise.

Two, it is a mood lifter. If I exercise I'm in a better mood and me being in a better mood means I make better food decisions which also makes it easier to stick to the prescribed lower carb (under 100 net grams) a day and around 1400 calories. This is especially true in the winter months when I can get terribly affected by Seasonal affect disorder - that is much more in check if I get regular exercise to boost my mood.

Wish people would stop saying that building muscles helps with preventing loose skin. It simply does not. Actually a lean arm - with more muscle is actually a smaller arm because is MORE compact. So, actually there is more loose skin.

Loose skin is mostly because of genetics, then how much weight you have lost and then age and then diet.

I have been exercising faithfully for this entire 2 years - cardio and strength and I have tons of loose skin. No strength training has shrunk that loose skin.

HOWEVER, I look better overall even with the loose skin because a toned body looks much healthier and appealing than a non-toned body. So perhaps it's perception that loose skin is less of a problem on toned bodies only.

Also, what a trainer friend told me that has stuck with me is this:
Exercise does NOT play a huge role in weight loss you can lose weight without exercise, however then you are just getting a smaller version of your "fat" self you will still have the same basic shape. It is exercise that allows you to reshape yourself. And I agree with what has already been said (I do NOT love to exercise ) but it truly is an instant mood lifter for me, especially if I pair to really great loud pumping music. It kind of takes me back to the days of getting ready to go out on a Friday night, having no cares, just cruising around...which as a 40 year old, wife, and mom to 4, mortgage carrying and bill paying you kind of lose that youthful vibrance. Working out lets me feel that again! Which I know is kind of silly but it works for me.

My doctor said this:

"You exercise for fitness. You eat a proper diet for weight loss."

Exercise can help with weight loss in some people because it can rev the metabolism. I love resistance training, personally, because it revs my metabolism for the longest time after a hard workout. However some people find that they end up being hungrier and overeating after exercise, and so it nullifies any caloric deficit the exercise caused. So you need to be conscientious that you are not outeating your exercise, if you're using it to assist your weight loss.

But in answer to the original question- despite my muscles being covered up by fat, I'm glad they are there. It means I can carry my own groceries, help move furniture, push my neighbor's car when they get stuck on a snow berm, etc. Having functional fitness is important to me, even if I don't have the glamour muscles to show off for it.

"Having functional fitness is important to me, even if I don't have the glamour muscles to show off for it."

Yep, for me too!! I feel so much stronger physically and emotionally when I am fit. I love being able to run for a bus or for a ball. I like not being out of breath or at least recovering faster when I am.

But for me exercise keeps my metabolism ticking over. I always start exercising before I start worrying about food. I believe it helps me to lose faster and I KNOW it's essential to helping me maintain.

And even though I may not have 'glamor' muscles, it sure is improving my shape faster than the scale would predict - not that the scale is moving slow right now.

Oh gosh I wish they would stop too. As a lot of people know I lift very heavy and I STILL have loose skin!!

Also I wish they would stop telling 20 somethings they won't end up with loose skin because of their age. When I finished losing weight at 23, I had loose skin! Age doesn't always help!

Maybe "they" do that because they have not been exposed to the same information and experiences as you. It is helpful to hear the info...less helpful to be practically scolded for an honest misconception.

Anyway, I am scared now! The first time I lost 60 pounds, I did not have loose skin and attributed that partially to exercise.

Well there's a difference between telling someone that lifting weights and age will minimize loose skin and telling them that they won't have any entirely.

I know I could have had much more loose skin had I not been young and lifting weights, but it infuriates me to see people tell others that they won't end up with loose skin at all. If that's the case, why do I have loose skin?

If people aren't sure they shouldn't say anything at all. If I don't know the answer to something, I simply don't post.

Also, don't worry about the loose skin. It's annoying, but I'm sure just about any other maintainer will agree with me that it's better to have the loose skin than to be where we started.

I agree. I'm not at goal yet but I do have a little bit now and I know it will not entirely go away for sure once I reach goal. I will take it over being 230-240 again! Although I have to admit, when I first started out, I was reallyreallyreally worried about loose skin but after losing nearly 50lbs, psshhh! Those worries went out of the window once I noticed how better I felt and looked even with the loose skin.