Hello!

I have a small query..

I'm really not used to exercise :P I have a trampoline in my back garden and I do 15 minutes a day, but I find it easier to eat less than to exercise.

I have just re-joined weight watchers, and its only my first week, so I havent even weighed in twice yet :P

Today my nan asked if i'd like to go on a 'little walk'. We walked about 3 miles ... about 60 minutes, and near the end I was nearly collapsing with exhaustion!

I'm worried that my body will expect me to do this every week to lose weight, and if I dont do this every week, I wont lose weight.

It'll be hard to tell how the exercise has affected my weight loss because this is my first week, and I wont weigh in to see any difference from my start weight until Tuesday.

Does anybody know the facts on this, and whether or not your body can become dependant on exercise for losing weight? Will I still lose weight if I dont do tht much exercise again?

Or will this extra exercise just help me to lose more weight than I expect this week, and be back to wht is expected of just limited calories the next week I weigh in?

Thank you, I hope i've explained myself ok!

Lilly xx

losing weight all comes down to a calorie defecit: calories in vs. calories out. You can have just as many calories "out" by dieting- you just have to diet more. However, exercise is good for your body, even if in small steps. Cardio is great for heart health. Weights/resistence training is great for building muscle. Muscle mass per pound burns considerably more calories than a pound of body fat does- meaning the more muscle you build, the more calories you burn. However- to answer your question, you don't NEED exercise to lose weight- but adding exercise is much more efficient, and better for your overall health. If you don't tone and you lose a bunch of weight- you'll end up just being thin and flabby, and I am not sure that is the look to shoot for.

Without exercise your weight loss will likely stall at some point. When you lose weight, you lose some lean body mass while losing fat. Less lean body mass means slower metabolism. So one benefit of exercise is keeping up if not increasing the lean body mass.

You have to get out of your head that you hate exercise. You may never love it but you can learn to like and appreciate it. When I was a kid, for whatever stupid reason I hated to brush my teeth. Thank goodness I got over that and you need to get over this one.

Lori