This may belong in the exercise forum, but I specifically wanted the maintainers' spin on it. Exercise in maintenance versus exercise in weight loss. I know and understand the simple answer. For weight loss, the goal is burning more calories with exercise and BMR than what is consumed. For maintenance, the two should be equal. So as a maintainer, if I'm burning how many calories I'm consuming, then it's enough exercise. I get that.

I'm currently considering myself a maintainer since I'm in my maintenance range. I'm happy at the weight I'm at. I'm still trying to create a little bit of a deficit so I can float down to 133 which would give me more breathing room in my range. But generally, I consider the loss phase to be over and the maintenance phase to have begun.

When I was losing, I really forced myself to exercise. 45-60 min cardio 4 days/week, 30 min strength 5 times/week, and that was the bare minimum. However, I hated it. I did the elliptical, jogged on the treadmill, jogged outside, and just couldn't enjoy it. I'm a positive person and go into things with a positive attitude, so I know that if I truly can't do something with a smile on my face, I must really hate it. I really hated cranking out hour after hour of cardio.

Now that I'm maintaining, I've cut back a LOT on exercise. Not necessarily the time spent, but the intensity. This is what I currently do in a week, give or take some:
- 60-90 min walking every single day (recorded with a stopwatch...not a powerwalk, but not a stroll either)
- 30 min strength on the weight machines at the gym 3 times/week
- 30 min swimming 2 times/week
- 15 min jog (1.2mile loop) 2 times/week
- I work at a barn, so I'm doing a lot of hours of walking, cleaning stalls, carrying heavy buckets, etc
- a few extra things, some days I'll jump rope for 10 min in front of the TV or go on a hike with friends or something

So in a way I know the answer to my own question, I must be doing enough because I'm maintaining/losing very slowly. But I guess I just feel kinda lame because I'm not enthusiastic about getting super fit or something. What I'm doing right now, I enjoy. I like walking, I like swimming, and I can deal with a few short jogs. But it just feels kind of inadequate when I see so many people on here who jog for an hour a day or have all these intense work out routines.

Anyways, just wondering.

Here's my opinion. I think you need to do whatever exercise you can do and enjoy. Whatever that means as far as type, duration, intensity, etc. Maybe you'd like a dance class better, or yoga. Maybe training for races would be more up your alley. Whatever it is, enjoy it. If you don't enjoy it you're not going to keep it up long term. The next trick will be determining what that means for your calories. If you work out less then you'll likely need less cals to maintain, and if you work out more then you'll need more cals to maintain. So you'll have to take that into consideration. Do you want to eat more so you are willing to make the effort to exercise, or do you hate exercising that much that you'd rather just eat less. Now, I'm not a maintainer yet, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. For me right now, I know that I could probably lose a little faster if I exercised 2xs a day and ate a little less, but I refuse to do anything that I won't keep up forever. I personally am starting to train for race, I LOVE running so that works for me. I've started stregnth training and I don't like that as much so I only go 2xs a week for 45 mins because I know I would never want to do more than that. Anyway, I'm sure you'll get great advice from the maintainers, but long story short find a maintenance plan that you enjoy!

You have to understand mkendrick. I dont exercise to lose weight. I am at a point where I am reasonably healthy. Bodyfat in the healthy range.

I lose weight so that I may be a better runner. My passion is running.

To that end the exercise I do is way beyond what is "necessary" and will not decrease when I hit maintenance (again). If anything I am hoping by the time school starts in the fall to be able to bump it up to the next level.

You are doing an adequate amount to be healthy. Beyond that is a matter of choice.

I don't know if this will help you, but I can tell you, at some point, for me it stopped being about seeing the number on the scale go down, or finding out I could fit in a smaller size, and it became about me achieving something in the activities that I was engaged in. This is when I started actually thinking I could become some kind of athlete. For weeks now, I've been turning over in my head the words "exercising" and "training" (because of a signature on someone in this forum). I think I've "passed over" from one to the other. My achievement as an athlete may be modest, but it will be a personal best for me.

Anyway, since I started thinking that way, the hard time on a machine doing cardio is a means toward a different end, and makes more sense. I don't feel so much like a hamster on a wheel. (ETA: If you told yourself it would make you a better rider -- I mention this because you say you work in a barn, and most girls I know who do that were working to help themselves ride -- would that help at all?)

Also, I have to tell you I get much relief physically from working out. It really works off tension. (Must not be having enough orgasms. ;-) At the end of a day in the office, with my shoulders hunched up around my ears, it really helps to blast Ke$ha or Lady Gaga or whatever in my earbuds & work up a sweat, until I stop thinking & I am just in the moment, this physical being, breathing & working & heart thumping. I have not been able to achieve this through meditation but I have been able to do it occasionally through cardio.

Does that help you at all? It helps me when I feel like exercising is one more task to complete on an already overly full day. But it feels non-negotiable now. Like I'll even blow off other stuff to do it & get my full time planned in.

And I was once the girl who forged notes from my mom to get out of gym. Ha!

This is what I was trying to say! At first I was running to lose weight, now I do it because I enjoy it and it is such a tension/stress release. If it wasn't for running I'm pretty sure I'd be in a looney bin with the year I've had, but instead, been feeling awesome and continued losing through the stress.

So what do you enjoy doing physically? Just keep trying stuff until it's fun for you.

I can totally understand what you guys are saying about "training" versus being the proverbial hamster on a wheel. And I'm completely envious, I WISH I enjoyed running. I dragged my butt out the door to do it several times a week for six months. I've tried to like it, I listen to music or I plan my running time at the gym when my favorite shows are on so I can watch it on the personal treadmill TV's, I've tried running with friends, tried going early in the morning, afternoon, evening. I've driven to running trails, ran on the treadmill, around my neighborhood. And like I said, I go into most things expecting to like them, and normally I can find some joy in whatever I do. But running, I just DON'T like it. Wish I did, and I tried hard to at least make it so habitual that I could do it just automatically.

I guess in a way I just feel subpar by failing to enjoy running or other intense cardio. I guess I have this idea in my head that fit people run, and it's a cop out to just walk. I could walk all day happily, and I make time to walk lots, but I still feel like a cop out.

I like being toned, I like having energy and knowing I can do things I enjoy (hiking, walking, moving around all day, etc), and I know that exercise is good for my body. It's not that I hate exercise, I'm not wanting to just sit around all day, I just can't get myself to enjoy "fit people" exercise, lol. As long as I'm healthy and maintaining, is it so wrong to NOT have challenging fitness goals?

Don't compare yourself to others and then feel bad about it. There's no point in that.

You don't have to like running or intense exercise. It is not "wrong" not to have big, challenging fitness goals. Think of it as physical activity instead of exercise, and be sure you do it regularly. Walking or hiking is just fine if that's what you like to do. Swimming is great. Just keep moving.

I have no desire or interest to do any half-marathons, triathlons, etc. I don't see the point. Plus it is possible to overdo this stuff--I've been dealing with back pain for months now thanks to overdoing it. I have to be very careful about how much and what kind of exercise I do now.

You're OK. Don't make up reasons to feel less than others.

Jay

Yeah, I do agree with Jay completely. You are what you are. What you have to do is something that isn't unpleasant, that you don't have to force yourself to do, & that you can keep doing for a long time, under different circumstances & maybe weather conditions, long enough to maintain your weight loss, anyway. That's all. Your happiness & quality of life would be compromised by constantly having to do something you disliked a great deal. That isn't sustainable. Not without a little death of your soul, anyway.

I was explaining how my thinking has evolved on this more as a way to help you understand what may be going on with those of us who feel this way. (At least, it's the way I feel about it. I'm sure it varies widely in everyone who visits 3FC.)

What we're talking about here is akin to a passion. No one should ever fake a passion. As I said, that just would make for an unfulfilling life. Like committing to spend a lifetime to someone you weren't passionate about. That would end up being ****, wouldn't it?

Do what you love & enjoy. That's your free time. You'd better spend it on something you like doing, cause life is just too short ...

The best diet is one you can stick to. The best exercise plan is one you can stick to. Seriously, as long as you are doing something you enjoy, that's good enough! It's all about finding out what motivates YOU and what gets YOU moving. Some people like to run, some people like step aerobics, some people like heavy lifting, some like playing dodgeball -- anything goes!

And lest you think that all of us who train for events are super-athletes, let me just say that the only reason I train for races is because if I don't have a goal and a deadline I lack the motivation to work out. If I thought I would actually get my butt out of the house and exercising regularly without an official plan, I would, but sadly, without a plan I will just sit on my butt all day. Also, for the record, the longest workouts I do are an hour and a half, and that's only once a week. Most of my workouts, even when I'm training, are 30-45 minutes.

If it's not your thing, it's not your thing.

We're not all running like crazy out there. I like running, and I run faster at times to improve, but I like the slower runs best. I wouldn't like it nearly as much if I didn't have those. I spent a long time beating myself up because I''m not fast. But I'm out there doing stuff. I am improving. I have goals. I'm (mostly) happy. Find something that makes you happy.

And you never know. You are young and you may have a different passion now than you will have later.

I probably would never have embraced running as much more than exercise if I hadn't had kids. My passion used to be theater. Probably 20-30 hours a week. Once I had kids, theater wasnt really an option. Running, even as much as I do, is much more flexible. I can fit it around the rest of my schedule as I have to accomodate no one else. It isnt fixed time commitment.

Heh...and once you have kids that alone time becomes so precious that if you have to run screaming for 20 miles to get it, you just may decide it is worth it

QFT, baby!

I'd say follow your passion. Do whatever activity you like. It sounds like you are active with your job and all the other exercise you do.

I don't have an intense workout routine, but in the past, I used to run competitively. But now I like integrating exercise into my daily life. Today, I consider myself a "lifestyle" exerciser through:

Walking the city (I have no car, so I walk a lot every day)
Carrying groceries home.
Taking stairs at work (6 flights down; elevator up though)
Biking 3-5 miles at a pop to visit friends or go to work.
Dancing 2 or 3 times a week.

What I do doesn't feel like exercise. I enjoy moving & get bored when I sit around too much.

But I will say that I have running in my blood. It's impossible for me not to run. I run maybe 10 - 12 miles a week, not so much for weight loss, but because my legs and head need a good run. And running is the only exercise that really gets my heart rate up for a sustained period of time.

I do want to add strength training to my routine. At the moment, I hate it and find it boring, but I will try it. Sooner or later.

I enjoy running now but the reason I started was I needed to up my mileage and I was running out of time to walk.

And like paperclippy, signing up for races is what keeps me constant. Need those goals and deadlines, baby.

But I can burn as many calories in an hour of Zumba and if that were something I could get to more often I would do that more. Boot camp is intense and I don't have to think (just "follow orders").

Try new things if you don't like to run. (BTW you sound like you are doing quite a bit)