I agree with almost everything people are saying...exercise doesn't necessarily make the pounds disappear but it does tone and tighten everything and it gives you a great 'natural high' that used to come from sugar rich treats. I walk 5 out of 7 days, usually 5-8 ks and although i come home all hot and bothered i feel absolutley terrific for having done it.

I only started exercising after reaching my goal weight. I had yo-yoed a few times before and wanted to try something different, so shortly after reaching goal I joined a fitness club. So far (almost 4 months in) it's working out very well for me. I'm actually enjoying the exercise, which continues to surprise me.

I agree with the notion (advanced by some obesity researchers) that the effect of exercise on weight control isn't so much physical as mental: namely, exercise puts and keeps us in a healthy mindset, which leads us to make healthier food choices.

Freelance

For me personally a change of diet starts the process. When things start to slow down, or I'm not losing as much as I want, then I do some light exercise, like walking or an aerobics dvd. I found that when I exercised too much I actually found it harder to lose weight.

I do maybe 30-45 minutes of moderate cardio a day. I don't think I burn much in the way of calories that way, but it keeps me moving; I've noticed, since I've started my diet, that I've started moving around a lot more, and I'm trying to keep that up. I think it helps my energy? I'm not sure. I just don't feel comfortable sitting around all day any more.

Exercise is what got me started on healthy eating in the first place. My life changed when my mother took me to a gym when I was a 200+ pound, size 18 wearing teenager.

When I finished graduate school at around 190ish and wearing a 12/14, I kicked it into gear and began losing weight. I NEVER would have gotten there without being fit and having exercise be such an important part of my life though :)

I need to exercise it has been a huge factor in me losing weight. When I don't exercise my eating goes out the window it keeps me accountable to what I'm putting into my body. The hard hour a day I put into the gym (sometimes 1.5hrs) I really push myself and make myself sweat, really to my limits, that hard work makes me think twice about what I'm eating. Do I want to screw up all that sweat and hard work over a piece of chocolate cake? Not worth it to me. Plus the strength training is changing my body composition and I'm looking leaner and much more toned if I didn't exercise. I guess part of it is vanity, I figured I'm doing this journey I don't want to do it "half-fasted" I want the lean look, I want to look good in a bathing suit (bikini is my ultimate goal) I want to look hot naked, and strength training is the only way I can obtain those goals.

I lost my weight by creating a calorie deficit, and simply put could not have gotten much of a deficit through only cutting calories because if I cut too far would trigger overeating. So I had to exercise, basically 6 hours a week of cardio to get the numbers I wanted. The good news for my long term health is by the time I finally got 100 lbs off I'd now developed an exercise habit that is still with me nearly 2 years later.

Oops it didn't quote Lori Bell as well but yes this is me too - no "gotta go exercise now for an hour" kind of thing but I am very physical, active person, always running dancing with my kids - 1-2 walks per day with the big dog, playing in the backyard etc etc...and as I lost I started to become more physical. This morning I was walking back from preschool where I had just dropped off my son with my daughter in her stroller, and I just started jogging because my body felt like it!! haha - in my "before" life, I can't imagine my body ever actually wanting to jog!

Personally for me too it was important. I lost 70 lbs and averaged 7-8 hours exercise a week between resitance machinery, cardio (Cross trainer) and soccer. Unfortunately I put alot of the weight back on after coming off plan when it finished. Its surprising how instead of thinking you would feel tired and exhausted after exercise, I feel the opposite.

I was always one to de-emphasize the importance of exercise in weight loss. However, the large number of calories I can eat to maintain (2100-2200 per day) must, I believe, be due to the amount of exercise I get (1-2 hours a day + lots of movement for everyday activities). Otherwise, I would not think a woman of my height (5 ft 3) and age (43---pushing 44) would be able to eat as much. Since I sort of figured that out, I've been an advocate of exercise.

Oh, to your other question: I have exercised in some way since I started losing.

it's pretty important to me! it really keeps me feeling good and helps me stay on track. all i do is run for 30-60 minutes about 3-4x a week.

Chiming in with everyone who said the exercise keeps me in the mindset to stay on track.

When I decided to lose weight this time around, I chose Curves as my exercise because I had done it before, and felt it was, quite literally, the least I could do- because of the in and out in 30 minutes thing. I don't have a lot of free time and I felt that would work for me. I kept thinking I needed to do something, then I discovered one less than 1 mile from home, on my way home from work, and thought "this is the big flashing neon sign saying START NOW!" Even then I put it off for weeks.

I started going 3x a week and that was the extent of my exercise. When I saw the results I was getting, AND realized that it kind of kept me accountable, I started going 5x a week, and have added other exercise.

At first exercise was a necessary evil, but now I find myself looking for other things to add. I do a small workout with hand weights daily, have added as many walks as I can, and am about to buy the Walking off the Pounds DVD for daily use. I am amazed what a difference it makes in how I FEEL, let alone how I look. I really think exercise is the primary key to a healthy lifestyle, for the mental aspects alone if that makes sense.

I know that from here on out, exercise will always be a routine part of my life, and I know it will make all the difference in keeping me where I want to be (once I get there.)

Exactly the same for me. If I exercise, I don't overeat. It's the days when I don't exercise that I am at risk. I will start thinking that I screwed up by not exercising, so might as well throw in the towel and eat too much and be a double failure.

I think my diet would fail if I relied on counting calories and didn't exercise. While I would rather sleep in :) I also know that doing the exercise will make me look and feel better.

Wow....it seems as though exercise is the way to go. I haven't got any weights or anything in the house, but maybe i can start with some canned food lifting...start a new trend, hehehehehe.

Yes, you 'can' ;) do that!! that's what I did years ago before I had any free weights.

I started working out along with counting calories with my beginning efforts. Through the years (10) I've gone up and down due to poor or out-of-control eating but the exercise habit has stayed, thank goodness.