I've known a lot of people who gain weight while training for a marathon. It's pretty common, actually. The amount of activity needed to make up for your increased appetite is pretty high. Diet is much more important than cardio for weight loss.

With that said, losing weight doesn't always translate to a higher quality of life. I'd much rather lose a bit less weight and be fit than be at goal and unfit.

Or, like others have mentioned, you can add in weight training and get the best of both worlds ;)

Originally Posted by :
The most important factor, to me, is that if you only cut down on calories your metabolism will just drop and compansate,

Hasn't this been disproven?

I find that moderate exercise (I run 15-20 miles a week and do not regularly lift weights) keeps my eating honest.

As for weights being a stand-alone cure-all for fat, look at NFL D tackles and Olympic heavyweight lifters. Strong, superstrong. Lots of weight work there. And often also fat. Google Cheryl Haworth or Albert Haynesworth.

If you're worried that you'll eat more after exercising, just time it with a normal meal time. Try to include a lot of protein in that meal to help build muscle and replenish some of the carbs (with good carbs). Eating that way after exercise is not a bad thing!

As for the rest, sure we all plop on the couch for a little while, but for me, when I have exercised that day I feel amazing and want to do everything.

Also, I have found that the type of exercise that you do dictates how you feel about it. I truly believe in finding something you like. For me, it's weight training. Not just the little circuit but actually pushing myself to my limits with free weights. I feel so strong and powerful. I get the endorphin rush from heavy exertion. I hate cardio on the gym equipment and so I don't do much of it. I do enough to warm up or I get some when I do a leg superset or something like that. My heart rate is up when I am lifting. Exercise is a huge mood booster for me - and that keeps me making good food choices.

I think a lot of people force themselves to do exercise they hate. Find something you like. And just do it. Maybe it's the Dance Revolution on the wii or taking a long walk at the end of the day to relax (my favorite cardio) or maybe it's taking a dance class or rekindling your relationship with your bicycle. It doesn't have to be punishment or go on for hours. It can be 30 minutes of fun.

Like kaplods said, exercise is about health. Yeah, we are all here because we want to be thinner but it's not the whole story. Maybe doing that physical activity won't give you all of what you are looking for, but even if you do it and eat back the calories, you've still done something positive for yourself.

Originally Posted by MariaMaria:
As for weights being a stand-alone cure-all for fat, look at NFL D tackles and Olympic heavyweight lifters. Strong, superstrong. Lots of weight work there. And often also fat. Google Cheryl Haworth or Albert Haynesworth.

You are comparing apples with oranges. Your average person eats and exercises on a completely different level than a athlete or Olympian.

I have known many people who have gone to the gym and worked out to death only to gain more weight. And folks, it wasn't muscle weight.. We are talking about going up in sizes, gaining fat. The reason is because they used it as a license to eat more. The assumed that they were "burning it off" at the gym and overestimated how much. So, as many have stated, the bottom line is to watch consumption and portion control. I see exercise as a boost to my weight loss and a lift in my mood. It's not the main entree, so to speak, but more like a side dish to the weight loss :)

Originally Posted by christine123:
I have known many people who have gone to the gym and worked out to death only to gain more weight. And folks, it wasn't muscle weight

I have, too. Appropos to your comment, though, another interesting aspect of the article was how overblown the idea of "muscle burns more calories than fat" is. According to the article, the amount is neglible (I think the example he gave was if you gain ten pounds of muscle, that only translates to about 40 calories more per day that your metabolism burns off). So many times, I see people advising others to up their calories because they've put on "muscle" (this is usually in response to a post by someone who starting walking two weeks ago).

I couldn't agree more with all the posts about the health benefits of exercise. As I mentioned in my original post, I'm making a concerted effort to get in some activity every day (I'm shooting for at least an hour of informal exercise). Health aside, I also agree that strength training is the miracle exercise [IMHO] for making the most difference in one's appearance, and the benefits to bone health are also important. But I do think that the dieting and exercise industry has and continues to oversell the idea that exercise plays a MAJOR part in WEIGHT LOSS (not just health, but WEIGHT LOSS). I'm glad to see that debunked lately in articles like the one in Time.

Originally Posted by Esofia:
Kaplods, what sort of exercise did you do when you were at the bedridden stage? I'm curious because of the usual controversy with exercise for ME/CFIDS. As far as I can tell, one of the crucial things is going at your own pace, instead of letting someone else dictate it (e.g. graded exercise programmes, renowned for making people worse), and when you hit points where the exercise is causing you to get worse, stop immediately, rest it out, and then build it back up very slowly only once you really can. And of course, for us exercise can be anything from turning over in bed upwards. Right now I've had to take about ten days off my exercise regime, where I'd previously built up to five minutes, and am just now starting back with 1 min on the exercise bike and shortish periods of quilting.
.

Even today, what I consider "exercise" smaller and fitter people would call "barely moving."

I actually prefer the word movement, because it doesn't have the connotation of sweat and intense effort that "exercise" does.

The first movement I added was getting out of bed to get the meals my husband had prepared, rather than have him bring them to me. Then I started getting up to eat meals with him in the living room. Then I started spending more and more time out of the bedroom.

The first "exercise" that resembled exercise was in the local warm water therapy pool. Just getting to the water was more work than being in the water. Getting dressed as a chore. I'd put on my swimsuit at home (I needed to buy a two piece, because getting in and out of the one-piece swim dress styles I preferred was too much work). Then I'd put on a t-shirt dress. Sometimes getting dressed was so much work, I'd have to rest before we drove to the pool. My husband dropped me off at the closest door and would then go park.

In the water, I was so much more comfortable that I could do a lot more. But there was a big downside to that. It was so easy to do a lot in the water, that I'd get excited and push myself without realizing it because the pain the normal pain gravity caused was gone. If I swam until I was tired, it was too late. Getting out of the water was sure torture. My legs would hurt so bad on land, that getting dressed wasn't even possible. I'd just throw the t-shirt dress over the swimsuit and go home wet.

I learned to set time limits and only gradually increase my activity. I'd clip on a step-counting pedometer (onto my jammies, if necessary) and try to match or beat the step-count from the previous day. I remember that some of my first pedometer days were under 100 steps (what is it the experts recommend, 10,000 steps?)

Even today, if I exercise until I feel even slightly tired, sore, or winded, I usually end up in bed or severely incapacitated for three or more days.

"Pushing myself," really isn't a good idea. I have to go buy more subtle clues, such as my face color (when it starts to turn pink, I've got to slow down). I can't see my own face, so my hubby is my exercise monitor. He'll report to me on the color of my face. If my cheeks get pink, he'll tell me, and it means I have to slow down. If it progresses to my whole face, it's time to rest and head home. If I wait until my whole face is fuchsia or dark red, even if I don't feel tired, I'm going to suffer severe consequences. It's a weird reaction, but my face is like an exercise version of a moodring.

On Saturday, we took a relatively short walk, but the temperature was very high and my face turned red must faster than we expected or planned for. I got home and was worthless for the rest of the day. Just absolutely exhausted, and after almost no effort.

I cringe when I see shows that push very overweight people to exercise to the point of pain. I don't think I ever was able to do that. Even before I had health problems, and when I was quite active, I still had the weird redface thing when I overexerted myself (only it took a lot more time and effort for my face to turn pink. And my face never turned dark red like it sometimes does now). It's a such an odd, deep color people will stare and I'll feel like the girl who turned purple in the Willy Wonka movie.

But at least it gives me an early detection system. A little pink means be careful and slow down, a lot of pink means stop, and red means Uh,oh too late you're really going to pay for this now.

Originally Posted by berryblondeboys:
And see for me:

1. Exercise is an appetite suppressant. I'm not any hungrier with exercising and if anything, it suppresses my hunger and I NEVER eat back exercise calories and I don't feel I've earned a snack, whatever because I have exercised.

2. I am much more active the rest of the day if I have exercised. It gets the blood moving and the adrenalin up and then I feel great and want to do more!

And for me, every single time I have gotten more physically active - even from things like walking more, I drop weight and drop it fast.

Last month was the first month that I didn't lose a lot of weight in one month and even though my caloric intake was low, I didn't exercise 6 times a week, but more like 4 times a week AND I was less active at home overall too.

For me exercise is key to losing weight and for feeling better, but that makes sense for me - less hungry, more active overall. How could it not help me lose?

This is me EXACTLY too!!!! I can totally tell when I skip even 2 days of working out......I think everyone's body is just different and responds differently to exercise and dieting.
I always make sure to work out before a meal (usually lunch) so I don't over eat, and I don't find myself feeling more hungry.

My sister lost a ton of weight with just dieting, she never did a minute of exercising and lost, but I know for ME, that just wouldn't cut it.

I think it comes down to the individual.. interesting read though, nonetheless!

Originally Posted by berryblondeboys:
1. Exercise is an appetite suppressant. I'm not any hungrier with exercising and if anything, it suppresses my hunger and I NEVER eat back exercise calories and I don't feel I've earned a snack, whatever because I have exercised.

2. I am much more active the rest of the day if I have exercised. It gets the blood moving and the adrenalin up and then I feel great and want to do more!

Completely and utterly agree. Exercise makes me crave less and eat less overall throughout the day. It also gives me a ton of energy, and makes me more likely to be continuously active. I could only shake my head in disbelief throughout the entire article. Their "facts" seem a bit skewed, and the author honestly sounds like someone seriously lacking in willpower who's just making excuses for their inability to lose weight. :mcd:

I think what happens though and maybe this is what the article is getting to, is that many people tend to treat exercise as torture. A chore. They do it because they have to and they don't get the enjoyment out of it. The walk on the treadmill even though they hate it and then they feel they've done their duty and now they can relax and eat and be a couch potato. "Maybe" that is what they are hinting at. That, or maybe it's some people overdo it. They hit the gym so hard that they are so exhausted that they really don't have the energy to do more later.

Exercise (like everything else in life) should be done in moderation and should be enjoyable if you want to make it a natural part of life. Like, I HATE machines. I won't ever go near them. I like classes with other people and I like to walk and I like to bike ride. So that's what I do. I thoroughly enjoy it and so I feel refreshed afterwards and then I have more energy, my appetite is suppressed, I feel good about myself and so on. The exercise is a highlight of my day, not a dreary blot in the day.

So, I think the mental side of exercising is key.

I say this as I am getting ready to take two classes tomorrow - Body Step and Body Pump. I love these two classes and I'm looking forward to them. I am a little worried that I might miss the first one because my son has been sleep deprived and I'm afraid he might actually sleep in and I'll miss my class! I don't want to miss that class because I like it!

WIth that kind of attitude towards exercise, how can it not aid in weight loss? My reward is the class whereas I think for many they reward themselves for going to the dreaded class.

Well this is going to sounds crazy... But I believe a BIG part of why I've been able to lose weight the last few months is b/c I gave up exercise, and the notion that it greatly helps weight loss. I started to realize that 80% of the time after exercising (I would get on my elliptical for 20-30 minutes, nothing too strenuous), I would feel great... then wind up binging on food, I was sooo hungry! Yes I tried eating healthy protein rich snacks (with some carbs too) or meals before or after working out, but it still was the same. I would get almost shaky and just EAT and EAT within a few hours of exercising. Not worth the 200-300 cals I burned on the elliptical! The only time I felt was 'safe' to exercise was late at night right before bed, but frankly with two kids I do NOT have the energy for that. So I gave up exercising and my binging has majorly decreased. I hardly ever feel really famished anymore. I do feel guilty as far as my health is concerned, but I figure running around with two little ones is good enough for now :)

If you want to watch two experts in the field discuss this issue and you have 90 minutes to invest you can check this debate out.

I personally agree with the forks side of the debate especially when he talks about the messaging that people get.

As for exercise giving anyone more energy I'm fairly certain you could graph it out and it would look like a parabola. In other words, a little bit of exercise gives you a little extra energy and it increases up to a certain point after which your energy levels decreases.

No one is going to feel more energy after running a marathon, for example. On the other hand 5-10 minutes of exercise is likely to perk most people up a little. In between those extremes is most likley going to be highly variable.

Kaplods, thanks for telling me that, it's fantastic to hear of someone with ME/CFIDS who has succeeded in building up their exercise level like that. Though I still can't imagine ever being able to cope with swimming, merely washing my hair has been horrendously exhausting for years now!

The redface thing sounds annoying but a very useful way of monitoring your exertion. Have you tried wearing a mirror in some way? It'd only need to be a compact one, perhaps as a pendant or like a wristwatch, and you could probably get one with a lid so that you wouldn't be getting caught unawares by reflections. You can get mirror pendants, or mirror locket pendants if you don't want it to be open.

I think I'm more likely to go white when I'm exhausted, but by that point I'm too far gone to realise that I'm exhausted at all, if that makes sense.

I recently got myself two timers, a stopwatch and a countdown timer. The latter is attached to my keys and I use it for the rare occasions when I'm up to going for a short walk. I decide how much I'm up to in advance, set the countdown timer for half that time, and when it goes off, that tells me to head for home. Like you, and indeed everyone with ME/CFIDS, it's so easy to get carried away when you are finally doing an activity you've been yearning for for ages. My home exercising is easily timed already, the mini exercise bike has an inbuilt timer and I count repetitions for other exercises, but the stopwatch sits by my quilting kit. As well as the overall exhaustion, I've had a lot of trouble with RSI and tendinitis over the last year or so, so I need to be excruciatingly careful about how long I spent sewing at one time.

At least I now know to avoid deadlines. I made a quilt for a competition last summer, which is when the RSI really hit along with a fairly bad bout of tendinitis, and I had to keep taking a month off here and a month off there. Thankfully my GP and physio were supportive of my desire to get the quilt done, especially once they saw it and agreed that it would be criminal not to get it into the competition! I got it finished in time, it won the competition, and it toured the UK quilt shows for six months. It's the most I'd achieved in years. It also taught me that I absolutely had to be disciplined, starting with embroidering for just a few minutes a day if need be.

You can eat your way out of any excercise routine.

You have to combine diet with excercise to achieve weight loss.

Originally Posted by IsabellaOlivia:
You can eat your way out of any excercise routine.

This is true.

Originally Posted by :
You have to combine diet with excercise to achieve weight loss.

This is NOT true.

I think the "marriage of diet/exercise" is what has confused so many people. I know it did me, for many years. But FACTS are simple, we just need to recognize them.

*You CANNOT "out-exercise" bad eating habits.
*Exercise IS good for you.
*Proper diet/nutrition IS good for you.
*Over-eating (anything!) can make you fat.
*Reducing caloric intake, no matter the method you use, is what it takes to lose weight.

I have learned that I use DIET for weight loss and EXERCISE for fitness. For what good is weight loss if my body is flabby & out of shape? To me, "exercise" is when you do something physical that you don't really like but you do it because you know you should :rolleyes: Such as the elliptical or treadmill. Ugh, boring-boring-BOW-RING! :dunno: I mean, even with a good book/magazine, TV, whatever... just the thought of "movement without going anywhere" is boring to me. (Altho I do have a recumbent bike, for those days when weather doesn't permit me to be outside.)

I no longer feel it necessary to spend an hour exercising "every other day". I WANT TO BE FIT. I want to look good, but my main goal is GOOD HEALTH. I want to be able to walk around the house by myself when I'm 75 years old, unlike my mother who can barely move due to muscle atrophy!! Therefore I do "exercise" -about 30 minutes of weight lifting 2x a week, and I bike, swim, walk on the beach or around my hood usually 2-4x a week, and always on weekends. This is not "exercise" to me; it is something I enjoy, therefore it is "fun" & a HUGE stress release!!! I LOVE IT! :dizzy: :D