I know that a good diet sheds the pounds more efficiently than exercise, but exercising the right way can certainly burn lots of calories. I've started riding an exercise bike an hour a day, whether at home or at the gym. Calculating my exertion level, it's supposed to be burning about 500 calories every 30 minutes, so in theory I'm burning 1000 calories a day just from the bike, not counting the time I put in at the gym with weights. Has anyone seen better weight loss results after significantly increasing their exercise level?

Kinda.

At first, I saw a gain and then a stall. However, after about 3 months of continuous exercise, I saw that the scale dipped more in my favor. But my losses in inches was MUCH better than pre-exercise, even when I saw the gain and stall. We retain water, which repairs those muscles, and until your body adjusts to a new routine, you won't lose as much as you'd hope, at first. I've noticed that cardio will a quicker short term loss but once I added in weight lifting, it netted a larger overall loss, surprisingly. Come to find out, cardio only burns calories WHILE you are working out. Weight lifting burns calories up to 24 hours after you have completed your workout...so both are equally important.

I find I stall a lot more frequently now that I exercise, but when I hit whooshes, they are INSANE wooshes. But, it doesn't matter to me. I'd rather be healthy than a stick, and with exercise, my inches are whittling away faster than they did with just diet alone, and I'll take a small waist band over the smaller number on the scale any day of the week

Whenever I start an exercise routine, I almost immediately see a stall for about 6-8 weeks (I'm pretty much in maintenance anyway), then I start to see definition in my arms, abs, my butt looks higher, legs look slimmer, etc. I don't actually lose much, but I do see a big difference in fit and appearance in a very short amount of time.

I've learned mixing it up I see better results
also keeping your heart rate up throughout your exercise is key-don't just go through the motions. Had a plateau for 6 months and then started mixing it up and keeping my heart rate up has had the scale moving in the right direction

I sincerely doubt you are burning 1000 calories an hour riding an exercise bike at home. How are you calculating that?

Every online calculator I've used tells me this. Of course, it depends on the intensity, but I'm going pretty hard and am usually soaked and dripping sweat bodywide after eight minutes or so.

Yea - if you are pedaling hard enough you can burn 500 calories on a bike in 30 minutes. It's just very difficult to maintain that kind of intenisty for a long period.

For me personally, I find that cardio tends to make me hungry.

In my opinion, the primary reason that studies show that exercise combined with dieting is more effective than either one alone is compliance. Those who do both are more likely to be compliant with their diet. No science, just opinon and theory.

I will say that I'm amazed at how my wind capacity has increased on it. The same speed/resistance that used to leave me winded for almost the entire bike ride now only gives me a deep breath now and then. I think my heart is definitely better off for it.

Tricon, I was someone who always felt that exercise was over-rated . . . that is until I started doing a lot of it. Without getting too much into it, my husband created a "tread desk" (Google it) for me out of my regular treadmill; I do quite a bit of work at home and am naturally a fast walker, so that one change meant that I was walking 18+ miles a week! Then, I got into an early-morning intense cross-fit class that I LOVE, and with those two activities, I get about 9 - 12 hours of exercise a week. I do believe it has made a big difference in the ease with which I maintain my weight. In past attempts, I always regained the weight because I simply could not accept the food limits I had to put on myself. I want to eat the foods I love daily and don't want to buy or eat "diet" food. Now, I am able to do that and not regain my weight, and I attribute a lot of that to the amount of exercise I do. Yes, I count calories, but my calorie allotment is high because I burn 500-600 calories a day, six days a week. And the exercise doesn't seem tortuous as it used to because 1) I'm so absorbed in my work while I'm walking on my treadmill that I barely know I'm walking; and 2) I love my crossfit class! This Nov. will be two years that I have maintained my weight.

So, I do think exercise makes a difference if one does enough to burn a significant number of calories.

I can second everything zoesmom and JohnP said. Exercise made a huge difference for me not only in terms of loosing inches and gaining definition, but also in keeping my determination on high when scale results were not supportive.

Initially yes. Now it's just stalling out my weightloss. Too much muscle and water. But I don't care. I look and feel great. It's nice to not have to care about the scale so much and focus more on fitness and nutrition.

I think that good nutrition and exercise are both integral to long term loss and success in maintaining.

However, just for myself, I have separated the two. Nutrition is one thing, done for loss and maintaining.

Exercise, is done for other reasons. Regular varied workouts combat bone and muscle loss, and lots of other things. I mix it up. Some strength training, some yoga, some power training, some aerobic, some suspension training, some days just a good long walk.

I watch my food, for the reasons we should watch food. I watch my workouts to help me be healthier and to help me function better in my day to day life.

Just for the record, I live on a farm and I work for a veterinarian, so my exercise is geared to my lifestyle.

I'm short so no amount of calorie reduction helped in losing any significant amount of weight and keeping it off. There's just not many calories to reduce to when you're base is not that high to begin with.

It's only when I added exercise in that I was able to lose steadily and keep it off, currently lost about 33 lbs in the past year. I still count calories, measure and weigh but the exercise calories burned is what did it for me.

I've found running as opposed to all other types of cardio has really great benefits for me: weight loss, flattening stomach, energy level, metabolism. It is like a 'magic' exercise to me.

I do recumbent bicycle, elliptical, walk. But something about running. It's almost like your body wants you to be thin(er) when it expects to be running. Dipping into the 240s for the first time in a long time has certainly helped.

I look forward to how much easier it will be as I go lower. I am doing a C25K program because I do not want to go to fast and injure anything. I also bought what seemed like absurdly expensive running shoes. But they do feel great.

I personally don't get hungrier when running or exercising. This is a really complex question. I think it varies from person to person and also for an individual it might be different on different days or weeks or months. I've heard regular exercise can get different hormones in balance and ultimately result in less hunger.

But I feel so awesome, energized, STRONG, alive, exercising regularly. I will take a longer road to 200lbs and exercise every time.

I second this.