Do I have to exercise?

simsburyjet

I know a lot of skinny/fat people.. They are thin but stomach is flabby, arms flabby cause they do not exercise.
Exercise is for the mind and body we were meant to move not sit.

airant

No. You don't have to shower, brush your teeth, or wash your underwear either.

Good answer!!

TheBitSlinger

Saw an article yesterday featuring Bob Harper (Biggest Loser trainer). He believes diet trumps everything. I'd post the link, but it's a Fox News article and would therefore cause liberals seeing it to start spitting blood.

The article went on to quote Dr. Mark Kelly, an exercise physiologist at the American Council on Exercise. He believes that once you lose weight, exercise is critical to keeping it off.

Bottom line... eat less, move more, repeat.

Sweetredpoison

You don't have to in order to lose weight as long as you lower your caloric intake.

I started by doing both...exercise and caloric deficit.

I too HATED exercising and have a full-time desk job but I made myself do it, no excuses. It's amazing what changes in 6 months. Now, I look foward to my workouts...I love them. I find they are such a huge stress reliever and I have so much more energy now than I used to have. Also, you will look A LOT better.

I started with pure cardio and that helped the weight drop but I was still flabby. Now that I have added weight lifting to my routine my body is starting to firm up a lot and the inches are coming off a lot quicker. I look so much better now and I have a confidence now that I haven't had in a long time.

Exercise is a bonus for your health, I would recommend it. Just start off slow, start with a walk and build from there.

Great advice!! Thank you!

raverhayley

eat healthily and I recommend buying ' Jillian Michaels 30 day shred' a intense 20min work out. your meant to do it every day but im going to do it week days only

Vicki8524

So much snark in this post. So I think she is looking for some advice from people on both sides. I have lost 50lbs by mostly changing my diet/calories. I have gone down 5 pants sizes. I do walk 30 minutes 5 days a week, but nothing strenuous and I barely burn calories doing that. So it can be done. However, I am not fit at all and really flabby. I am trying to motivate myself to start getting serious about exercise. I am just too lazy.

shushy70

exercise definitly helps , it will also in time give you more energy , better mental and physical health , I say it goes hand in hand .
You do not have to go balls to the wall at first , start out with some 30 minute exercise DVD's or walking , you will feel your energy go up and your head clear and be more confident , then you will want to increase .

truelove7

As someone who is pretty obese, I dreaded "exercise." A friend of mine introduced me to FitBit, which tracks my steps, calories burned, flights of stairs taken and total miles walked in a day. My step goal is 10,000 a day. It's a no-brainer...I just clip it to my bra in the morning and go. I check it periodically and if I need to get more "steps," I go for a little stroll outside or just walk up and down the stairs in my house. It is nothing dreadful at all.

I also bought a heart rate monitor so I can calculate my calorie burn on things like yard work, that I do anyway that wouldn't necessarily be classified as exercising.

I'm not saying you have to go out and buy a fitbit or a HRM. But by using these tools, I do what I can in the shape I'm in now...and it doesn't take killing myself or being miserable. Just get out and move more. It's that simple.

Good luck and feel free to add me if you'd like.

dandelyon

I ate at a deficit for 3 months before adding in exercise. If you don't want to exercise, don't let that be the reason you don't try to lose weight.

Also, exercise doesn't have to be a big, obsessive thing. Working up a little dainty sweat from a short walk is still better for you than staying at home

If you eat back the exercise calories, then it actually balances out in terms of laziness. A little bit of exercise = a little more food. How can you go wrong?

amsipub

When I first started to lose weight, I focused on just changing my eating habits. I can't do everything at once to change as it will discourage me from continuing. I have to get used to one aspect before incorporating another one. As for not liking to exercise you just need to find something you like to do.

Personally, I don't run and there are plenty of exercises I'd rather not do. But I love to dance and I found zumba that makes it fun and I look forward to doing it. I do it at home with my xBox Kinect. I dim the lights and it's like I'm partying rather than working out. I sweat buckets, but it's so worth it. I also like to put on my headphones and just take a walk for 30 min.

Music is a great way to get through things that you may not want to do (household chores is another instance that it helps with).

I follow what my t-shirt says, "Make Moves Not Excuses"

Danger2OneSelf

I think before you are prepared to make some major changes in your body, you must first get your head straight and find the ambition to pull through with it. I'm sorry bout the way your described your desire to get there just sounds like your setting your self up for failure. Just changing your diet for a little while may help you loose weight but in the long run you'll probably just gain it all back, because most people probably wont continue sticking to their new strict diet for life, which IMO is why so many women out there chasing fad diets and quick fixes never fix anything long enough to get a better quality of life out it.

I used to hate morning's and exercise as well, but I knew I hated it because I never did any, but that' wasn't an excuse because everyone starts somewhere and it's always hard at first but your body will adapt and that's when you see the real changes most people are looking for. Sometimes you just gotta put your emotions aside and focus on your goal above all else.

Good luck

Sweetredpoison

A couple of suggestions..... I had a Netflix (by mail) subscription. This allowed me to get a new workout every week. I figured out what I liked to do. Also, for DVDs collagevideo.com is an excellent resource..... they give video clips, reviews, list impact level, fitness level, equipment required ...... this makes buying the wrong DVD less likely.

Great Idea! I've tried Zumba. I'm horrible at it and i don't enjoy it. I did enjoy a spinning class I took but I was too out of shape to keep up.

husseycd

Of course not! But for me, to lose weight without exercise I'd have to eat about 1400-1500 calories/day. With exercise it's more like 1800-1900. I like food and I like muscles, so I exercise.

But you certainly don't have to.

BerryH

If you really don't like exercise, you just haven't found exercise you love yet. Exercise doesn't have to mean running until you're purple in the face, hefting massive weights or doing Insanity at 5am every day.

What do you do at lunchtime? Could you go for a power walk somewhere pretty (find a phone app and try to keep 4mph up - it's quite a challenge!), or a swim in a public pool? How about the next time you have a night out with friends go to a salsa class rather than a bar? Perhaps get a resistance band you can pop in your handbag and use during breaks at work. Or do some body-weight exercises like sit-ups, squats, press-ups and triceps dips during ad breaks while you watch your favourite TV show.

Not all exercise has to be an hour long and make you sweat ball bearings. Though in time you might find something that inspires you enough to do that!

TheBitSlinger

Great Idea! I've tried Zumba. I'm horrible at it and i don't enjoy it. I did enjoy a spinning class I took but I was too out of shape to keep up.

I've found that setting goals and then beating them is helpful for me. I started out being able to do barely 10 minutes on the elliptical, but now I can do 60 minutes. I recently set a goal to ellipt (is that a word :laugh:) 5 miles in under 60 minutes, which I've now done four times in a row. To switch things up, I mix in 30 minutes workouts and can now do 3 miles in 30 minutes.

chrisa8170

Hi All,

I'm pretty new to MFP. I'm really out of shape, and frankly lazy. I have one of those 9 to 5pm desk jobs. I really don't like exercise but I know I have to incorporate it in my daily life. I am not a morning person, and the thought of having to wake up extra early to exercise is looking impossible. Do you think it would be okay just to watch what I eat first and then start exercising? What did you all do?

My entire loss has been without exercise (with the exception of walking a bit faster) I split my journey in to three sections, put my first goal in to MFP and stuck to the calories, when I acheived the first milestone I readjusted the goal and off i went again. By brealing it up it was always mentally a short journey rather than the full 100+ in needed to shift. I have maintained for a couple of months whilst things have been hectic at home and now I feel ready for the final push so I have changed my ticker from 101Lbs lost to 11 to go.

You can do, just record everything, and stick to the daily targets. Good Luck in your journey

quiltlovinlisa

No, of course you don't "have" to exercise.

I'll tell you what though, you'll feel better exercising. You can eat more when you exercise. You're shape will be better with exercise. But you certainly don't have to exercise. Sometimes when making changes, you have to focus on just one thing at a time, and that's okay too. So if food is your struggle, focus on food. But I wouldn't completely discount exercise, maybe put it on hold for a few days while you get rolling.

amb0919

I'm not a huge fan of exercising either, but I've made it a point to do a little more walking, get out to the garden and, and even cleaning around the apartment & garage so that I can burn extra calories to help out as well as eat a little more during the day. Eventually I'll need to head to the gym so that I can tone as I lose, but right now I'm focusing on my food intake so that it really can become a long-term habit vs. just something to get some weight off and then not stick with it.

toutmonpossible

Yes, most of weight loss is owing to calorie reduction. If you feel overwhelmed by adding exercise, try to create a good calorie deficit and take a brisk walk several times a week for now.

AliciaStinger

WHAT I DID: I lost about 15 pounds by accident before I joined MFP. I wasn't consciously watching what I ate. After that, I wanted to keep it going. I joined MFP and lost a total of 35 pounds just through watching my diet. Then I stalled/plateaued. Now just watching what I eat doesn't work; if I want to see any more results, it seems like exercise is necessary - which is good, because I want to tone up and actually be in better shape (I'd be happy right now if I could run for a solid half mile - but it's not going to happen right now with my allergies).

WHAT YOU "SHOULD" DO: whatever works for you! I would say that watching what you eat is a great way to start. It is totally possible to lose weight without exercising. If you can reach your goal that way, and you have no desire to exercise or do something physical (such as run a marathon or work in fire fighting or law enforcement), go for it. Good luck!