Why bother?

mikeyml

You pretty much hit on all of the points I was going to make so I wanted to add to your train of thought.

In reality there is no reason to run for 6 miles instead of 3 when weight loss is your goal. You can lose weight by just walking a mile everyday as long as you keep to a strict diet. The problem is when you lose weight by not exercising, you will lose lean muscle. Don't think about just the muscles on your arms and legs, remember to think about the muscles around your heart and other organs. Losing muscle in those places can lead to health complications as you get older. But if you exercise regularly then you help build muscle all over your body which leads to healthy organs and a healthy metabolism.

What you're really talking about is cardiovascular stamina. Obviously you will gain stamina by exercising for longer periods of time and keeping your heart rate in the target zone. So when training to increase your endurance you need to push yourself to go farther or you will burn out too quickly.

Thank you! *votes as best answer* :]
I didnt think it really made much a difference in weight loss goals, just depending on what you want to look like, or in my case how you want to perform. Like i said I exercise so i can get faster, stronger, and better! but I was just curious of looking at it for someone's point of view that is not playing a sport

You're welcome and thank you! You're right - it really just depends on what your priorities are. Some people train for sports, like you, some people push themselves so they can run marathons, some people exercise to look hot at the beach, and some people just want to walk a few miles without getting out of breath. The tougher your goal is to accomplish the harder you have to train.