Convince me on why I need to exercise

starvinkevin

I lost more weight not exercising and focusing on keeping my diet strict than I ever did with tons of exercise and even lifting. Why do you guys exercise? I know cardio is good for the heart but I'm over being buff (shorty so too much muscles makes me look even shorter).

tlkrallman

Have you ever wrapped your arms around someones belly who has lost a ton of weight with no exercising... it's all squishy and and wiggly... I don't want my belly to wiggle. But that's just me.

Sabine_Stroehm

I'm not going to convince you, or try.
I'll tell you why *I* exercise.

I want to be healthy and strong, and, as a woman, I want to have strong bones.

I lift weights because:
I know that folks with more muscle can maintain their weight on more calories.
I know that folks with more muscle can lose weight on more calories.
I know that, while dieting, weight training is important for the retention of lean body mass. In other words: I want to lose fat, not muscle.

I know that a muscular body looks good

I run because:
I want to be in good cardio vascular condition.
I want to burn a few calories
It helps my overall mood
I LIKE when I've run
I want to be able to do other things, like skiing, and cycling, more easily, because I enjoy them.

I know that a lean body looks good

Shadowknight137

My reasoning is fairly simple:

If you try to gain weight without lifting, you'll get fat. Very fat.
If you try to lose weight without lifting, you'll get weak. Very weak. And you might still be fat - lighter, yes, smaller, yes, thinner? Not really. Toned? Not in the slightest.

IMO, anyway.

april_mesk

I guess because I don't want to be a body of flabby excess skin. I am short too but, I need to exercise and watch what I eat to lose anything. I can't just do one or the other. This is my body in particular. I guess my question would be, why wouldn't you exercise? Don't you want to feel strong and don't you get a sense of accomplishment after a workout? Just diet alone will get you nowhere. You may lose more but, it is not actual body fat that you are losing, it's probably muscle and water. No expert, just my opinion. Good luck.

squirtgunsablzn

two words. "body composition". loosing weight is great but if you just lift 3 times a week for 30-45 minutes you will notice a better body composition than you would without lifting.

maegmez

Sounds like you have lost weight in the past and regained, signs of a yo yo dieter. You must not be eating enough and that's why you go off the diet, you are too strict with your calories.

You already know the benefits of exercising but you earn calories when exercising so its a win win situation and you can say goodbye to yo yo dieting

tpt1950

I know cardio is good for the heart

You answered your own question

MaraDiaz

At first I tried exercising so I could eat more garbage like chips and chocolate, but the more I exercised the hungrier I got.

Then I exercised because I realized how alarmingly fast I got out of breath and how weak I was. Which turned out to be the correct reason to exercise. And also it puts me in a very good mood.

choirmast

Like Sabine, I will tell you why I exercise:

First: I like to drink. When I exercise I "earn" calories that I can spend on drinking . Typically, I use the calories I earn from exercising for wine with dinner. I know that at 130 calories a glass, each time I spend 30 imnutes on the elyptical machine or 45 minutes lifting weights, I can offset 2 or three glasses of wine.

Second, I like the way I feel when my muscles are toned. Stronger musles mean less back pain and less knww pain. The program I am on is designed more for toning. Not heavy weights, but higher than average repetitions (25 to 30) and 4 sets at a time. This approach does not have me bulking up, but simply trimmer and tighter.

hatethegame

On top of everything mentioned above, there is quite a bit of scientific evidence supporting the benefits of regular exercise on brain health. For younger people (say under 40) this might not be a big deal but if you want to give yourself the best chance of a high-quality if life (in the second half of your life), you may want to incorporate some regular exercise in to your life. You don't have to be a body builder or marathon runner either.

Therealobi1

i agree with the above post maradiaz. running for the train leaves me breathing terribly for a few mins. exercising is making me stronger

JesterMFP

I'm not going to convince you, or try.
I'll tell you why *I* exercise.

I want to be healthy and strong, and, as a woman, I want to have strong bones.

I lift weights because:
I know that folks with more muscle can maintain their weight on more calories.
I know that folks with more muscle can lose weight on more calories.
I know that, while dieting, weight training is important for the retention of lean body mass. In other words: I want to lose fat, not muscle.

I run because:
I want to be in good cardio vascular condition.
I want to burn a few calories
It helps my overall mood
I LIKE when I've run
I want to be able to do other things, like skiing, and cycling, more easily, because I enjoy them.

My reasons are very similar to these.

I exercise so that I can eat more, to improve my cardiovascular fitness, to maintain muscle mass and bone density, because exercise makes me look healthier, because it may well reduce my risk of type 2 diabetes (runs in my family), because it improves my mood and helps me manage my depression, and the feeling of doing things I never thought I could do is amazing. I also found a new hobby - running - which is something I really enjoy getting better at.

Additionally, I prefer how my body looks since I started lifting. I'm quite short too (and a girl, no less - not aiming to look like a hulk ) but lifting hasn't given me big muscles, or made my body bigger as a whole. I don't seem to be looking shorter either. It has just improved the shape of everything.

But that's just me. If you don't want to exercise and are happy with the results you are getting, then that's up to you. You said elsewhere that for you, crash dieting is the only way to go. Each to their own. :drinker:

sandradev1

Why *should* we convince you?

Everybody has to decide for themselves, hopefully having studied all the evidence available. Our bodies are the most important thing we have in this life and we need to look after them. How or if we do this is our own responsibility, nobody else's.

I cannot believe that you have not already heard all the good things that exercise does for your body. YOU CHOOSE, - its your body.

Coquette6

I'm young, only 25, so a lot of exercise's long term benefits are just that - long term. I've seen far too many of my parents' friends get frail and sick and die before their time. My father died last year at the age of 65 from a heart attack, following a stroke he'd had a few years before. I don't want that. I want my golden years to be just that - years that I can enjoy rather than downing meds to try to keep myself going. A lot of that work is done when you're young. Build up muscle mass, bone density, good cardiovascular health, good insulin sensitivity, etc. Exercise goes further for these things than diet can. It's never too late for people to do these things, but it's so much easier to start when you're younger.

And in a totally vain way, I want to be hot. I was always skinny and so were a bunch of my friends, but we were flabby. We had the little lower belly pooch. We always thought we needed to lose 5lbs. I know better now. We didn't need to lose weight, we needed to change our body composition. Exercise does that.

stevenleagle

I believe that a good diet is more important than exercise if your sole goal is to lose weight.

BUT...

1. Lighter is not always healthier. I prefer to be fat and fit than skinny and unfit
2. Exercise makes you feel good - endorphins give u a natural high that staves off low moods.
3. Exercising can be fun.
4. Exercising with friends (especially team sports) helps you to connect with others too and improves social skills and relationships
5. As others have said, body composition is better with exercise - you may weigh more but muscles look better than flab
6. It is easier to maintain weight loss by not just relying on a permanently low cal diet. And who doesn't want to indulge a little at times?
7. Exercise gives you time to reflect on your priorities. I often clear my head with a long walk
8. Exercise can help you get through plateaus

At the end do the day I DO believe that initially keeping exercise to a minimum for a while (so that you concentrate on your diet) is not a bad thing. However as the weeks go by, try adding some walking, some gentle stretching, some body weight exercises like push ups. By doing so gradually you may get the best of both worlds: I.e you will keep focussing on diet which is working for you and as your body adapts, gradually ramping up exercise over time will help u keep you losing weight and hopefully build up a strong foundation to improve your lifestyle overall so as to give you the tools to maintain a better body.

horseplaypen

I also like being able to DO stuff, which exercise helps me with. I love rock climbing - weight lifting gives me stronger legs and more endurance to be better at it. I love scuba diving - running gives me better cardio endurance so I don't get so tired doing surface swims. I love surfing - pretty much everything I do for exercise makes me a better surfer, but especially things that test my balance and core strength. I would say these reasons are even more important to me than looking good.

There are also certain skills that I want to have the ability to do - climb a rope, pull myself up onto something, run 30 minutes without stopping, etc. I can't do all of those things yet, but my goal with exercising is to explore the full potential of what my body is capable of doing.

starvinkevin

OK guys you convinced me - I'm going for a walk.... I guess I'm just jaded that I went from running crazy mileage this time a year ago and still regained 35 lbs... but I realize now that the weight gain began when I stopped exercising... Thanks for the motivation!

miss_rye_

I know that I weigh the same as I did when I was in shape, amazingly enough I am sloppy and squishy right now. The scale says a number I was ok with when I was 2 pant sizes smaller, but as of now, I am not ok with it at all.

witchy_wife

I'm not going to convince you, or try.
I'll tell you why *I* exercise.

I want to be healthy and strong, and, as a woman, I want to have strong bones.

I lift weights because:
I know that folks with more muscle can maintain their weight on more calories.
I know that folks with more muscle can lose weight on more calories.
I know that, while dieting, weight training is important for the retention of lean body mass. In other words: I want to lose fat, not muscle.

I know that a muscular body looks good

I run because:
I want to be in good cardio vascular condition.
I want to burn a few calories
It helps my overall mood
I LIKE when I've run
I want to be able to do other things, like skiing, and cycling, more easily, because I enjoy them.

I know that a lean body looks good

Yeah all these apply to me. Also as I am a woman lifting weights also helps to strengthen bones for when I am old

But no one will convince you to exercise, you have to want to do it for yourself.

stevenleagle

I forgot to add a real important benefit of exercise too: increased energy. The more u exercise the more energy u will usually have (unless overdoing it, get ill etc).

Could to see u convinced by all of us Kevin