do i need to exercise??

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13

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  • Feisty_Red
    Feisty_Red Posts: 982 Member
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    To lose weight? No

    For optimal health? Yes

    yep yep!! :bigsmile:
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
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    why don't you want to exercise? is it too much of a strain on your body?? because many people have started just by walking. go for a short walk around the neighborhood. you don't have to be able to run three miles in 22 minutes to exercise.
  • Bob314159
    Bob314159 Posts: 1,178 Member
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    You can lose weight well without exercise.

    You might end up skinny with large droopy pieces of skin hanging from you though.
  • AlexandraLynch
    AlexandraLynch Posts: 161
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    I don't exercise to burn fat, I do it so that I don't seize up and have contractions. Now, since I do Iyengar yoga, this does mean that I'm building muscle too. (Boat pose will work the hell out of your core.) But muscle for me isn't the point. Being able to walk is.
  • TrailRunner61
    TrailRunner61 Posts: 2,505 Member
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    Exercise does a lot of good for your body! It not only makes you healthier, it tones skin, builds up muscle, makes you stronger and helps you lose weight faster.

    If you've been sedentary you may want to start out with walking or swimming. I'm 51 and have had a lot of injuries over the years so I ease into anything new. If you're younger, it may not be a problem. Just don't overdo it and then get burnt out and quit.

    For me, I started walking slowly first, after 2 weeks I noticed weight loss, started walking longer, increased speed and then started logging food. After I saw how horrible I was eating, I started changing my diet. All of those happened on different days, not all at once! I think it's an ever changing process adapting to a new lifestyle. I started jogging then broke my foot so I started biking. I'm now biking up to 10 miles up and down hills at least every other day and hope to jog once this foot heals properly.

    I still have 13lbs to go but I plan on staying active forever, no matter how I have to do it. I actually enjoy working out now and you will too!

    Good luck!
  • davert123
    davert123 Posts: 1,568 Member
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    I think we all have our own opinions on this so I'll share my experience. To loose weight and to keep the weight off I need to change me and not my calorie intake. I've dieted loads of times (changing calorie intake) and sure I lost but I always put back on. I need to change me - my mentality and view of me and the world so I become a fit healthy person rather than (just for me) an overweight man trying to loose weight. For me the only way I've managed to start this transition is to exercise. I have targets which focus me. Using MFP I am integrating me into a onine community of health conscious people as well. Again just for me I view my new way of life as a seat I'm going to sit in for the rest of my life - if it just has one leg (diet) then I'll fall off. If it has several legs - Health, MFP community, sports then I am more steady ground. So do you need to exercise - if you are like me then the answer is definitely less. If you are not like me then I'd guess the answer is most probably anyway, not for the calorie deficit, although it does help, but for the change in psychology :-)
  • Cliffslosinit
    Cliffslosinit Posts: 5,044 Member
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    To lose weight? No

    For optimal health? Yes

    </thread>

    ^^/endthread!
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
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    To lose weight? No

    For optimal health? Yes

    :heart:
  • msjamartin
    msjamartin Posts: 148
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    Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don't shoot their husbands, they just don't.
  • LolasEpicJourney
    LolasEpicJourney Posts: 1,014 Member
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    Of course you can lose weight by just reducing calories

    However - exercise will increase your metabolism, increase your energy and mood. You will lose weight faster and tone your muscle and become genuinely more fit.
  • cheninaerin
    cheninaerin Posts: 86
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    You will lose more weight if you exercise, but if you simply restrict your calories you will lose weight slowly as well.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
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    To lose weight? No

    For optimal health? Yes

    I would also add:

    For optimal body composition? Yes.
  • Tickateeboo
    Tickateeboo Posts: 132 Member
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    Just starting trying to get rid of the weight. My question is do I need to exercise now???? My thought is, if I can lose weight by reducing my calorie intake then it should work, right? Once I reach a point where I am no longer dropping the weight then I would start exercising. Is this a bad idea?? Everyone is telling me I need to exercise now.

    Hi.

    It depends how much you have to lose. If you have to lose 100 pounds then yes.

    But if/when you are successful and then have only 10 - 20 pounds to lose to get to your 'goal', you will HAVE to exercise to get that off - no questions asked.

    You will weigh less, so you'll have to put in more effort.

    You can spend a year losing 100 pounds and then another year losing that last pesky 10 pounds.

    T xx
  • Lift_hard_eat_big
    Lift_hard_eat_big Posts: 2,278 Member
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    To lose weight? No

    For optimal health? Yes

    Bingo

    Who cared about health? You people act as if this were a fitness site or something.
  • californiagirl2012
    californiagirl2012 Posts: 2,625 Member
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    Of course. Losing fat is all about eating less.

    Exercise is all about gaining or maintaining lean body mass. I does not do much for losing weight and the calorie burn is highly over rated. I lifted and ran marathons and ultra marathons and continued to gain weight year after year because I didn't understand the calorie part and I'm small (food portion sizes are designed for big people).

    Anyway losing fat and having no muscle is just plain ugly. If you are a girl you do NOT have to worry about bulking up. I lift really heavy and I'm still small, because I don't take steriods.

    The mistake most girls make becoming cardio queens. You need to pick up some weights. Weight training made my running faster and made my shape look better. You can see my befores and afters on bobbies fitness blog.

    I've been lifting a long time. I'm 51. I just got a DXA scan done for my bone density and body composition. The technician was amazed, she said at 51.5 I have the bone density of a super athletic 30 year old and .06 (zero) visceral fat (the lowest reading she had ever seen). If that isn't scientific evidence that lifting weights makes you stay young I don't know what is.

    So on the weights. Start NOW. If you wait until you are old it's too late, the bones start deteriorating and there is no getting it back, only halting the damage. Get strong now and stay strong for a better quality of life.
  • chubtofit
    chubtofit Posts: 67 Member
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    Just starting trying to get rid of the weight. My question is do I need to exercise now???? My thought is, if I can lose weight by reducing my calorie intake then it should work, right? Once I reach a point where I am no longer dropping the weight then I would start exercising. Is this a bad idea?? Everyone is telling me I need to exercise now.

    Our bodies were not designed to be sedentary - we all need exercise to strengthen our hearts and bodies. It's just good health.
  • Sarah_Wins
    Sarah_Wins Posts: 936 Member
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    Yes. The answer is always YES! For God's sake, move your *kitten*!
  • BMcC9
    BMcC9 Posts: 4,378 Member
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    maybe it is the word "exercise" ??? :huh:

    If you think in terms on "general increased activity" or "play on the Wii" :wink:

    Take a look at the masses of available entries MFP provides under "Cardio" including things like "light cleaning". You don't HAVE to do "formal exercise" like push-ups, jogging, etc to reap benefits, especially at the beginning when you aren't used to doing anything at all.
  • SouffleBoy
    SouffleBoy Posts: 65 Member
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    Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don't shoot their husbands, they just don't.

    legallyblondeexercise.gif
  • SouffleBoy
    SouffleBoy Posts: 65 Member
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    Just starting trying to get rid of the weight. My question is do I need to exercise now???? My thought is, if I can lose weight by reducing my calorie intake then it should work, right? Once I reach a point where I am no longer dropping the weight then I would start exercising. Is this a bad idea?? Everyone is telling me I need to exercise now.

    Where do you want to be in 12 months? Do you want to have lots of energy, better blood work, better blood pressure, have better body composition, be able to eat more scrumptious food every day AND lose weight(hopefully more in terms of fat rather than muscle). You can get that all with exercise and lots of other benefits that can improve your life.

    The other option is none of the benefits, you'll lose weight but you have a higher chance of losing a higher percentage of muscle.

    And until we humans somehow devise a way to put exercise in pill form, you'll have to get your butt of the couch!

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