How important is exercise, really?

You'll lose weight through diet alone, but it will be a combination of fat and muscle, so you may end up just a smaller version of your current self. Cardio will boost your loss by giving you a higher calorie deficit. Heavy resistance training will help you retain muscle mass so more of your loss comes from fat, and, generally speaking, you'll look better.

Although it's not the be-all end all, exercise makes weight loss easier because it helps you achieve a calorie deficit. For "looking good" exercise is even more important, resistance/strength training helps build/retain muscle mass, which a) burns moderately more calories than fat and b) looks better than fat. Cardio is important for the health of your cardiovascular system/heart.

I'd suggest you stop thinking of this as dieting but as a lifestyle change, of which changing your eating habits and your exercise habits.

I have found that exercise helps me in so many ways building muscle, lifting my mood, burning calories . I feel like its a good circle the opposite of being depressed, wanting to eat feeling bad & gaining weight

Well as much as I had to lose I did not wish for loose skin so working out has been mega important to me. I have a little loose skin but it could have been MUCH worse.

For me, it's about the body fat percentage. It's not just that I want to lose weight, I want to lose the right KIND of weight - and that's where exercise comes in. I feel that exercise helps me to build/maintain muscle and lose fat, thereby decreasing my body fat percentage. I also find that it actually energizes me, as counter-intuitive as that sounds. Hope that helps!

Definitely helps with your body fat percentage! i LOST 115 pounds. Went from starting BF percentage of around 41% down to 30%! I feel like if I had done things right, exercised while losing, maybe I wouldnt have ended up disliking myself so much when I finally got to my original goal weight becuase my BF would have been much lower. Because my BF was so high, but I was at a healthy weight and size otherwise, I got really depressed and sucked into some really bad habits. Luckily, I found out that the secret is to combine diet with exercise to maintin your muscle mass and build more, and in the end you look and feel so much better. Had I known this a year ago (which ok, really I did but was being too lazy to work out AND diet) maybe my self esteem wouldnt have taken such a plummet and I would be much happier in my skin right now.

ETA: Getting serous about exercise is also why my main pic is only a 5 pounds difference but loooks like much more than that!

Compared to dieting, is exercising even 1/3 as important to looking good? I mean, logically, shouldn't it me so much more important to just reduce calorie intake?

I don't know. While I'm trying to eat healthier, I guess I'm kinda scared that exercising for 30 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio really does anything...

So, how important is exercise, really?

I think it's easy to have people answer slightly different questions. And to have disagreement about what 'looking good' means. I think I detect signs that in your view Skinny = Attractive. This is not a universal viewpoint.

In terms of losing weight diet is probably more important than exercise. Largely from an efficiency point of view. Eating 500 calories less is easier (for most people) than burning 500 calories through vigorous exercise. Be that from a time or willpower perspective.

Note i said losing WEIGHT. If you want to lose mostly FAT and keep muscle which is useful for moving and working, important for hormonal balance, overall health, and giving your body a pleasant aesthetic shape rather than just being a stick figure then you're going to want to exercise.

There is a basic hierarchy in my personal view of physical attractiveness: Fit > Skinny > Fat

70 % diet and then rest, excercise.

You've heard this before in the posts, but...

You can get smaller by eating less, but the only way you can change your shape is with exercise, particularly weight lifting. Otherwise you'll just be a smaller, not very firm version of whatever body shape you are now.

I have always told myself that weight loss determines size, but exercise determines shape. I would rather have a slimmer, more toned shape than just a smaller version of my previous self.