How much exercise is enough?

First... You don't have to exercise to lose weight.

Second... I don't think anyone can reasonably quantify "enough" exercise. Ultimately, do more than you did last month - be it longer, harder, or faster... just do more. If that's walking more, fine. If that's biking for 20 minutes, fine. Just do something.

Third... make sure you're calorie intake is correct.

I would throw out the idea that there is some prescribed amount of exercise that is gonna magically make your fat melt off. The key is to keep pushing yourself. But not till you break. If you can handle what you are doing too easy .. do more. If you are always still sore when it comes to next days exercise consider doing less. It's abound finding your balance for your current level of fitness. There was a time 8 months ago where 15 mins the exercise bike was enough to get me sore. Yesterday I ran 10km and was disappointment with the fact that it was too easy. And I'm clearly going to have to increase my distance soon.

Your body is an adaptive system. It becomes able to do what it needs to do. Exercise is a way of saying .. We need to do this .. but we can't. Your body reacts accordingly. Finding the correct amount of exercise that you can handle is something no one can do for you. You need to experiment and .. indeed make mistakes. And since you are just starting out push hard. You may be surprised to find that your "limits" change surprisingly quickly.

Trinan71 wrote: »

jacksonpt wrote: »

First... You don't have to exercise to lose weight.

Second... I don't think anyone can reasonably quantify "enough" exercise. Ultimately, do more than you did last month - be it longer, harder, or faster... just do more. If that's walking more, fine. If that's biking for 20 minutes, fine. Just do something.

Third... make sure you're calorie intake is correct.

Thanks for the advice. I do know I can lose weight without exercise, but when I exercise I sleep better and feel better in general. I think starting with what I can do and increasing it weekly would be a good start. As far as calorie intake is concerned, I am tracking everything. Hopefully, after two to three weeks of this I will be able to notice a difference.

Thanks again!

To add to my friends post...enough is going to vary from person to person and be highly dependent on fitness goals. The point he was basically trying to make early was to use your diet for weight control; exercise for fitness. Let your fitness goals (independent of weight control goals) dictate what is enough, not enough, or too much. Of course, you'll want to factor in your current fitness level as well.

Don't get caught up in exercising simply to burn calories...it's not fun that way.

I only had "a few pounds to lose".. turned out that was over 60.. but I did the following: Walk 5-10 miles per day. 30-60 minutes gym per day (6 or 7 days a week) Set MPF to -2 lbs per week, and ate under that allotment.

Here are the suggested amounts of exercise as suggested by the NHS in the UK

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/fitness/Pages/physical-activity-guidelines-for-adults.aspx

The answer is different depending on you and what you wish from it.

Imo you should start off by what you can and have time to reasonably manage. walking, swimming or whatever. Try and build up the amount in time or increased effort, but take it steady. I cant see any harm when you build up to it as half an hour a day, then you cna increase it as you wish.

If you want it to make you fitter, then at some stage you will have to start exerting yourself a bit so you raise your heart rate.

If you want to lose weight then be prepared for the fact you need to do quite a lot to burn off the 3500 calories for 1lb and the diet is an easier way, although when you get into exercise and are doing it consistently you can expect to burn 500-900 an hour imo. Walking is less but a great starter. Up to you to decide whats enough as the others have said. Start with the exercise you can manage and enjoy. Dont burn yourself out and be safe by not overdoing it.

In his recent book The Diet Fix (well worth reading), Dr. Yoni Freedhoff states his exercise mantra: "Some is good. More is better. Everything counts." (Also available on his website.)

If you can get in 30 minutes a day, that's pretty good. If you have less time, look into high-intensity interval training, though if you are tempted by that route, build up to it slowly. I generally get about 50 minutes of cardio exercise a day, on average. Some of that is bike commuting to work, which I do when the weather isn't too crappy; that's 30 minutes a day when I do it, and since driving takes 20 minutes, it's a pretty good deal (30 minutes of exercise for only 10 additional minutes out of my day). The rest is a mix: lots of cycling, some running, some hiking, and some time on my rowing machine. I do a short strength workout a couple times a week, too, just to keep muscle mass.

It's a good idea to work exercise into your routine. If you drive somewhere, park at the far end of the parking lot and walk. Take the stairs rather than the elevator when possible. If you're sitting, stand up from time to time and stretch. Try watching TV while standing, not sitting. Make a habit of moving. It might be tiring at first but you'll adapt to it, and after a while you will feel a lot better. Good luck!

A 30 minute cardio workout is considered an actual workout and you should at least workout 5 days a week. You should have a day or two where your body can take it easy to recover and get stronger. Begin with a fast walk for now since your body isn't ready for jogging.

Since your goal is healthy weight loss, you should weight train 3x a week for 45mins per session. Eat at a slight deficit (you will need to learn all about macros, caloric deficits, reading labels, and counting calories). Forget cardio, unless you really enjoy it.

You will need time and patience. Don't expect overnight success, and prepare to make adjustments. You will need to learn how to listen to your body, and make adjustments on your food intake. The process is very personal, one size will not fit all. But if you want to retain your healthy lean mass, do weight training. If you want to lose fat, eat at a caloric deficit. That's it, its simple. You just need to put in the hard work and time.

flatlndr wrote: »

I lift 3x a week, 35 min cardio 2x a week, and hike (2 hrs) each week. I dropped 105+ lbs in 9 months (on maintenance now). But I'd say (unscientifically) that 80% of my loss was due to nutrition/calorie intake, and 20% due to exercise. Exercise is great for loss and fitness, but if you don't adjust the intake, you're not addressing the whole picture.

It's true weight loss is mostly about food. Stop eating so much and you will lose weight, but don't eat too little either, that's unhealthy. You want to eat the right amount, hence the slight deficit.

Strength train and control your calories, that's the magic formula. It's possible that cardio you did actually didn't help much. A better way to go is to start with controlling food and do 3x a week weight training, then only add in cardio incrementally if the results aren't showing. Build it up over time, make small adjustments to start.