What is the "right" amount of exercise?

Two half-hour dog walks and a gym session as described don't add up to 3+ hours. Maybe 2.

I don't currently have a dog but when I did, I never counted walking her as exercise. She was stopping all the time to sniff things, or play with her doggie friends, or I'd have to plant my feet firmly when she saw a squirrel because she was 87 pounds, and I couldn't get any kind of sustained heart rate increase out of it. (It's better than sitting on the couch, yes.)

I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with what OP is doing (other than the "lose it fast" mindset which has been dealt with by others in this thread). It spreads out activity over the day and involves a couple of rest days. I do more but I have time for it and I want to be able to eat more food than I am allotted by the MFP algorithm (I don't get many calories as a small-framed, 5'5", 40+ woman), but also because I spend 8 hours a day at a desk and moving makes me feel better in general, both physically and mentally.

stephakneeeee wrote: »

Increased caloric deficit, increased endurance.. I don't mean ramp it up by an additional 30 minutes or anything, but would an additional 5-10 mins be a good place to start? I've been consistent with the gym for 2 months now and I've noticed a definite improvement in my stamina so I'd like to continue to build upon that

Yeah, increasing your cardio for increased endurance is a reasonable goal, IMO.

There is no "right" amount other than meeting the AHA's minimum of 150 minutes of light to moderate exercise weekly.

I would urge you to start trying to change your mindset in regards to exercise and weight loss and start trying to think of exercise as it's own thing for fitness and overall health and well being. What you do should be sustainable not only while losing weight, but also going forward as regular exercise is really good for your health and overall well being.

The right amount really depends on what your fitness goals are. When I was racing bikes and doing a lot of endurance cycling events, I had to train a lot to get in those miles to be able to perform those events. It was often grueling and took up most of my available free time. It eventually became not that fun so I just ride for fun and fitness these days. The time I spend is variable and dependent on what I can do...I might go out for a quick 30-45 minute road ride or I might spend half a day or more in the mountains on the trails on my mountain bike, or I might just go to the gym and hit a spin class.

I love to exercise. I do a balance of cardio (dance, treadmill, dog walkin'), Strength (weighted squats, rows, etc), Balance (balance board, stairs, dance), and stretching (light, because I'm hypermobile).

The way to figure out what's right for you is to look at why you stopped in the past. Was it too much? Too boring? Too many injuries? I personally overdid it on yoga and hurt myself. I also now keep it lower impact cardio when my weight creeps up because I know it means I'm putting more strain on my knees/back/hips. I easily burn 500-700 calories going out dancing. Is that too much? No, I'm having fun and it's a good night for me. Can I do it 2 nights in a row? Yes. Can I also walk the dogs on back-to-back dance days? No, I find I need at least 12 hr recovery window.

Also-- you might want to look into lifting heavy. On days I lift, I cannot do 30 min cardio. You can be more efficient in your workouts and spend fewer hours at the gym while getting the same or better results. Often when people fall off the fitness wagon it's because life ramped up and they can't keep to 1 hr a day of fitness.

I think a goal of increasing stamina can be quite motivating, but that doesn't mean you necessarily need to spend more hours. You could work on spending the same amount of time on the cross trainer, but increasing the resistance, and the same amount of time strength training, but increasing the weight. Now, the "mind-set" piece deserves some exploration. As others have noted, an obsessive focus on ever-increasing rate of weight loss is not healthy. Often, it serves as a tool to distract from or cope with thoughts and feelings that are troubling (and can turn into a "disorder"). It's good that you are working with a therapist to figure some of that out, and it might be helpful to also find some additional things to do that are not weight/body focused, and involve other people so that you can turn your thoughts to other things.

For health goals, it's recommended that you get 150 mins a week exercise. This doesn't necessarily require any gym time or dedicated workouts and can easily be achieved for many people just be trying to be a bit more active during the 'normal life'. Taking the stairs, parking 5 mins further away or little changes through out the day can get you to that 150 mins. At most going for a 30 min walk most days and you're golden.

For fitness goals the right amount will depend on your fitness goal. Strength training and body building would have different 'right' amounts. Training for a half marathon and training just to keep a base level of aerobic fitness will also have very differing right amounts.

For weight loss goals the right amount is anywhere from zero to whatever your fitness/health goals require. Weight management happens primarily in the kitchen, not in the gym. I any many many other people here have lost significant amounts of weight while doing precisely no exercise at all. In fact it's often the case that starting to work out will have very little to no impact on the rate of weight loss as the additional activity results in a corresponding increase in calorie consumption to fuel those workouts and to satisfy the increased appetite that comes from burning those additional calories.

Besides you want to try and adopt an approach to weight loss that will work at the worst of times. If you're relying on exercise to maintain a calorie deficit then as soon as you can't (injury, busy schedule, illness) exercise your weight loss plan is shot. Far better to create your calorie deficit via your food intake then even if for whatever reason you can't workout it won't derail your progress. Then when you are hitting the gym you can increase your calories to properly fuel your activities and you'll still be in the required calorie deficit to continue losing weight.