So Just How Important Is Exercise To Maintain Weight

I was chatting with someone last night who was asking me if I now exercised every day to stay slim, if I had some mad exercise regime at the gym where I banged out a 500 calorie treadmill run before work every morning and that, ultimately, was it impossible to maintain weight without exercise?

Now I have read loads of articles that say that it is statistically impossible to maintain weight without exercise but it isn't true! Of course you can maintain weight without exercise but it means you won't be able to have as many calories as if you were exercising!

When I broke my ankle last year I couldn't do any sport for months as my ankle was so weak so I just ate a bit less and my weight never changed.

Now if we are talking more than just weight and instead talking fitness and health then of course exercise is a great idea. I love playing sport now but I don't do it to maintain weight. I do it because I enjoy it and it means I am fit and healthy to be able to do everything else in my life.

I went to a gym for years believing that exercise was the key but I just got bigger. I would eat more out of the vending machine on the way back to the car then I ever did power floating in the swimming pools or lifting up weights thinking they were going to get me slim.

So what I am saying here is that you should exercise, but do something you enjoy (personally I don't like gyms at all!) but I love bowling, badminton and table tennis so I do that instead. When I used to be big and go to the gym I used to hate treadmills. I would do a 40 minute run and absolutely detest it, therefore I would force myself to go for a week or two but then manage to find really good reasons not to go and eventually gave it up. So, to do exercise long term, along with any other interest! The key is to find something you enjoy and do that instead. I recently played somebody at table tennis for 3 hours straight, not because I was panicking about my weight but because it was just a brilliant game and we were so closely matched that we wanted to play all night.

But don't think that you MUST do loads of exercise to be slim, if you have a desk job like I do and can't exercise every five minutes then it's a choice you need to eat less than a builder who plays football five nights a week after work or you will start to put weight on.

And of course exercise doesn't just mean doing something formal, walking is exercise, gardening is exercise, anything that gets your heart beating is exercise so don't wait to plan some huge gym adventure, just get more active and burn more calories.

Exercise is great, but i've never met anyone who maintains long term by NEEDING to go to the gym to do it.