Exercise: How much?

Hi August family, I wanted to see what your experiences have been with exercise and how it impacts your weight loss. I work out 6-7 times per week. I go to Curves 3x/wk (usually for 40 minutes) and I walk 30-50 minutes the other days. My heart rate is where it needs to be, and although I have never gotten that runner's high or the equivalent, I really am enjoying the feeling of knowing that I've exercised for the day. At nine months out, I obviously am not losing lots, nor am I losing quickly. But I continue to slowly lose pounds and inches. And I know I am gaining muscle, but I don't know if it's enough to offset or slow down the weight loss a whole lot. However, I am wondering if you have found that working out MORE makes you lose less weight, and/or lose more slowly? It seems that the weeks I exercise 4-5 times, for about 30 minutes per time, I lose better. (This is assuming no changes with water, food, etc.) However, I hate to intentionally cut my exercise time short, when I know that I should be doing 40-50 minutes per day, 5-6 times per week. I've heard that the healthy heart likes five hours of exercise a week. Wow - I'm not close to that, but better than I once was. For example: Last week I worked out six times and lost one pound; this week I worked out seven times and stayed the same. I'm not getting panicky about being done with my losing, but just trying to demonstrate what's going on. What are your thoughts on this? Does anyone have experience with this strange-seeming phenomenon? You'd think that more exercise would lead to more loss, but not necessarily - at least with my body! Thanks for your input, Kathryn -101

Wow Kathryn, you're my hero! I wish you lived closer and could kick my butt into gear! I was working out 5-6X/week, but kind of "fell off the wagon" about 6 weeks ago and haven't worked out a bit. Before that I found that I was losing inches a lot faster than weight though. The cool thing is that the more muscle you build, the higher your metabolism will be, the more weight you will lose. I think for awhile, working out will slow weight loss (b/c you're replacing fat with muscle and muscle weighs more), but eventually your body will kick into gear and you'll lose the stores of fat just to keep your muscles going! My mom and sister-in-law both were heavy and got into running (like marathon running). Now they both can eat whatever they want and don't gain a pound. It took awhile for them to lose the weight, but when they did they replaced it with lean muscles and look great! I think as long as you concentrate on weight lifting and a good cardio like running, you'll be doing great! Thanks for keeping us up to date on you, and making me feel guilty enough for not working out that I actually want to work out now!!!! Lots of love, Dawn (Keep up the good work!)

Hi Kathryn: I also exercise an hour a day 6 days a week alternating circuit training/weights with walks on the treadmill. I've lost 88 pounds since August 16 of last year and am losing it slower and slower. BUT- have you measured your inches lost yet? I have lost 57.5 inches and have gone down from a size 30 to a size 18W! BTW congrats on breaking the century mark. I find I feel much better after I exercise hard. I feel like a million bucks. To answer your query, I'd say that more exercise means more calories burned. And in order to lose weight you have to burn more than you lose. So I wouldn't suggest dropping down on the exercise. Mini plateaus while hard to explain and depressing when they happen. But they are just that. Plateaus. Barbara Open RNY 8/16/04 296/208 -88

I thought I was the only one who had this problem! In fact, this week I intentionally cut back on my workouts....and guess what? I broke my 3-week weight plateau! Hummm.... Oh well, I still think that the Curves workouts are doing me good. I do need to up my workouts to include walking every night. I talked with my doctor about jogging this week, and he really discouraged it. I wasn't thinking about getting into marathon racing, but just jogging like I used to as a young teen. Doctor C. suggested I just walk fast....get some good shoes and if I felt like breaking into a jog, it would probably be OK. I was just looking for a way to break this plateau! Now, I am just a couple of pounds away from the magic "200." I cannot wait to get there, and I have promised myself a nice, long massage when I get below 200. Now, going from a size 28-30 to a size 16-18 (and some 12's!) has been a terrific boost of confidence! Just today, I went out with shorts and a sleeveless top----for the first time since high school or college! I cannot believe it! Plastic surgery is not going to be in my future. My insurance will not cover it, and frankly, I don't want to go through another major surgery unless I really need to. I have had my share of surgeries for one lifetime! Diet and exercise may not get my lower abs flat as a super-model's, but at least I feel more comfortable in public. Sounds like you are doing GREAT! You are an inspiration to all of us! Keep it up, girl! ~Laura 286/202/160