X-Post: Diet trumps exercise during weight loss

I'm willing to grant you an exemption, on a non-preferential basis, to reclassify Twizzlers as a vegetable. Hey, I tell  my dietitian I count popcorn as a veggie.

You can no longer claim gluttony, or sloth, as your sin of choice. You'll need to choose another.

Okay now that the best sins are gone I guess I'll settle for Twizzlers being transformed into a vegetable. 

I didn't exercise at all during weight loss and I did as well or better than most. I think one of the most important reasons to exercise in maintenance is for mood stabilization. Exercising or not exercising has no impact on my scale, but the positive effect it has on my mood helps me to keep my calories in check.  

...and sleep.  It absolutely impacts the quality of my sleep at night 

I agree and have always said weight loss was 80% food and 20% exercise and still do especially since I am an emotional eater. Exercise for me however has given me things that diet can't and never will. It has given me an outlet to reduce my stress and motivates me to make the right food choices. The most important thing exercise gave me (in particular weight lifting) was the muscle that was building and emerged as the weight dropped off. I love the muscle, definition and how strong I feel!

I so agree.  In fact, I DON'T work out.  period.  I work 9 hour days, sometimes longer, plus my commute.  I'm happy to engage in fun activities that are active like hiking, etc.  But I've never been able to stick to a gym routine, and quite frankly, I just have too many other things I'd rather do with the little free time that I have, like spend it with loved ones, friends, and family.  So I made a point of telling myself that I needed to be able to reach my goals and find a maintenance weight that felt good to me with diet alone.  I didn't ever want to get to a place where I HAD to work out X days a week in order to maintain my weight or risk gaining again, since I knew those chances were slim.  Some people start working out and realize the love it and feel invigorated, yada, yada.  I'm just not one of those people.  I realized what was realistic for me and planned accordingly.  Kudos to those who actually CAN keep up a workout routine though.  I do realize that nice strong muscles and muscle definition are awesome.  It just wasn't in the cards for me.

Tracy,

I always love your posts. Once again you are right on. Good luck to all the newbies.

Robin