Will exercise help me lose weight?

[poleidopy]

HA HA HA HA HA Stupid question, eh? But seriously...

I started my raw journey on December 15. Since then I have NOT exercised at ALL. I have lost 22lbs. If I did exercise, would I be losing more weight? I mean, I'm pretty happy with 22lbs in two months, but if I can lose more/faster then dang it, I want to! What workouts do you recommend? I still have about 42 lbs to lose (give or take a few ;) ) Right now I have two recorded episodes of Inhale yoga and some Leslie Sansone Walk Away The Lbs DVDs. What else would you recommend for a beginner (though I am very flexible and have a lot of stamina.) I'm leaning towards yoga, but was wondering if there is any one type of workout that best compliments a raw diet. Oh yeah, and I don't have the big bucks to spend on TTapp or anything like that. It would have to be something I can do on my own, find online, rent from the library or buy cheaply. Thanks!!!

[Nikkan18]

Hey!

Yes if you incorporate exercise, you will def lose more weight. personally when i went raw, i was walking about 50 minutes(i used to walk to my campus and back 25 min each way) and was dropping weight like there was no tomorrow and got down to 130 pounds

and also remember, if you exercise it healthier for you overall,

if you eat tooooooo much of anything, you can gain weight, so you def want to exercise even after you reach your goal weight!
(you can just walk which is great no tools needed, jogging though i am not a fan, swimming, and i highly recommend weight training----you will not get bulky, we do not have high testotorne levels as men do, so you will create lean FEMININE muscles while getting rid of excess fat! I love weight training, trust me it will help you get where you want)

[shadowknosl]

no, contrary to what most will tell you.There is no evidence that you exercise will cause you to lose weight.
now before everyone gets in a frenzy. I'm quoting scientific studies.
additionally let me quickly say.
Exercise is great for you. Health wise it improves muscle , heart beat, aging etc.
what is does not do it cause you to lose weight. there is no evidence to show such
best
The Shadowknos

[Mindy Sue]

no, contrary to what most will tell you.There is no evidence that you exercise will cause you to lose weight.
now before everyone gets in a frenzy. I'm quoting scientific studies.
additionally let me quickly say.
Exercise is great for you. Health wise it improves muscle , heart beat, aging etc.
what is does not do it cause you to lose weight. there is no evidence to show such
best
The Shadowknos

Ummm.... I beg to differ with you on this one. You are right that it doesn't "cause" you to lose weight, but it "helps" you lose inches.

You may not lose "weight" but you will definitely lose inches.

[skygazer]

exercise may not help you lose weight, but it definitely helps alter body composition (more muscle less fat).

I dont think that you need to start anything big for exercise. As posted earlier, walking is great.

If you do yoga, or anything, breathe deep. Our body burns fat best when the cells are getting lots of oxygen. This is why hard exercise is so effective, it gets you huffing and puffing and rids your lungs of the waste accumulated in them and delivers oxygen to the body.

I would practice yoga and deep breathing when you wake up and throughout the day when you remember to (its tough!) and pair that with light weight training to keep your body working efficiently and lean.

Practice in the morning and deep breathing throughout the day will keep you energized all day and will have you sleeping like a baby at night.

Also,
REBOUNDING! look into it. great exercise especially as you eliminate more waste from your body!

[Evie]

Exericise would speed up the wieghtloss process and firm up your skin as you lose weight. Other wise it could become "saggy" depending on how much weight you have to lose. I love beginner yoga videos and beginning pilates videos. We just got a Wii. It has helped increase our exerise as a family.

[cara4art]

In general, if one has more than a just a few pounds to lose, diet is the key to losing weight. However, exercise is just as important not only to lose weight but to help regulate and improve a number of markers, including body composition. You see, if we don't exercise, as we get older, we lose muscle which is so-o not good at all, because having that muscle on our bodies will allow us to live independently for much longer than otherwise. Back to the weight loss aspect of exercise - doing a serious weight-training program along with stellar nutrition will help recompose the body in favor of muscle over fat, according to one's genetics. Some people do put on muscle faster than others, while others have to work extremely hard for a long time to add a few ounces of lean tissue. Women in general don't have to worry about adding too much muscle - in fact, we have to be concerned about adding enough, IMO! Added muscle tissue will help calorie burn around the clock too. But you still have to keep a hawk eye on just how much you're eating and what, and this varies on different bodies. A final note, a decent cardio program with interval training in there will really help too. As far as what can be done at home, there are DVDs out there. A Y gym might be an affordable option too. But for a basic home gym, a bench with an incline feature, and a few sets of weights would be good too. Installing a pull-up bar in a safe place in your home and having a buddy assist you(because these are hard)for a few reps gets things moving on the upper body. There are a lot of body-weight only exercises that can be done in circuits that will torch calories too.
A last note about exercise - there's been a lot of talk elsewhere minimizing the effect of exercise on weight loss, and how people can lose weight by diet only. There are a couple of things wrong with that equation - one being that diet-only induced weight loss includes the loss of muscle tissue as well as fat, thereby reducing one's metabolism, one reason why people put the weight right back on and then some soon after they quit the diet. Also, one ends up a smaller, flabbier version of oneself, rather than reshaped the way it would be if one both were on a really clean diet AND proper exercise. Personally I found years ago that even with eating cleanly, things really didn't happen until I was exercising 5 days a week, plenty. As they say, your mileage may vary.

[Sweetness]

If you're going to quote studies, please provide links to the actual study (like pubmed.com) so we can read it?

For those interested in weight loss and exercise, I recommend googling insulin resistance and strength training. For those with a waist measurement of over 88cm, you may find the info quite useful.

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/330/7504/1363

[Lukesgramma]

During/after menopause, my weight started to creep up, even though I was eating only raw vegan foods and doing yoga 4-5 hours /week. I wasn't extremely overweight, but the extra weight was uncomfortable.

I tried eating less, but that was really hard. I'd lose a couple of pounds after being really hungry for several days, but then as soon as I ate again to satisfy my hunger, I gained the weight right back! Frustrating!

So I started walking and increasing the distance, and then finally started running. I now try to alternate days of running with days of cardio/handweights, plus still do yoga in the mornings (yoga is great).

In a few months, I lost over 10 pounds, which was all the menopause weight, plus some. That doesn't sound like much, but I'm only 5'1", and 10 pounds was a good portion of my body weight. Now I'm lean again, and I like that.

What I've found is that with exercise, I can eat more; and any weight that I lose, generally stays off. I weigh myself every morning, and I can actually see a day-to-day difference in weight gain/loss depending on exercise.

The more strenuous the exercise, the greater the effect; but it's good to start easy and build up. After a while, exercise can become very enjoyable, and even addicting - but a good addiction!

Of course, other great advantages of exercise are a stronger, more flexible body, better proportion, better posture, better digestion, and a happier outlook on life.

[cara4art]

Lukesgramma - you're right on, and a prime example of some of what I was referring to. Keep up the great work - this has already paid off for you! Over on a fitness board there are mostly younger women, who often say that diet is 80-90% of weight loss, but your example, and mine(even before I got to be older)are classic examples of exactly how important proper exercise is. I did yoga(very beginner Ashtanga)exclusively for a year and a half, and returned to basic weight training as I just didn't feel that my home yoga practice was "enough". Some of us really do need intense exercise, not only for weight control along with a clean diet, but simply to feel well! If I don't get sufficient exercise, I feel anxious, depressed, cranky and sluggish, even at approaching 63 here - I have a lot of nervous energy that MUST be channeled into physical activity. My husband would agree - LOL!

[Sweetness]

Btw, for those starting exercise programs it does pay to research what's out there and what studies say NOW about what works best. For instance, dropsets (esp. for women) work best for building lean muscle mass compared to the lift/wait/lift types of sets. HIIT burns more calories and does more good for your body than walking at a steady pace for an hour. If you're going to invest the time in exercise, it makes sense to know what your options are.. similar to eating.. eating a doughnut compared to eating an apple isn't the same thing. Yeah, it's both eating and the idea is the same, but the outcomes are different. For busy folks it is great to know you're getting the most exercise bang for your buck (time!). :)

[cara4art]

Sweetness - you're right on target too. Dropsets is exactly what I do, and for my cardio I include 2 sessions of HIIT per week, and 2 of regular intervals(not as intense as HIIT which should only be done a couple times a week anyway)but far more beneficial than slogging away slowly at a low level for an hour. I totally agree with you, because there's a lot more current info about what really works, and often in less time too. But people still have to be prepared to work - LOL, and hard!

[GoingtoRAW]

I just started exercising about two months ago and I have lost weight and I can definitely see and feel changes in my body. Based on "the study" the exercising may not have helped me to lose weight - but I think it did because I am burning calories. I work out 5 days a week. I do 45 minutes of cardio and I do upper and lower body exercises on the machines at least 4 days per week, sometimes 5. Whatever - I am losing weight. Aside from that all my pants, are all too big now. I had on a pair of pants yesterday and was rushing and forgot to put on a belt. I had to keep yanking my pants up all day. Felt great until I was walking up a flight of stairs and my pants almost came off my butt!!! Well actually that felt great too...like I am making progress! So you have nothing at all to lose from exercising!

[EveNyasia]

Drink plenty of water, at least 8 big glasses of water a day, and more if it is very hot, if you sweat a lot, or if you are exercising intensely, and eliminate fruit juices. Fruit juices have too many calories, so get your vitamins from fresh fruit, not the juice. You will begin to see changes in your body. So eliminate unnecessary calories.

[cara4art]

Another great story from GoingtoRaw about weight loss and exercise - way to go!