Being overweight and having lost 35 lbs this year with plenty to go(I'm still overweight), I would say that you are more likely to work out and be active if you lose weight. That doesn't require much if any exercise, just an intelligent diet.
I'm not anti-exercise and I've worked out a lot in the past, but I've found that being skinnier makes being active easier and more fun. Moving sucks if you're carrying an extra 50-100 lbs. around. Most skinny people don't really get this.
So, I've focused on nailing the diet and that works for me. I basically didn't exercise more than once a week so far this year, but now that I'm down quite a bit, I am naturally finding myself to be more active.
In the long run both exercise and eating right are incredibly important, so if you're overweight and want to be more active, get rid of the extra weight and you might find yourself exercising more by default.
I've lost 25% of my body weight this year (I started on 4 Jan) -- 16 to 12 stone, ~100kg to 75kg. I've run marathons and climbed mountains in the past -- big Himalayan lumps and I've sumitted Denali, for example -- so I know what fit means. Or at least my body does.
Exercise comes naturally after losing weight, It is incredibly hard when you are overweight. At the start of the year I would sweat walking around the supermarket. Now, I run six miles over the local hill for an hour and a half. And it's marvellous. But it isn't easy. It requires single minded, selfish determination.
As a guy who went 110kg to 80kg, I can attest to it being easier and more fun when you don't have the equivalent of an extra sandbag wrapped around your torso. One particular thing that happened was that it just became so easy to break into a run to get somewhere it little bit quicker.
(Five years later I'm back up to 95ish, but I'm on the way down again. Remembering what it was like is a good motivator.)
Couldn't agree more. Most people will tell say it's 80% diet, 20% exercise... and, though that ratio may change somewhat based on weight & goals, I think it's mostly right on.
> Moving sucks if you're carrying an extra 50-100 lbs. around. Most skinny people don't really get this.
I was always a skinny guy most of my life. 4 months ago, I was 5'11", 140lbs, really lean. I recently got serious about weight training and bulking up, lots of high calorie/carbs/fats/proteins, and I'm now up to 177lbs. I'm not exactly fat, but that extra weight is killer. All of my movements are slower, walking up stairs gets me out of breath. I never really understood how much extra weight affects people until now.
I'm not anti-exercise and I've worked out a lot in the past, but I've found that being skinnier makes being active easier and more fun. Moving sucks if you're carrying an extra 50-100 lbs. around. Most skinny people don't really get this.
So, I've focused on nailing the diet and that works for me. I basically didn't exercise more than once a week so far this year, but now that I'm down quite a bit, I am naturally finding myself to be more active.
In the long run both exercise and eating right are incredibly important, so if you're overweight and want to be more active, get rid of the extra weight and you might find yourself exercising more by default.