mandy wrote::cry: I saw a story that said than an average sized person must work out 1 hour a day just to maintain their weight. But a trainer once told me that I should work out 30 mins a day. Oh well what can I do. (((Shruggy))) I started working out after work now that it is light outside. I have to believe that I am doing something good for myself.

1 Hour just to maintain weight? Unmitigated BS. did you work out one hour a day while reaching your weight? Doubtful.
Here's a rough estimate of weight maintenance. An average person needs to intake 10 calories for every pound they wish to maintain. If you weigh 150 and you're happy with that, you need about 1500 calories a day to maintain.
If you want to lose weight, you either reduce intake by 500 cals a day (1000 cals a day in this example (DO NOT DO THIS, ANYTHING BELOW 1200 IS DANGEROUS, THIS IS GIVEN FOR EXAMPLE ONLY) or add 500 calories worth of exercise to your daily regimen while maintaining 1500 cal intake.
Sedentary people burn fewer calories, and very active folks like Fenlason and mk10108 burn more.
burning 500 calories with cardio is a challenge, burning that many through resistance training is easy.
Another effect that is ignored is that adding lean body mass increases the amount of cals you burn while being sedentary, which for many of us is most of the time.
And the quickest way to reduce caloric intake is to reduce starches.
Unless you are a person who might conceivably ride 100 miles in a day, your body doesn't need the calories of a lot of starchy foods.
Also, overindulging in them causes spikes in blood sugar if you don't burn it off, which over time, combined with a sedentary lifestyle, leads to insulin resistance, also known as Diabetes, which makes it even harder to lose weight, and kills over time.
Stay active and eat sensibly, and you can maintain weight or reduce it without spending your life in the gym.
exercise is beneficial in many ways other than weight loss, too, as your body is designed to work, and is happiest with a certain amount of hard work per day.
Last time I wanted to lose weight in a hurry I had a rule that my meals had to be small enough to carry in one hand. You'd be surprised how well a couple of Fajita tacos will take away your hunger without stuffing you.
Twenty Min's on the elliptical tonight,
Jeanne did one ten min ride
Next Monday I get to test again.
That reminds me, Fenlason remember my freak out about my time for a mile run about a month ago?
One of the kids I work with is on the track team that uses that track, and it's not 220 yards around, it's 400 meters.
4 Laps is a mile. I ran/walked two. No wonder my time was so off.