Kevin you always have awesome advice !
You're doing really well on your weight loss journey too, so you practice what you preach huh ? Good work, man.
Exercise is not essential but it helps *A LOT*. You can create a calorie deficit just sitting around and eating like a sparrow but it's much easier to do it by working out as hard as you can, at least 20 minutes 5-6 times per week ... if not more of course. You make sure to be careful and not to cheat too much in the kitchen and then the pounds are coming off slowly but surely, simple recipe.
The main thing is to do something, even walking is good exercise if you are not in really good shape when you begin, you start with that and then you work HARDER when the exercise becomes too easy for you.
Exercising makes you feel good too, there's this hormone that gets in your blood stream when you exercise (I forget the name now), that's why you feel good, especially right after a work out, you don't want to binge eat too after having exercised hard so it prevents you from getting in trouble.
Plus when you work out, you get more muscular and this helps you to burn more calories later on ... even sitting around doing something close to nothing, you'll burn more calories than before if you have more muscles.
How can you go wrong if you follow your diet and you train every day. I've been doing really well the past few days, spot on with the diet, exercising *HARD* every day too ... not even feelin' tired or anything, whoa ! ...
I'm close to my lowest weight in a month now and my monthly moving average is going down slowly but surely.
Quick tip !!
I've noticed I am better with the diet when I don't have a lot of tempting items in the house ... so I'm not buying as many bags of bagels and cookies as I was doing before (Even today I was at the grocery store and I saw those DATE/FIG cookies that I like WAY TOO MUCH, I didn't buy any even if they were on special and it was a good deal, I thought if I buy 3-4 bags of those cookies I'll be tempted way too much if I know they are in the cupboard - - so I let 'em be.
I only buy one bag of bagels at a time and I freeze 'em, only taking out one at a time if I really want one ... as for the cookies, I try to buy the really plain ones now so they are less tempting then some others. No special DATE/FIG/CHOCOLATE CHIP cookies.
Cheers !
Marc
Nov. 1st 2008 : 280 pounds
Nov. 1st 2009 : 190 pounds (-90 pounds)