Interesting article about exercise and weight loss

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=1871

Basically, it says that a lot of people are much more sedentary than they realize and that's why they train for triathlons and still don't lose weight.

Great article. I found this to be very true when I was wearing my Bodybugg. The days I was just running errands all day I would burn more calories than the days I exercised. Spending the day trying on clothes at the mall was a great way to burn calories. Just staying busy makes a huge difference. Being on the computer was the same as being asleep.

I think it' a pretty good article. Before we all started excercising post surgery, we all probably tried to find ways to get in a little more activity, like park at the furthest stall at the store so you had to make a little longer walk to get inside, use stairs instead of elevator, etc... I don't agree that triathletes find themselves not losing weight because they don't manually roll up a window or manually open a garage door anymore. For the triathletes who train 10-20 hours a week and don't lose weight are eating terrible food, or are not eating enough. Of course we are sedintary after 2-3 hours of intense training a day, our bodies are wrecked, and we need to let our body heal and recover. I think we should always try to find ways to be more avtive but I jut don't really buy into the whole "I train 2 hours a day and am gaining weight" thing... As for burning far less calories than we think... It's real easy" Basal Matebolic rate (2650 calories for me) and 2+ hours of excercise, minimum a day equals at least 1500 calories burned. 2650 (MBR) + 1500 burned calories = 4150 burned a day. There is no way to dispute the fact that calories are being burned all day with  a strong metabolism. The only other factor is your intake. Even if I take in 5350 calories in a day (which is pretty hard for me to do) I still only net 1200 calories a day and that's a good place to be to "Maintain" weight. Anyways, off my soapbox, I think it';s a good article to raise awareness about how we can be more active, I am just not buying the whole concept. My two cents worth, I know I probably have change coming!!!

I don't think the author would disagree with you necessarily, Dan. She does touch on the issue of eating more and eating poorly.

I think it all contributes. I know a lot of triathletes who eat like crazy and eat a lot of junk. Some are a good weight, some complain about gaining or not losing. I think they could all could benefit from eating better, but the ones who want to lose and aren't really need to be more aware of what and how much they are putting in their mouth.

When I read this article, I thought of all the people on the boards who complain about how they are doing "everything right" but aren't losing fast enough or are in a stall. The studies quoted show how easy it is for people to fool themselves about how much they are eating and how much they are moving. This is why I write EVERYTHING down. Then it's there in black and white and I can see the cause of any weight issues and can't fool myself about what I am and am not doing.

Good Points! The more I thought about this article as I trained today, the more laughable it became to me. To couple the words Triathlete and sedentary in the same article is kind of funny. Yeah, I will probably relax today and loaf around, but I swam 1.5 miles and ran 9.5 miles and would consider, regardless of what I do the rest of the day, my life to be anything but sedentary. Anyways, I agree that we all need to be more active, it certainly can't hurt and I think I would run out of paper real quick if I wrote everything I ate down . Have a great weekend...

Go green... do it online like I do.

I think writing it down is more important if you are gaining (or not losing when you need to). I get tired of people whining about how they aren't losing weight, but they refuse to keep track of their food.

I anticipate the day that I don't have to write it all down, where I can kind of tell just by how I feel. But that day isn't here. I have too many years of bad eating behind me and not enough of good eating to trust my instincts just yet.

I hear ya... Take care girl...

I recently read the initial study on this (for school) that appeared in one of the scientific journals.  It made some of the same points.  In fact, they showed that lean sedentary people are vertical and/or moving for 2.5 hours more per day than their obese counterparts.  I can easily see how this can be.  Even during classes at school, you can see some people fidget and others who are really quite still.  My husband is often that way as well.  He can sit in his chair for hours on end looking at stuff on the web.  The cats sit with him.  I move around much more often so the cats won't sit with me.  We probably eat near the same amount of calories per day also and he's a much larger person than I am (6'1" 235#).

Linn

I remember when I was younger and first started to chunk up. It seemed like my body always wanted to be at rest. I wouldn't stand if I could sit or move if I could stand. I am a fidgeter but it mostly came out in my hands. But, since the surgery, I can't stop moving. Even when I sit at the computer "all day", I'm getting up and moving around periodically. It's like my brain gets a message: you've sat long enough, time to take a movement break.

I really think most of this is hormonal/chemical.