Why do you exercise? - Page 2

But if you notice: hey I'm getting fatter and an extra 10 miles/wk (because most people link LISS to fat loss) changes nothing so you know you have to clean up your diet, and following USDA crap doesn't work, I'd say manning up and figuring out what works for you is a part of being responsible.

I agree 100% with this. When people can clearly see themselves getting out of shape, and they do nothing about it, that is being negligent. The problem is when people are led to believe that they can improve their health through exercise, and exercise alone, without making serious diet/lifestyle changes. The point I'm trying to make is that their indolence is merely a product of what has caused them to become fat and inactive in the first place, and not an underlying character flaw.

Pretty much this.

I'd also add: for that "fuck yeah" feeling immediately after lifting X more weight/reps than last time.

That's kind of my #1 reason right now. The rest: solid looks, overall health is a great by product.

Oh, and can we please STFU with this long inane posts that ultimately derail the thread?!?!?

mm, I'm looking at you.

I know that I'm a consistent cause of annoyance to you, embowafa, for which I apologize. I just try my best to make my point, and defend my argument, so I don't look like I'm just making things up.

I don't think I know anyone who honestly thinks that getting in shape only involves exercising. Conversely, I do know people who can stay in shape "just" by exercising, but they are a) outliers b) training to a 3000+kcal deficit (and obviously, not training so they can eat 5000kcal a day, they are training for other reasons)

I still don't see how you think that a crappy diet leads to a lack of exercise, unless its just that its hard to train on (semi true) and you won't see results, and therefore give up motivation. That I can see happening.

Kajak, I can elaborate on, and explain these points, but I don't want to further derail the thread. You can PM me if you'd like.

because I can't rely on my hair anymore, lifting is just so damn fun too

There is somewhat of a distinction between health, fitness, and leanness. Exercise will improve your health, and is basically the only way to increase your fitness. It may not make you lean. Diet, however, will certainly not make you fit by itself. A lot of health problems are most properly dealt with by activity, and diet plays a lesser role, if any.

Aside from the obvious vanity reasons, I genuinely enjoy lifting for the activity itself. It's a running joke in my family how lazy or unmotivated I am. And truth be said, that's spot on for a lot of areas in my life. Lifting, however, isn't one of them.

Even though I've made more progress in my lifts over the last five months than pretty much the previous three years combined, lifting has always been an enjoyable reprieve from the outside world.

Here's a great quote from Jim Wendler that I empathize with:

"What I've always done is make sure lifting remains a huge part of my life, even if just for the soul-soothing regularity of being somewhere and doing something that I can control."

Diet, by affecting and impacting activity levels, will make you fit. I wholeheartedly disagree with you here, Gib. I would say that diet plays the most pivotal role in the improvement and treatment of health problems. The beneficial effects of activity and exercise on health are surely important, but, as I've stated, the diet is what's directly impacting how much activity you chose to do in the first place. A deficient diet cannot be replaced by running on the treadmill. Nutrition is the most essential factor.

1) people watching at the gym beats people watching everywhere else 2) good excuse to use sauna & whirlpool 3) i like looking better in my late 30s than i did in my mid 20s 4) sportswear is cute (when worn for its intended purpose)

This. Well, besides the competitive athlete part.

I exercise and keep my diet in check mainly because I feel that if you don't it's wasted potential. Why not try to push your physical limits, especially since we as humans have the genetics and resources to build our bodies into anything we want? Seems like cutting yourself short not to...

I can't really take this argument seriously when you're trying to say that eating well is causative for activity. What possible evidence do you have to support this? A person who is fundamentally physically lazy, dislikes activity, has no appreciation or experience with sport, etc, is not suddenly going to start playing sports, running, and hitting the weight room simply because they have a spot on diet. If you're already inclined towards those activities, and have time, then sure you're going to be more apt to do them if your diet is good. Even then I'd say going from "good" to "excellent" wouldn't have much effect. But it's crazy to say that it's causative. Again let's be clear about what we mean by diet. You can have a diet that provides 100% of your requirements, and not be especially lean, if you're consuming too many calories. It is not "deficient" in anything, and the person's health is not going to suffer from the lack of leanness unless they push it too far and become seriously overweight or obese. There's no solid evidence that extremely lean people have better long term health (somewhat the opposite in fact), but there's substantial evidence that active people have much better health outcomes. Activity increases muscle mass, increases bone mass and strength in aging people, improves mood, improves heart and lung function, etc. You need a good diet to be able to work out effectively, but you can't get those things just by diet, even with a perfect diet. Obviously a perfect diet AND activity would be ideal.