,feel better, and know they are taking care of themselves in a really important way WITH NO FOCUS ON WEIGHT LOSS AT ALL. After this approach has become internalized THEN starting to learn how to make dietary changes that can be sustained. Going back to what you suggested. It may be that exercising will organically lead one to eat better and more healthier foods. If this happens of course it’s a bonus, but exercise is best sustained if it is not connected to losing weight.

These results, coupled with those described in your last post, make me wonder if low-intensity exercise might be more conducive to improving well-being–I mean, since it boosts energy, which would be interpreted by most people as a state of well-being. Then again, there’s a sense of euphoria that accompanies hard-core or risky exercise (e.g., mountain climbing), and I can imagine that being associated with well-being too.

I didn’t know that research shows exercise to contribute very little to weight loss, but it makes sense if you count calories. Sitting still, you might burn 90 calories an hour, and with brisk walking, you burn 350. One candy bar or 3-4 cookies completely obliterate the benefit, calorie-wise. What we eat affects our weight SO much more than how frequently we exercise. (Although I have read that activity during the day — standing, moving about, etc. — can definitely add up to weight loss.)

Anyway, I wonder if regular exercise contributes indirectly to weight loss via its effect on what we eat. I know that when I’m exercising regularly, I feel the effects of junk food more acutely. The dry mouth, headache, and bloating after a sugar rush seem like more of an assault on my body, so I’m drawn to fresh fruits and veggies. Plus, fresh plant foods have lots of water, and since exercise makes you thirsty, they become more appealing. Do you know if anyone’s done research on how exercise changes the foods people crave?