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As I wrote about a few days ago, so many people's thoughts on the "purpose" of exercise is pretty far off the mark, which leads them into disillusionment with fitness and a disappointment that they're not "getting skinny" from their (often overestimated, see my "Discrepancies" post from last week) physical activity. I read a blog the other day whose writer listed loading a 25-lb. cat tree (you know, those carpet-covered posts with cubbies in them for kitties to climb and hide in) into and then out of her vehicle as exercise. I mean, it's arbitrary; you can call anything other than lying completely still "exercise" but that doesn't mean your body recognizes it as such and responds to it by increasing endurance or building strength.

I think the quote above says it best: exercise is a replacement for the natural activity we should be getting. But as our modern, Western world becomes ever-increasingly car- and desk- and ass-centric, almost all of us lack the "natural activity" our bodies developed to perform. I can't really walk anywhere from my house, except to other houses. Suburban living just isn't designed that way. The closest "anywhere" is a CVS about four miles away...I mean, I obviously am capable of walking four miles and back but why would I? I'd be on an unsafe, winding, busy road with no shoulder or sidewalk for most of it. I'm not averse to convenience and safety as much as I promote activity and fitness. Like most Americans, city or suburb, I barely have to leave my house if I don't want to. There is virtually nothing I can't order online, from groceries to clothing to prepared food to household goods...I really never have to set foot in brick-and-mortar store again, if I don't want to. I can do almost all my bill-paying, financial planning and banking online (if I have to deposit an actual paper check, there's always a drive-thru).

Exercise in relation to weight loss, maintenance and fitness/strength goals is its own animal. You cannot bargain with your body. It just isn't designed that way. You cannot say "this workout cancels out the taco salad I had for lunch" or "I earned this ice cream sundae by my workout this morning." Incidentally, running a half-marathon (13.1 miles) burns about 1,300 calories and takes an average runner a little over two hours to complete. So stick that in your next Big Mac meal (which is about 1,300 calories) and smoke it.

The other side of the coin is that sometimes, a little less is actually better for you. Alfonso's post today is about the length of workouts. Sometimes, people get way too hung up on the concept of "face time," when "quality time" is more important. To borrow some more of the dreaded corporate-speak, it's about working smarter, not necessarily working harder. I used to work out an average of two to three hours per day, every day, for years...I ran and lifted every morning and did two classes at CCFA every night. On the weekends, I was at CCFA for three hours every Saturday and Sunday would be my "long" run days (that's in quotes because as much as I love to run and as often as I used to do it, I am not naturally good at it so my "long" runs would be maybe five miles, unless I was with Corey or John who would push me to do seven sometimes). When I had to eliminate CCFA from the regimen last summer, I panicked...cutting down from three hours of exercise a day to only ONE? What was going to happen to me?

The answer is: nothing. I work out every day (I took a day off about three weeks ago at the height of my head cold...can't remember when my last day off before that was) for about an hour, but at least two days each week it's only 30-40 minutes of cardio and some abs. I lift five days a week and I do cardio every day except Mondays when I'm with Mark, but, all told, I rarely get in more than 60 minutes on any given day any more. I am still maintaining my weight exactly the same as it was when I was working out for three hours a day, five days a week. I am actually carrying much more muscle mass and much less body fat than I was then. My diet hasn't changed. My basal metabolic rate is supposedly about 1370 calories/day (again, this could be wayyyyy off...anything that just plugs in your height, weight and age is not to be taken as gospel)...my food journaling experiment back in January proved true my estimate that I take in between 1400-1800 calories/day...and I'm going to estimate (low) that my hour workouts average a 500-calorie burn...so I should be running a deficit of a couple hundred calories or breaking even every day.

So, why exercise if not as the antidote to food? For me, working out is about increasing muscle mass and muscle strength, improving cardiovascular endurance, and increasing visible muscle definition. I know my body isn't going to do any of these things very well if it isn't given the proper nutrients to do it with, hence the clean diet. I don't go to the gym to "burn off" the ten black olives (OMG! That's like 90 calories right there!) I put on my salad or to "earn" the rare frozen green tea chai latte from the coffee shop downtown... I go because I love the feeling of accomplishment (even on my not-great days, something is always better than nothing), the adrenaline sparkle that lasts through the evening and so I can wear clothes from the juniors department.