Keep moving, the numbers don't lie

I don’t agree with the premise of Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin because the article assumes that all people who exercise rigorously reward themselves with non-nutritious food, thus negating the benefits of exercise, so why bother to exercise at all.  That’s silly.  Exercise is good for you, for a whole host of mental, physiological, and emotional reasons.  Equally, if you find yourself rewarding your hard work with non-nutritious food, then yes, you’re taking 3 steps forward and 4 steps back.  More to the point, while I will agree that exercise alone won’t necessarily help you lose and maintain weight (only proper nutrition can), I think a combination of vigorous exercise, proper nutrition AND (this is critical) MORE constant, daily motion are the key to better overall health.  Constant motion?  Let’s do the math.

24 hrs / day
7 days / week
60 mins / hr
10,080 Starting Mins Per Week

2,940 -- Sleep (7hrs / night)
3,600 -- Work (60 hrs / wk)
300 -- Travel (Commute, 30 mins * twice a day * 5 days); assumes automobile commute
420 -- 1 hr of TV every day (probably conservative)
1,260 -- 3 daily, 1 hr meals (Bkfst, Lunch, Dinner)
420 -- 1 hr daily on personal grooming / dressing (male + female average)
420 -- Misc (restroom, breaks, etc); 1 hr everyday
9,360 Subtotal Non-Exercise

420 -- 7 days of 1 hr fitness classes / gym / dedicated exercise (probably generous for some)
420 Subtotal Exercise

300 Surplus / (Deficit) Minutes
5.0 Surplus / (Deficit) Hrs

RESULTS
4% Minutes spent on exercise activities
93% Minutes spent on non-exercise activities
3% Surplus minutes

Based on the assumptions above, if you’re already spending roughly 90% of your weekly time on non-exercise (no motion at all) specific activities, nutrition aside, telling people to MOVE MORE makes more sense than telling them to not exercise at all.  While your specific minute consumption times may vary, on average none of us are moving as much as we should, gym or not.  Run your numbers and see where you shake out...I'm going for a walk.