My wife said to me a few years ago "Don't you think that you are getting a little carried away with the walking?" as I headed out on another of my daily hour long after dinner walks. I replied with a question: "So is sitting down watching TV for 2 or 3 hours after dinner is a better choice?" She's never complained again about my daily exercise routine. According to this study, it looks like moving is a good move and the amount that I do on average appears to be optimal.

One thing that this article fails to point out, though, is that it is somewhat associational. Exercise is great for you. There is no arguing that point. But I know for a fact that for me diet has a causal relationship with exercise. When I ate a terrible carb & processed food rich diet I ate too much, had no energy, and the last thing that I wanted to do was to get out of my recliner and move. I was all about conserving energy - shortest distance between two points. But once I fixed my metabolism by eating a healthy diet that was right for my body, I was suddenly bursting with energy. I couldn't help but move. My weight had little to do with it. I still weighed 375 pounds when I started a regular walking routine. In the past 30 years I made several extended attempts at weight loss, mostly from low carb "dieting." Every time that I managed to get on a roll with the diet, exercise joined the party. I found that I enjoyed the exercise. When the "diet" floundered and I returned to eating the SAD, the exercise that I enjoyed floundered a short while later, too. I don't think that was a coincidence.

So the way I see it -- eating a good diet is going to extend ones life all on its own. A good diet + exercise may extend life even more. But eating a good diet one is likely to move more naturally. For me, moving more is really not an option. Moving as much as I do? Well, I enjoy the exercise and how I feel as a result of it. I do make time for it - just like a hobby or other activity that one enjoys doing. But the question here is... Will a person with a broken metabolism eating an awful diet benefit much from moving more - even if they force themselves to do it? My guess is yes - but maybe not as much as the person eating a healthy diet that doesn't get their 150+ active minutes in each week. Who knows? Moving too much with a body riddled with inflammation might even be counter productive. I say that exercise is important, but a healthy diet is the foundation of a long and healthy life.