An article in yesterday's New York Times points on the variables that can determine how much fat you can lose through exercise. If I read it and didn't realize that the point of exercise has nothing to do with fat loss, I'd be kind of depressed.

When I was still stuck in the Fitness Matrix, I used to go to the gym in the smelly basement of the community center where my daughter was in nursery school. I'd drop her off with a quick kiss, because I had to beat all the mommies to the two working treadmills. If I was the first one in the gym, sometimes I could even sabotage the stereo so I wouldn't have to jog to 80-beats-per-minute Top 40.

Virtually every time I was about done with my workout, there entered a very sweet, very overweight man who was also working out. His machines of choice were the treadmill and the stationary bike. His routine never varied: 45 minutes of cardio while listening to something on the radio and reading a book. He was there at least 5 times a week for at least 8 years, and he never lost an ounce.

Was he one of the unlucky ones whose metabolism just didn't respond to exercise? Did his daily workout make him ravenously hungry, taunting him to re-consume all the calories he'd just burned? Did he just have fat-hogging genes?

I don't know his specifics, of course. But I do know that exercising for weight loss is like driving a car all morning because you plan on filling it up again at noon. It's completely backwards.

For your ideal weight, here's the formula:

1. Figure out how active you want to be
2. Consume as many calories as you need to fuel that activity level
3. Consume those calories from plant-based whole foods as much as possible - especially greens, vegetables, beans, and fruit

So why exercise? Because we have these bodies, and when you come right down to it, that's all we have. Everything we want to accomplish in life, everything we want to experience - we need our bodies to get it done or experience it. So exercising is both a peak experience and a preparation for future peak experiences. It's the "Use it or Lose it" principle applied to ourselves.

If 45 minutes on a treadmill is not your idea of a good time, there's no reason to do it. Find something that floats your boat. Last night I played 90 minutes of Ultimate Frisbee. Hard running, cutting, jumping, diving (once, anyway). The time flew by, because I wasn't "exercising." I was playing. Find your body's joy and push yourself to a new high.

Once you start eating whole-foods, plant-based, your weight will start to take care of itself.