it helps that if you exercise somewhat robustly for an hour you'll knock off 400 calories, too, but...
A 175lb man can run a half-marathon & burn off two Big Macs. Hardly worth the effort.
burn 350 calories per day and after 10 days you've lost a pound. that's an additional 3 pounds per month over dieting alone PLUS the increase in resting caloric burn rate via being less of a metabolic slug.
but i can understand how it might be too much effort for some. kinda sad, but understandable.
Oh And Dave I thought you worked at hospital
not a soup kitchen heh heh
another government intrusion in the workings of private enterprise
Only in teh more liberal states. In the right to homeless drink states, they take what they can get.
All good & well, but you have to *really* watch that you don't increase your calories when exercising. I've known people who started exercising regularly, and eating more because they reach the "I'm-so-hungry-I'm-gonna-pass-out" stage. Ultimately it comes down to simple maths, input < output to lose weight. You can lose a bunch of weight by reducing intake alone. Won't tone you, but it'll make you lose that ass.
For the record, I exercise 5 times per week, approx 50 minutes per session. I lost 30 kilos (66 lbs) over the course of a year.