How much time do YOU need?

I work out almost every day until I have burned 400 calories - for me, this is about 40 minutes. I can no longer run, so outside of walking, I do all of my working out indoors on machines, and 40 minutes is the most I can stand. Good thing, because it takes burning 400 calories a day for me to maintain my weight and still drink wine, have desserts occassionally, and go out to eat. I can't go crazy, but I get to have what I want - as long as I'm working out. The two go together; to control your weight, you have to watch what you eat and know what your limits are, AND you have to work out. And I mean WORK - that's why they call it "working out"! You want to increase your metabolism enough to burn off the extra calories you consume - you do this by working out, and the harder you work out, the longer your potential is to burn those extra calories. Of course, if you don't EAT the extra calories, the ones that are burned are the ones stored as FAT - which makes you LOSE weight! Figure out what's it going to take for you to maintain a balance that fits your lifestyle, and you'll know what you can get away with (another glass of wine!) - Melissa