Yeah, I've noticed since I've lost my weight that the notion of exercise comes more easily to me because it's easier for me to do now. It's not a conscious decision to exercise more in order to keep my weight off, in fact there's no decision for me to need to make; I don't really exercise much more at this point at all, though I certainly recognise that it's so much easier for me, and that I could do more if I wanted to. But at the same time, I haven't really needed to in my 2-and-a-bit years of maintenance so far.

Beforehand it was such a struggle, not because I didn't want to, but because it was so physically hard. I mean, you try carrying 100+ extra pounds with you for every moment of your life and see how motivating that feels.

Not to say that exercise is a complete waste of time, but I do think these study results are being misinterpreted in a kind of chicken-vs-egg kind of way. I'm with Volek and Phinney on this subject: "exercise is a wellness tool, not a weight loss tool".