Diet or Exercise: Which Is More Important For Losing Weight?
When I joined my gym last summer, I was entitled to a one hour session with a personal trainer. As with many of these complimentary sessions, I didn’t get training suited for me personally but rather got a tour of the gym and instructions as to how to operate the equipment without harming myself or others. I explained to him that I joined the gym because I needed to lose weight and felt the exercise would help me accomplish that. The trainer told me that weight loss was comprised of about 80% diet and 20% exercise. Ruh-roh. I didn’t see this one coming. I felt it would be much easier for me to increase my activity level than to lay off the Little Debbies, but it made me curious as to just what the right balance was. Was there really a general consensus as to the right mix? And if there was, what was it?
Deciphering the diet/exercise code is not easy because everyone with access to the internet has an opinion. It’s like your, um, pie hole – everyone’s got one. Researching any topic generally has some monkey studies associated with it and this was no exception. This article pointed to a study of 18 middle-aged female rhesus monkeys whose ovaries were removed to simulate human menopause; that lovely time of life that is generally associated with weight gain. They then put them on a standard human high-fat diet (standard for us in the U.S., that is). The grease-eating menopausal monkeys were then dressed in polyester pants suits and put on a bus to the local casino. No – not really. They were allowed to eat and exercise as much or as little as they liked and were observed at length. Basically, they were given the old Chuck E. Cheese treatment; except for the head-rattling noise and cheap-o prizes.
The conclusion was that diet mattered very little. Activity mattered quite a lot. The active monkeys were eight times more active than the lazier monkeys and it made a significant difference in how much they weighed. Even when a diet was introduced to the lazier monkeys, weight loss was minimal.
The researcher was not surprised at the lack of dieting success. Like humans, when the body senses fewer calories, it goes into a kind of survival mode and reduces the metabolic rate and activity level to compensate. His conclusion was that activity was key to weight loss.
I hate to say it, but math needs to enter the equation at some point here too. As I’m sure we all know by now, losing weight is a numbers game: more calories out than in. Each pound equals 3500 calories so that in order to lose weight, a calorie deficit must occur. This article favored an approach of diet being more essential to weight loss than exercise. While the benefits of exercise are numerous, including enhanced heart and mental health, it takes a heck of a lot of it to burn off enough calories to lose weight. Plus, it appears that we humans have a tendency to underestimate what we consume in food and overestimate what we expend in exercise. Who? Me? (Slowly puts down Little Debbie Deep Fried Éclair and Peanut Butter snack cake.)
A study cited in this second article showed that a reduced calorie program – regardless of its emphasis on fats, carbs or protein – caused weight loss in overweight adults. It made the point that food should be eaten more slowly so as to allow the food to be digested and signal your brain that you are in fact being fed; which takes about 20 minutes to register. Also, certain foods should be avoided because of their effect on certain brain chemicals which cause us to want even more of them. Care to guess which ones? Sweets, fats and salty foods – my three favorite food groups. You can still build a pyramid with just three blocks, right?
All in all, this article held that both diet and exercise are effective but placed an emphasis on diet.
And then there’s this third article which suggests that exercise may actually be adding to the obesity epidemic in this country. Their logic goes like this: Exercise stimulates hunger. Not only does it stimulate hunger but it also makes us engage in something called “compensation” – rewarding ourselves for working out by either eating more (because we’ve earned it, dammit!) or moving around less for the remainder of the day because we’ve “already exercised". They cite the Minnesota Heart Survey which reported that in 1980, 47% of the population said they got regular exercise versus 57% in 2000. And yet over that same time period, obesity rates exploded.
Conclusion for article #3: It’s more about what you eat and not how much you try to work it off. One suggestion they had in terms of solving this problem was to distribute our energy output more evenly throughout the day instead of just relying on one 45 to 90 minute burst, once a day at the gym.
Now that I’ve got you thoroughly confused, how do you feel about it? I know there are plenty of weight loss success stories out there who have obviously found the right balance for themselves. So how do you do it? Do you focus more on diet or exercise?
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Hey Crabby! I too have puzzled over all this. Seems to me (for me) that the most consistent and productive weight loss has been when I focus on diet and exercise. Having said that, focusing more on exercise is my current game play because I've got 7lbs to goal. When I hit goal who knows!! I just find that exercising in addition to watching what i eat )weightwatechers plan) means I can guarantee a weightloss because the balance of calories in and calories expended works out. When I focused just on diet I didnt really get anywhere. Mad how it's different for everyone!!!
CONFUZZLING! :)
I mean Gigi!!! sorry!! xxx
For me to lose weight I have to watch my diet like a hawk, keep a food journal to stay accountable about the calories, and do cardio exercise at least 45 minutes 5x a week. I think every person has to find the right mix for themselves there is no one size fits all plan.
To be healthy you've got to get some exercise and you've got to eat well.
To lose weight, I suspect you can get away with just cutting calories but you have to be an extremely ungreedy and highly energetic person who is exceptionally good at guesswork regarding their food intake, to get it right with just exercise.
For me diet and exercise are hand in glove. Obviously if the goal were only to lose weight, that COULD be accomplished with diet alone. If the goal is to be as optimally healthy as possible, the only way to accomplish that is with a combination of diet and regular physical activity. No exceptions.
I stay at my right weight when I eat a lot and exercise a lot.. but the food has to be more fruits/veggies/grains than junk food. :) Sometimes when I exercise I would feel starving afterwards the first few weeks and overeat but that starts to fall into place too.
I've been exercising again the last 6 - 7 weeks almost everyday.. an easy routine that'll stick to; and my stomach is getting flatter and arms thinner again.. slowly.. but steadily.. and I'll stick to the routine since I'm enjoying it. (no stomach crunches that I hate.. since I fear I can hurt my back-even though I don't have a problem with my back). lol
Love your blog.
I think we all need to move more and eat less crap. I know I do and most of the people I work with do to. I tend to agree with whoever we overestimate how much we move and underestimate how we eat. We don't give health the priority it deserves. We park close to the buildings we need to be in, we sit at desks all day, we commute miles to and from work all the while stuffing out mouth with food that has not obvious source of origin other than a factory somewhere.
I think there has to be a combination of both: more movement and less processed food.
I let myself fall into that obese/lazy/eat easy category and I'm fighting and clawing my way out of it. It's not easy but it's going to be worth it.
If you're the type that rewards yourself with a 500 calorie treat for suffering through a 250 cal workout, then it might be more important to look to your diet. It seems to me that my body needs more than just cutting back food, I wonder if there are hormonal effects from exercise that we don't fully understand yet. Like a switch that says not to store more fat, and maybe burn some of this other stuff because it's in the way? I think there's some signaling going on, I don't think weight is a kcals in/out mathematical equation that hpappens in a vacuum.
I will still gain weight if I eat (or drink) too much, regardless of exercise. OTOH, I hate to think how little I would be able to eat if I didn't exercise. I love my exercise, hopefully it won't come to that ever.
Maddening, isn't it? I can only speak for myself, but if I am working out intensely, I can eat what I want and still maintain my weight. I will admit that I am a healthy eater about 90% of the time though. Last winter I got a little lazy and worked out only 1-2 times per week. No surprise that I gained 10 pounds over the winter. Those pounds were easily lost once I joined a gym and started working out with a trainer.
Gigi,
You read my mind. It is all so confusing and overwhelming but this is what I believe. If it is short term, it is more about the food with a little exercise. If it is long term, it is more about the exercise than the food. The part that is often not discussed is the mental part and forming healthy habits. It takes all three for a winning combination.
Exercise and diet are both extremely important, but in my experience, diet is 80% of the equation if you are going for fat loss. You can lose an enormous amount of weight just by changing your diet alone. Why do you think gastric bypass is so successful? A lot of those patients don't exercise although it's highly recommended. They drop weight because they eat less and because their bodies can no longer tolerate certain processed foods.
In my own experience, the major fat loss occured when I cleaned up my diet. But I still firmly believe that you must do both. This is just my own thought, but when I see people starting and exercise and fitness routine - I recommend Bob Green's school of thought. Get yourself into the habit of working out first. Forget the diet. Once you can get yourself into the habit of working out, then start cleaning up the diet. Doing both at once is often too daunting and stringent for most people. The most successful weight loss stories come from those people that can incorporate both exercise and diet changes in their life. It takes time to figure out what works for you and again, most people do too much at first, and they give up before they figure out what works best for their bodies and schedules. It's a lot of trial and error before you find the perfect program for YOU.
I think every body is different BUT I feel that what you eat is at least 70%++ of the equation. BUT you have to move too.
My body is one that lies to hold on to food & has been this way my whole life, not just during this older age stuff. I have to eat really good & exercise quite a bit, both cardio & weights. For me, that is what it takes.
BUT, no matter what, you are going to have to clean up that food too & exercise is key in all studies for maintenance of weight loss along with healthy eating.
Personally I've got the exercise part down. It's my eating that leaves something to be desired. Not necessarily 'bad' food, just too much of a good thing!
I think diet is the prevailing determiner to losing weight. I read of too many people who workout all the time, but don't lose weight because they're taking in too many calories.
That being said, I think exercise can HELP with losing weight, but if the diet's not right, it's not gonna happen.
My trainer told me, and it seems to make sense, that while diet and exercise are both important parts of weight loss that diet is more important when you are losing and exercise is more important when you are maintaining. She said that you need both but the balance shifts at different times. I can live with that.
I lost quite a bit of weight last year, and making some changes to my diet really got me results. I also stopped using working out every day as an excuse for eating (something that I think is very common and I certainly did).
In the end, I think both are important. When I work out, I feel better, and I tend to eat better. Also, I certainly look better when I'm a bit more toned. I just have to make sure I bypass the cupcake store that's right next to my gym (no joke).
I think that this, like a lot of things, depends on the person needing to lose weight. Relatively active people need to adjust their diet, whereas people who eat relatively healthy diets need to pick up their activity level. For me, it has been pick up the activity level because I already ate a basically healthy diet (okay, there was some chocolate in there, but I like chocolate).
My husband, who is morbidly obese, needs a bit of both - portion control and activity, although he loses weight faster when we walks on the treadmill as little as 10 minutes a day. He's eating a healthy diet, but portion control is an issue. So he needs to cut out claories and amp up activity in order to succeed. And that will change as he loses weight in order to keep the weight loss going. If he gets his portion sizes under control, then he'll need to increases the exercise part in order to continue losing weight.
Sorry... got distracted... you mentioned something about 'fried eclairs'? :)
I tell people that diet is the most important factor with weight loss, and exercise is important with maintenance.
For me? It seems I need exercise.
I feel like I could eat really really well and nothing would really change for me if I don't workout. Having said that, I eat much differently now. Hmm...maybe it is a bit of both then.
The rhesus pieces monkey cracked me up. I needed it - thanks :)
During my weight loss journey I focused on diet first and added exercise slowly. I was morbidly obese when I started so it easier to focus on my eating issues first and once moving around became a little easier exercise was less of a challenge to add. Now that I'm in maintenance I still keep an eye on my food but since eating healthy has become a habit there isn't a ton of extra focus I need to put on it now. My focus is more on my fitness routine because I'm trying to increase my strength and endurance. I think both need to be addressed when looking to loose weight but each person has to find out how to balance their focus and energy to find success in meeting their goals.
"The grease-eating menopausal monkeys were then dressed in polyester pants suits and put on a bus to the local casino."
God you crack me up.
Anyway, I have to agree with so many other commenters, that for me, BOTH are essential. And I'm not willing to experiment with exercising less or eating more junk in order to find out which bad habit is more disasterous.
Even minor slips, like eating healthy food but larger portion sizes, or temporarily substituting walking for aerobic exercise, have caused me to start gaining weight in the past. So I'm way better off if I stick to my routine and focus on maintaining (mostly) good eating and exercise habits.
It definitely depends on the person. For me, if I pay closer attention to what I eat, I lose weight. If I exercise and eat whatever I want ... I maintain the current weight.
I'm landing in the "both" camp as well. I can't focus on just one if I want to lose weight. Never gives me good results.
BUT...every one is different. I know plenty of folks who have dropped 20 pounds or more just focusing on diet. Of course most of these folks were never "athletic" to begin with.
But I also know some exercise junkies who eat whatever and whenever they want and are still skinny as a rail from all the activity they do. My boss is like this. I hate him for it. Because when we go on work trips he tortures my with bags of Oreos. Gah!
I focus more on exercise...mainly because when I do that, diet changes come naturally.
If you have ever tried running 15 miles the morning after eating a delicious cheesy chicago style pizza, you would understand. Not pretty.
I try to focus on both diet and exercise.
However, I would much rather spend hypothetical hours in the gym than severely restrict the amount of calories that I take in.
If I had time I would spend, at least, two hours a day in the gym.
As a seasoned yo-yo dieter, I can say I've done every possible combination: Diet only, exercise only, diet and exercise together...
For me, I'm finding I'm getting good results this last (and final!)time but focusing on diet. I DO exercise for health benefits, toning, and a long-term goal of running again, but not with the intention for losing weight.
I'm very all-or-nothing with my weight loss habits, and in the past have let everything fall apart because I couldn't keep up with a rigid exercise regime.
By concentrating most of my efforts on diet, I've been able to stay the course much longer..and so far, it's working. For me.
With about 40 pounds off and another 40 to go, I can honestly say a big part of the journey is figuring out what works for YOU.
when i am exercising, i find that my diet usually takes care of itself. i am the opposite of the "i worked out today, so i can eat a donut" mentality. if i worked my tail off at the gym, the last thing i want to do is sabotage all my results. plus, i can't eat crap all day and then go do an hour of interval training. i have to feed my body what it needs. so focusing on exercise is always my game plan.
Eat less, move more.
Easy to say, hard to do.
Big Clyde
It depends on the person (don't you just hate statements like that). If you eat 10,000 calories, working out a little won't help as much as if you tried to eat a little more realistically. I agree with you on the math. You have to expend more than you take in if you want to lose weight. Now, there are tricks and exceptions (150 calories from avacados isn't the same as 150 from french fries), but for the most part it's calories in and out. Easier said than done, but it's my take.
I hate to say it, but I think the trainer was right in saying that it's 80% diet, which, don't get me wrong, I HATE to hear, but from my experience, it's the truth. I can eat 50% healthy, and then 50% crap and exercise and MAINTAIN my weight just fine, but when I want to lose, I need to keep my diet 80/20 rule, and even if I don't exercise at all, I lose.
It's weird, and I really resent it, but that's the truth for me. I bet everyone is different somehow, but I still think it's 80% diet.
For me, diet is key. I won't lose weight just by exercising (see: Shelley + Jazzercise, circa 1993), but when I do combine the two, I am finding that I can lose inches - for example, I'm a smaller size at this weight now than I was 20 years ago at this weight. Difference? Working out.
The nice thing about exercising when also restricting calories is that you prevent a lot of muscle loss. Diet alone people lose fat and muscle. Add exercise, and mostly fat is lost!
After 2 decades of dieting (some successful, some not so much) I am still trying to figure this out.
I'm actually in the midst of an experiment favouring the "more exercise" option. Why? Because I really like food, and I don't want to go on an explicit "diet" again.
Thinking about it now, it occurs to me that approaching the "more exercise, less dieting" option, I am expecting slower results as compared to when I went on pure "less food" diets...
I maintain well as long as I workout, and don't really have to watch the calories so much. However, the last week of holiday break I hurt my back, got laid out on the couch, and didn't change my eating and I gained almost 5 lbs! Ouch!
But if I want to lose, I really have to work at it. I lost my weight by strictly calorie counting (no off limit foods) and slowly increasing my activity. Sure, along the way, I found that 100 calories of veggies was better than 100 calories of pizza, but that was my choice. If I was craving the pizza, it just had to fit in my calories for the day.
Fast forward to today training for long distance races and I honestly think I train TOO MUCH to lose weight. I HAVE to eat a lot to keep up my energy, and even though the math says there is a significant calorie deficit in my eating/burning ratio, my body clings to the weight in a way it doesn't when I take it a little easier.
Whew - that was a novel. :)
Maybe we need to focus on all those comments that say that maintenance requires exercise. It's worrisome that we spend so much of our time talking about how to get there - and very little about how to stay there once we arrive. I've read several times that those who maintain weight loss for years (a sadly small percentage of those who put in all that effort & lose the lbs) are exercisers.
That tells me all I need to know. That, plus patience. There's so much talk about how many pounds per week we can lose safely - but if we are really making sustainable changes, they may lead to something closer to ounces per week (depending on starting size, that is - should probably be measured as a percentage of starting weight rather than pounds). That scale would incorporate true life style changes, not just one of those hold-on-for-6-weeks-and-go-back-to-normal miracle plans.
Learning love movement - for me, it's a litle running and a lot of cycling, but weights, yoga, dance & other miscellany are in there, too - brought me to a place where I just don't worry about weight much. I spent 2 years losing 25 pounds & have stayed in the 5 pound range I decided was acceptable for 8 years. Diet would not have done that for me.
What about the thingy where exercising is supposed to boost your metabolism and help you burn fat more easily? Is that just a myth?
I don't really care about the diet vs. exercise weight loss question because losing 10 pounds for me is part of a larger fitness strategy.
BTW my Fitbit is working out extremely well. Diet, exercise and SLEEP. (The sleep thing is weirding me out, though, because I think I'm sleeping through the night and the chart shows I was moving around quite a bit. Am I waving my arm in my sleep?)
I don't know whether it's 80/20, 50/50 or 10/90. But I do know that when I exercise, I tend to make better food choices. And when I make bad food choices, I tend not to want to exercise. So whatever the math, I know they are very much related!! In the end, it all comes down to what your lifestyle looks like on the whole, doesn't it? I posted about that subject todday on my blog...
http://summerplummer.blogspot.com/2010/01/lifestyle-changes-and-battle-of-bulge.html
I think they go hand in hand. You can exercise all the live long day, but if a six pack is the desired goal, diet has to be watched and monitored.
Diet and exercise are both important, I think it's very difficult to separate the two. But, I also think it's important to figure out what is best for you on a personal basis, rather than there being a one-size-fits-all answer.
Jules makes an interesting point when she says, in the short term it's more about the food, with a little exercise. But, long term, it's more about the exercise than the food.
Well, I guess I subscribe to the calories out minus calories in equation. What I know is I'd rather exercise than give up food; however, some exercise (swimming!) makes me ravenously hungry, and in general I probably 'waste' more calories than I care to admit through mindless boredom snacking on poor choices.
The only time in the last few years my weight dropped significantly was when I dieted very earnestly. But who's to say I was healthier? Muscle weighs more than fat, doesn't it?
I dunno. Time for some herbal tea to take my mind off it all :)
Let me tell you - I hate exercise. For me, there is nothing the least bit fun or satisfying about it. In the past I would diet sans exercise, lose weight and eventually gain it back. This time, however, I have combined the two and am determined like never before to take it off and keep it off. The combo of diet & exercise really do work. I still hate exercise but it has become part of my routine and I know I have to continue if I want to stay thin.
I've always believed that it's food more than exercise in fat loss. More and more I'm not 100% certain that's true for everybody at every stage in their life.
I swear post-menopausally intense physical exercise has a greater impact than diet.
I think it depends. Dieting is probably the most important factor in losing weight but without exercise you won't look so hot once you get there.
I was so hoping this post would say that exercise didn't matter at all because I am having an extremely difficult time getting myself to work out!
When I was thin, it required both. I had to watch the diet closely and get in 45 minutes of exercise in 5-6 days a week. When I started to eat more (got married), even kicking up the exercise didn't keep the pounds away.
For me (having lost 140lb and kept it off for 21/2 years) it is 80% and 20% exercise. Cleaning up my diet got the weight off. However, exercise is also crucial to me. It has toned up my body, helped minimise the flabby skin bits and most importantly keeps my mentally balanced. I often say I take my head for exercise and the rest of my body just follows along. For me there seems to be some connection between exercise and willingness to stick to my eating plan. I always exercise first thing in the morning and it is like that is an affirmation that today I will take care of myself. I have always been determined that I would not rely on exercise to maintain my weight, I have seen people struggle to not gain weight if they have been unable to exercise due to illness or injury. I am sure everyone is different though and you need to work out what suits you. I have never been athletic so exercise is not a natural thing for me. My favourite quote is `you can't outrun your fork' :) I did have a weight gain last year (now thankfully lost) and it was from eating too much of what I usually eat than the eating different types of food.
For me, definitely the diet. I lost 50lbs without a single exercise. I just cut out all grains and increased saturated fat.
When I added body weight exercises like pull ups and push ups, my weight went up a bit, but luckily, my pants continued to get looser while my shirts got tighter.
Mind set- changing my mind that good foods taste good- fruits, veggies and leaner protiens no processed food is what helped me change my body and lose weight. Couple that with weight training and cardio, it was a great recipe for me. Other attempts didn't work (100 calorie packs, frozen meals, only 3 meals, or no meals, or weight watchers, or la fitness) for me, but have for others. I think it's more about when you are ready to make the changes that are right for your lifestyle - whether it's a greener cleaner diet or a more manufactured one say like Jenny Craig and working that system coupled with incorporating more exercise you will be successful.
I have found that by eating less processed foods and more fruits and vegetables, I really do not have to worry about weight.
Essentially, I try to eat foods that have not had the nutrients and the fiber removed through processing.
However, I also have been working with a trainer for a year. He taught me what exercises I need to do to achieve the goals I was after. He also taught me alot about food.
So my experience is that both are equally important.
Peter
I agree with what finallygettingfit said. If you want to lose weight effectively and healthfully, you must do both. Exercise and diet can't outdo one or another. Better ask your doctor for a healthy lifestyle diet.
I have read sooo many scientific research papers on weight loss using polyester pant wearing humans, mice,and rats who are normal or "not normal" that my eyes swim. My conclusion: Research applies to the participants that were studied and a lot of research is poorly done so you have to go and read more research. Kinda' like yo-yo dieting.
Wow - great topic for discussion! As a personal trainer, I do place a large amount of emphasis on diet. I try to provide exciting, healthful recipes for my clients and really encourage them to make wise choices. For instance, I have a client who trained with me three days a week and did cardio on her own 3-4 days on average. She was losing nothing. When we got down to it, her caloric intake was too high. The one element we changed was her calories - we dropped to 1200-1400 per day. The weight quickly began to drop. Exercise IS important, but without the coupling of a proper diet, it really amounts to little or nothing.
Proper eating and exercise go hand in hand; you will not lose weight and feel good unless you do them together. Being healthy is a lifestyle, not a diet. There are many good tips on how to achieve permanent weight loss; none of them includes gimmicks, diets, or diet pills. To assist with weight control; keep a daily food journal and every time the urge to snack is felt, first drink a large glass of clear water. The major reason so many people in America are overweight is because we eat too much for comfort! It does not hurt to treat ourselves with something special once in a while, what is necessary is that we limit our portions and do not overeat! It is also necessary to keep our body properly hydrated, so drink a full glass of water with each meal or snack. Being overweight ******, but after reading a book, I lost 85 pounds! Words can not express how good I feel! This is a comment which I recently received about the book Lose Weight Using Four Easy Steps