Exercise or eating well?

mjdubin5

Which is more important eating healthy or exercising?

Machka9

Depends what your goal is.

3dogsrunning

More important for what?

For health? I'd say both are pretty important.
For weightloss? Neither is really important. As long as you eat a calorie deficit, you can lose weight, even if the food is unhealthy.

sscarmack

Both? Why does it have to be one or the other. Should go hand in hand.

roxielu0422

Eating well is 80% of your weight loss journey. Exercise is 20%. You can exercise daily and eat crap and gain weight. They go hand in hand, but I do know people who have lost significant amounts of weight without exercising at all. I am not one of them. I enjoy moving and toning up my body. I have a long way to go and getting the right foods in my body is a daily struggle.

TeaBea

Calories in vs. calories out.

Watching your portions is the easiest way to create a calorie deficit. You can eat "healthy" or eat junk your choice. But with fewer calories to work with, eating junk will likely leave you hungry.

Exercise will help some with calorie deficit. But it's so easy to over eat, that exercise alone typically doesn't work. Strength or resistance training while eating at a deficit helps you retain more lean muscle. So even though it doesn't burn as many calories as cardio, it's very important.

_John_

I'm gonna say in the context of them being mutually exclusive, that eating would "win", though that wouldn't be much of a life.

jgnatca

I just came back from watching The Martian. Thrilling tale by the way. Based on the cues in that movie, I'd say both.

Neither will let you lose weight if you aren't eating in a deficit.

malibu927

For weight loss? Eating less.
For overall nutrition and health? Eating well.
For heart health, endurance, and/or strength? Exercising