Diet Matters More than Exercise?

sy_19440

For me, getting the nutrition down was the priority first and then the exercise. I exercise because I feel better afterwards than more of a way to lose weight or to create a higher calorie deficit.

genpopadopolous

In the beginning, I worried about diet almost exclusively and just tried to up my steps every week a little.

Now, 2.5 years in- I find my fitness to be the driving force. Eating better means my workouts are hit harder. Losing weight helps drop my mile time. Losing fat allows my muscles to be seen.

It's been a very strange shift for me. I used to say I wouldn't even run while being chased, I would just let them kill me. Now I'm training with a half marathon in mind.

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genpopadopolous wrote: »

Now, 2.5 years in- I find my fitness to be the driving force. Eating better means my workouts are hit harder. Losing weight helps drop my mile time. Losing fat allows my muscles to be seen.

There is a synergy at work here, and this is what I've found too. I'm more mindful of my diet on the days I workout. This is a big reason why I think it's so important to exercise while losing weight (and also so you'll lose more fat and less lean tissue). It's not just the fitness benefit of working out that is important: it's the relationship between working out and food. If you are the type of person who becomes more mindful of your food because you're working out, then that's just another great reason to exercise.

AliceDark

zyxst wrote: »

My main exercise is walking. For me, it's easier to not eat 500 calories than it is to exercise off 500 calories.

Exactly this. I'm already relatively lean, so in order to burn 500 extra calories, I have to run 5 miles. Doing that every day would be a terribly unhealthy plan, and I'd guarantee that I'd get injured eventually. Creating that deficit primarily via food intake (with a little additional exercise thrown in throughout the week) is a much healthier, more sustainable plan for me.

Janneson27

PerfectFit30 wrote: »

Exercise IS important, but I've heard I've heard it time and time again that weight doesn't come from exercise AS MUCH as it comes from the depletion of calories that you just never ingest in the first place.
Do any of you subscribe to this and and have you had success with low intensity training? In the past I exercised way too hard, and I ate ... too much because I felt hungry.

Always looking for a balance right?

Different things work for different people. I tried biking, running and jogging but what ultimately worked for me was when my car broke down and I started walking to work (It's just down the street). It's roughly 15 to 20 minutes one way. I log it as 40 minutes a day. That really helped me. My car is working again but I just choose to continue walking because it made me feel great.

bwogilvie

I'm living proof that you can exercise a lot and not lose weight, or even gain it. Between 2008 and 2012 I did a lot of bicycling, around 50-60 miles a week on average, and did a fair amount of walking and hiking too. My weight was fairly stable and I gained a bit toward the end. In 2013 and 2014 I kept exercising but used MFP to track calories eaten and expended, and lost 65 lb.

What matters is the deficit. For about six months, I ran a calorie deficit of about 600 cal/day. After six months, I cut back to around 450 cal/day; in the second year, I cut back farther but maintained a deficit of around 250-300 cal/day until I hit my goal.

Exercise kept me feeling good and helped me avoid losing too much muscle. It also helped me hit my deficits: I "ate back" exercise calories because I needed the energy and protein, but it was more satisfying for me to eat 2000 calories, with 500 exercise calories, than to eat only 1500 calories.

NancyYale

I lost the weight with minimal exercise. What exercise I added toward the end was for health and stamina, not weight loss.

trigden1991

Exercise is for body composition and fitness.
Diet is for weight loss/gain.