Which is MOST important in weight loss: diet or exercise?

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  • mem50
    mem50 Posts: 1,384 Member
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    Diet.

    Yes, they are both important but you have to start somewhere. For me it was controlling the intake and making better choices. When you start eating better you feel better and when you start feeling better the more you start wanting to do. That's when exercise comes into play.
  • pierrena
    pierrena Posts: 37
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    “Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.” ~John F. Kennedy




    Fitness And Nutrition For Health
    http://bit.ly/1a0qiog
    http://1topnew.blogspot.com/2013/11/fitness.html
  • Slrajr
    Slrajr Posts: 438 Member
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    Diet
  • mhotch
    mhotch Posts: 901 Member
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    You eat to lose weight.
    You exercise for good health
  • vaporhockey83
    vaporhockey83 Posts: 84 Member
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    Weight loss was diet for me. Strictly diet without exercise dropped 20-25 lbs for me. Once I started lifting, my clothes fit a lot nice and more compliments rolled in. I think it's already basically been said, but diet for weight loss. I haven't lost much lifting, but I assume that's muscle overtaking the fat. Unfortunately, I didn't take measurements, so all I can go on is that clothing that didn't fit before fits me now.
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
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    Diet is most important for weight loss. Exercise is most important for fitness, such as improved strength, endurance, flexibility and/or cardiovascular efficiency. It's also essential for preserving lean mass as you shed fat. You don't want to be all jiggly and flabby when you get to goal, right?

    Here's a personal example: the first time I trained for a marathon I ended up gaining a couple of pounds. This is because marathon training is hard work and makes you hungry. I wasn't watching my calories at the time, so I ended up eating back whatever I'd burned in training and then some. The second time I trained for a marathon I lost a couple of pounds. This is because I was logging my calories so I didn't end up taking in more than I burned. Exercise will only help you lose weight if it results in an overall calorie deficit. If you aren't watching your intake, you often just end up eating it all back. Weight loss is ALL about the calories.

    You probably will not lose weight with exercise alone, but you will enjoy tons of other health benefits. I recommend both.
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
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    Neither. Because it doesn't matter if the deficit is accomplished by increased activity or decreased caloric intake. With that said, diet will likely be the most influential since it's easier to reduce calories than drastically increase exercise expenditure.
  • overhaul12
    overhaul12 Posts: 20
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    Diet. Not necessarily even cutting calories (even though more than likely it will be necessary to do so), but just changing the way you eat (less processed food, more fresh veggies/fruits/lean meats) can have a huge effect on weight loss. Someone nailed it in a previous post: Lose weight = diet; look good naked = exercise. Couldn't agree more.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    In some ways, it's both. While diet plays a greater role in creating and maintaining the calorie deficit, in real-life terms, those who lose weight via diet alone have a 90%+ long-term failure rate. And 90% of those who lose substantial weight and keep it off longer than two years average 50-60 min of exercise, 5-6 days per week.
  • NancyN795
    NancyN795 Posts: 1,134 Member
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    Technically - probably diet, if you're primarily looking to lose weight. BUT...

    I started, this time, with exercise and I feel like people who told me all those years that I could lose weight with diet alone, or who said to start with diet and add exercise later, were doing me a huge disservice.

    --Exercising allows me to eat enough to not be desperately hungry and still lose weight.
    --Exercising increases my store of will power, making it easier to watch what I eat.
    --Exercising makes me healthier, even if I don't lose weight.
    --Exercising will increase your muscle mass, so that even if you don't lose weight, you'll lose fat.
  • Rockstar_JILL
    Rockstar_JILL Posts: 514 Member
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    Diet 80%....exercise 20%.... :)
  • kelleybean1
    kelleybean1 Posts: 312 Member
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    Diet for weight loss, but who wants to be skinny-fat? Exercise is important too.
  • susanrechter
    susanrechter Posts: 386 Member
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    diet=weight loss.
    exercise=strength
  • drkdani
    drkdani Posts: 7
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    Weight loss happens in the Kitchen, fitness happens in the gym.

    Not true. Nutrition happens in the kitchen--fitness can happen in the gym or home-- I do at home programs aswell as the nutrtion guides a combo of both is the key. I am a fitness coach :)
  • moeisreal
    moeisreal Posts: 42
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    Excersise, Diet plays a role but if you workout HARD and diet with okay effort you will see much better results then if you Diet HARD, and workout with okay effort. When you do both HARD, that is when you reach god mode my friend.
  • Wildcatbadge1
    Wildcatbadge1 Posts: 2
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    mostly diet, no matter what your age. the older you get, the more diet counts.
    If you're serious, it's important to measure (everything). Regular blood work,
    weight, BMI, etc. The most important exercise for weight loss is aerobic,
    at least 30 minutes 3x per week.
  • Huffdogg
    Huffdogg Posts: 1,934 Member
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    In some ways, it's both. While diet plays a greater role in creating and maintaining the calorie deficit, in real-life terms, those who lose weight via diet alone have a 90%+ long-term failure rate. And 90% of those who lose substantial weight and keep it off longer than two years average 50-60 min of exercise, 5-6 days per week.

    Whoa where does THAT statistic come from? An hour a day 5-6 days a week? I'd like to see that one backed up. Most people I know who have lost substantial weight and kept it off are on 3 day/week programs. It's hard to believe that the prevailing mass is Double that.
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
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    In some ways, it's both. While diet plays a greater role in creating and maintaining the calorie deficit, in real-life terms, those who lose weight via diet alone have a 90%+ long-term failure rate. And 90% of those who lose substantial weight and keep it off longer than two years average 50-60 min of exercise, 5-6 days per week.

    Whoa where does THAT statistic come from? An hour a day 5-6 days a week? I'd like to see that one backed up. Most people I know who have lost substantial weight and kept it off are on 3 day/week programs. It's hard to believe that the prevailing mass is Double that.

    There's a 89.6% chance that those stats are wrong
  • Vex3521
    Vex3521 Posts: 385 Member
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    for strictly weight loss: Diet. You can diet away weight without exercise at all. You can't out-exercise a bad diet.

    for FAT loss: it's a little more complicated.

    This exactly.
  • GadgetGuy2
    GadgetGuy2 Posts: 291 Member
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    If you only focused on exercise, and your calorie intake increases to cover the calorie loss from exercise (or exceeds it), then you will not loose weight, and you might even gain weight (muscle denser than fat).

    Since the OP''s question is "MOST important in weight loss", then you have to eat (diet) fewer calories than you burn (exertion/exercise).

    The question is not about fitness or health.

    Thus, diet is the correct answer.

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