Diet vs. Exercise?

AndreaWyland

I vote for both are equally important:) = my two cents.

lawtechie

I'd say diet and here's why.

I have been walking 20+ miles/week for over 5 months and up until 2 months ago i GAINED weight, because I was eating way more than burning.

Now by watching what I'm eating and keeping up with the exercise the weight is coming off slowly but surely.

It can be hard for overweight people to start two things at once. Id focus on eating right and getting 1 - 2 days of exercise/week and slowly increase it from there.

LorinaLynn

For me, exercise was the missing link. My food intake wasn't THAT bad... I was just too sedentary to eat like that. I probably eat more now than I did when I gained weight, but there was no way I could have run six miles a year ago.

kklindsey

diet. I lost my first 120lbs with diet alone and added exercise when I was ready. I also was never the type to stick with exercise and didn't want my weight loss or maintenance to be dependent on it. Now of course I work out 6 days a week but I would still start with diet first.

ambermichon

to merely lose pounds diet would be more important...I however do not want to be one of those people who is thin and flabby with no muscle tone. I desire to be FIT and HEALTHY. So I combine both....cardio, weight lifting etc and eating healthy...eating more and not starving myself. The pounds may come off slower, but its in a healthy, sustainable way. Even though I havent reached my goal weight yet I am happy with my body because I am fit from exercise....I have muscle. :-)

sugarbone

80% diet and 20% exercise is the general consensus for losing weight. Even when you start building muscle, a huge part of it is how you eat.

How much you eat determines your size
How much (and how) you exercise determines your composition

Cardio will speed up reducing your size and maybe improve your composition because it does use some muscles, but lifting weights once you have a low body fat percentage is what will give you a killer body. Also, there is no such thing as toning your muscles! I know it's a common phrase but you build them, not tone them... tone has nothing to do with strength or size or definition.

jamiealdridge02

Definitely diet. I actually gain weight if I exercise too much but don't eat well. I tend to get a little carried away. Plus sometimes I eat a lot planning on working it off later but I skip a workout & I gain. I would say concentrate on diet only for a month or so and then begin adding workouts like walking for another month & then add in resistance training while maintaining. The good diet. I've dropped 20lbs doin this but I have found diet is key. I need my workouts for fitness & tonin, but I count on my diet for weight loss.

runamym

I've heard the guy that writes those "Eat This, Not That" books (on the Today show sometimes) say that changing your diet is the easiest, best thing to do - more than exercise. It's more likely to stay with you long-term -- you adopting it as your new lifestyle forever.
For me personally, I'm too impatient. I want good results fast. And you get those if you do both -- exercise (real, sweat-dripping, heart pumping exercise) and diet (new way of eating for life!). I'm highly motivated by good, fast results -- more likely to not quit. So I committed to an exercise program and a diet.
You don't have to go to a gym to exercise. I do at-home exercise DVD collections. Those are great - done in privacy of your own home, when you want. You can do it!