Which is more important - diet or exercise?

Bluebell82
Bluebell82 Posts: 2
edited September 21 in Introduce Yourself
Hi everyone,

I'm new to MFP and this is the first day of my self-imposed healthy eating plan! I've been bombarded with conflicting advice recently about diet and nutrition vs exercise when it comes to loosing weight. So, which is more important? I understand that the 2 things go hand in hand, but where should I be placing my focus? I need to loose 7lbs to reach my goal weight and I'd like part of this to include toning. Any advice welcome!!!

:)

Bluebell x

Replies

  • caznsteve
    caznsteve Posts: 2
    If you require toning i would suggest a healthier eating plan with excercise aimed for the area's you want to tone up ...

    There are plenty of dvd's out there that have regimes designed for certain area's of the body
    ^_^ Hope i could be of help to you ^_^
  • Melanie1967
    Melanie1967 Posts: 238 Member
    For me, they go hand in hand. One is just as important as the other!
  • Holton
    Holton Posts: 1,018
    Losing weight requires restricting calorie intake at a healthy level, so you need to tackle that first. That said, exercise is what is going to keep your body toned, provide you with more muscle, so that you burn those calories more efficiently. So focus on eating a very healthy diet and by all means try to exercise for a overall better look (and you will feel better too!)
  • FemininGuns
    FemininGuns Posts: 605 Member
    80% diet, 10% diet, 10% motivation. You can't have one without the other :)
  • Pinky_Calhoun
    Pinky_Calhoun Posts: 125 Member
    Both are very important but I would say diet. If you ate well, counting calories and didn't exercise you can still see a loss (this doesn't go for everyone I am sure but the few I know have benefited).
  • ruggie
    ruggie Posts: 26
    They are both important for overall health!! BUT, weight loss is really about calories in vs. calories out. So you can still lose weight without exercise. With exercise the weight will come off faster, you will feel better, look better and have an easier time maintaing your weight loss. I recommend BOTH!!!!
  • katattack
    katattack Posts: 45
    Hi there!!

    Because you're in the "last 10 lbs" category, diet is absolutely integral to your success. When you do exercise, do something with make sure to throw in some intervals... HITT, Tabata, or just adding sprints to your runs/bike rides/ellipticizing.

    I am only speaking from personal experience - the last time I was within 2 LBS of my "oh my gosh" goal weight, I think it was that I still consumed the occasional alcoholic beverage that stunted my progress :P AND THEN i just flat out fell off the wagon *grumble grumble*

    Anyway! Hope that helps! Good luck!
  • Jenniferll
    Jenniferll Posts: 1
    80% of how you look is from what you eat. Even Arnold Schwarsenegger said in his huge book that if you HAD to pick between what you eat or exercising, that you should just concentrate on eating clean/healthy.
  • tross0924
    tross0924 Posts: 909 Member
    For loosing weight I'd say the diet is more important. For being healthier, lowering cholesterol, lowering blood pressure, having more energy, and feeling better i"d say exercise.

    Good luck. :-)
  • kcdrake
    kcdrake Posts: 512
    Well, both are important of course. But personally, I think it is more important to get your diet in control. There are tons of people, both on this site and in the "real world," who lose incredible amounts of weight simply by improving their diet. There are also people on this site that have mentioned that even though they exercise, it didn't start making a dramatic difference until they improved their diet.

    I think it's important to take this slowly. If you dramatically change your entire lifestyle in just a few days (or weeks) then it is less likely that the changes will "stick." For me, it was easier to get my diet under control (less soda and switching to diet when I do indulge, less eating out, more grilling, less salt and fat, less processed foods, etc.) and THEN focus on improving fitness.
  • dj_stevie_c
    dj_stevie_c Posts: 270
    I'd agree that getting the Diet right is the most important.

    But don't neglect excersize, but DO take it easy.

    For example, look at ways you can get an extra bit of walking in to your routine. See if you can spare 20 mins in an evening to go for a short walk, find a nearby park you can go to or something.

    There's no need to rush things.

    One thing I will say is, get the head right and the body will follow. You need to WANT to lose weight and make yourself well permanently, if you're sitting there thinking you can cut out the garbage for a few months and lose weight it's NOT going to happen. You might lose short term but you'll go back to where you were when you start up on the garbage again.

    Take your time, research, do it right, use this site :) It's really helped me.
  • unocentavo
    unocentavo Posts: 82 Member
    I'll def agree with the majority on this one. 80% diet 20% exercise. Working out is great, but if there's a layer of fat over the muscle, you can't see the muscles you worked so hard for. Dieting without exercise gives that out of proportion, unhealthy look. So, it's beneficial to do both.
  • coejan
    coejan Posts: 2 Member
    I have not been consistent about the food tracking, but the exercise I have been fanatical. I have been doing ½ hour on the elliptical and one hour of Leslie Sansone's "Walk the Pounds Away” for over a month; with very few exeptions almost daily. I have actually gained weight. Talk about depressing. Being 60, I have done this so many times before and the only thing that worked for a couple of years was running and tracking everything I ate. So today is a new day and I’m back to tracking my food along with my fanatical exercise routine.

    I was slim for a couple of years until I had a sports injury that made me give up running. With a good chiropractor, podiatrist and patience, I can now workout by “fat burning” walking. No running again! I had way too many injuries that required surgery, physical therapy, etc. Good for the doctors not so good for the runner.

    So good luck to both of us!
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