Whats more important diet or exercise?

I have had great success focusing on changing what I eat and the way I eat. I've dropped over 60 pounds in the past year and a half and have kept it off. Slow, but sure has been my process, which might not work for everyone.

I virtually did NO exercise and was mostly sedentary over that time. I simply did NOT feel comfortable working out.

Now that I am slimmer, healthier, and more energetic, I am ready to become more physical. I want to begin to incorporate resistance training to build /tone muscle. I also want to add aerobic activity, like biking and rebounding on a small trampoline. Yoga is also on my list to enhance my flexibility and help me deal with stress/anxiety. These activities will provide some variety for me to hopefully enjoy, as I become even more physically fit.

I wish you the best in your journey of DROPPING your excess weight!!! :-)

Whats more important? A number on a scale or an improved physique and better health?


failure to incorporate resistance training will result in faster WEIGHT loss and a feeling of success... that lasts up until you start plateauing and realize how much muscle you've lost... do both.. not one... regaining muscle is a lengthy process, especially for women... it will take a LOT longer to gain it back than it did to lose it.. smaller number on scale= diet only... actually look better and be healthier= both diet and training.

I was going to say exactly this. If you want to just lose weight, sure, just cut calories but eat like ****, you'll lose weight. If you want to get healthy - just eating healthy won't do it for you completely. And to get in shape and improve overall health, you will need to do both - eat healthy AND exercise.

What is the ultimate goal? who is the person wanting to make the change?

for weight loss - if this is an absolute choice between one or the other, i would say diet. You will lose weight and become more healthy if you eat less and eat sensibly (i.e., make the right food choices for you).

I think it's a badly framed question. I'll assume we are talking about someone who is overweight.

those of us who now enjoy our workouts tend to forget that at first, getting to the gym is a major drain on willpower reserves. Eventually it becomes therapeutic and helps keep us focused, but not at first.

Willpower decreases on a calorie deficit. So I say, it's best to eat at maintenance and make some athletic gains while learning to track food before going on a calorie deficit. Once exercise becomes a habit, move on to a calorie deficit.

There is the ideal world, and the real world. I think it's very easy for someone to get fit, then forget how they got there. Yes, it's easy to out eat any exercise program, but at the same time, it's also easy to starve the best intentions.

Is diet or exercise the most important? I say, neither. Willpower is the most important and the more clever and methodical you are about managing willpower, the better shot you have at success.

You guys are forgetting that diets are unsustainable long-term no matter how "reasonable" they may seem. People eventually fall to temptation no matter what - I mean honestly, how many people do you guys know who lost a lot of weight actually kept it off for years? Even if they kept the bulk of it off i can guarantee that they did eventually regain some of their weight and if they didn't, they are adhering to a regular exercise regimen.

I think you mean "calorie deficit", not "diet". Diet just means you choose your food for a purpose rather than having no control.

I'm thoroughly enjoying my diet, why would this be unsustainable.

If you aren't enjoying your diet, I think you are doing it wrong.

Yes but did you notice that I did say that exercise plus diet helped maintain my crash diet results far better than dieting alone? When I don't exercise I can only hold onto weight loss for a couple months at max. So considering exercise can help me maintn crash diet results for 8 months or longer, imagine the maintainence on a more reasonable diet?

Even a reasonable caloric deficit is hard to maintain - the only people who can keep trim are those who maintain a regular exercise program.

It's no harder to maintain a reasonable caloric deficit than it is to maintain a reasonable exercise program. Both require dedication, commitment and self-discipline. I see just as many people fall off the exercise wagon as people who fall off the calorie deficit wagon. For many people it's more difficult to find/make the time to exercise than it is to eat.

If you're speaking solely of your personal experience/struggles, that's one thing; if you're putting it forth as a broad generalization which applies to everybody, it's presumptuous and invalid.

[ETA:] From looking at some of your prior posts, I can see why you've had trouble maintaining a caloric deficit:

My goal is to lose as much fat as possible in 2 months - I've down excessive running + 1200 cal diet before, PSMF, and crash fasting diets and while I can usually get the weight down as much as 15 lbs in 3-4 weeks, I end up regaining everything and sometimes more... so this time I want to do it right but still fast!

Trust me - I used to run 8-13 miles 3x a week on 1200 net calories with mostly carbs and the weightloss stalled after 2 months.

No wonder you find a caloric deficit so difficult to maintain. That's why I specifically refer to a reasonable caloric deficit. 1200 calories and/or crash fasting diets are not reasonable - nor sustainable.


You also seem to agree that exercise programs are just as difficult to sustain and require dedication:

I like running and lifting - it's just I overdo them and get burned out and stop after a few months (my longest lifting stint was 8 months, running like 4)

Both ultimately, but some depends on your personality and current diet. If current diet good, then exercise probably more important than the minor improvements. But if the diet + exercise are poor, I would start with diet first.

I try to work on both. But there are days when I've known that I'm not set up for success with food prepped in food I will forgo an exercise session to get myself ready for the week with meals prepped. Means food sorted for next 3-4 days and it is easier to get to gym/go out for run.