Which is more important - Diet or Exercise?

My diet, I wouldn't say is perfect. I don't measure everything. But I am conscious


this.... you probably are taking in more calories then you think by not measuring.

Calorie deficit is what's important for weight loss. I personally feel that it's much easier to obtain a calorie deficit with dietary changes, just because it's so difficult to burn a large number of calories (especially for me because I'm small and chronically ill).

I think most people do a combination of the two.

It's all about the calorie deficit, I agree with you WhoWasGivenTo. I am losing consistently every week, I walk on the treadmill 30 mins x3 times a week and count all of my calories by logging my foods on here everyday. When I say log, I mean I log EVERYTHING.. Some people forget about the 2 sugars in tea or the milk in cereal for morning brekkie, it all adds up. Cut your self some slack here, you have been doing amazing with the workouts! Your body needs time to adjust to it's new routine. Give yourself some recovery time from working out to.

Diet.

For my goals it is a 60-40 split diet- exercise

Pounds are lost in the kitchen .

Hi,

About 3 months ago, all I did was sit in front of a desk, barely moved. Ate a nice big slice of chocolate cake or any sugary dessert in the afternoon every single day. Weekends I did nothing either even though I had no excuse. My excuse was I was a working mom!

Now fast forward three months to today. I joined a gym. I have a personal trainer on Mon/Fri. I work out for 1 hr (stairmaster/elliptical/bootcamp classes) on other weekdays from 6-7am. Weekends I take my dog for a walk.

My diet, I wouldn't say is perfect. I don't measure everything. But I am conscious. I have started incorporating quinoa, oats, millet etc into my diet. My afternoon dessert has turned into pears/banana or grapes.
I thought I was going places!

After about 1 months ago, my trainer took my weight and body fat measurement. No change. Nada. Zilch!
I stepped on the scale today at home, again no change.

I have a couple of friends who are on Ketogenic (all fat diet!). NO carbs at all. They eat chicken/eggs. NO CARBS.
THey don't exercise at all.
I saw them lose inches from their waist. I was skeptical about hidden fat or clogged arteries.
They do take their statistics every month and their cholestrol/triglycerides etc are in control !!!

So I am disillusioned !! Hard work doesn't pay for the first time!!! Short cuts work. This is not the way the world is supposed to work. Now I am told by my husband that my goal is not weight loss but just being active and enjoy it. Well, sometimes I question, what my motivation needs to be! I have not given up hope but I probably it would be good to know when I can start seeing results with my new (better?) routine! Sigh...

My stats: 37 yr old female. 143 pounds. 5'6"

Thanks.

Ases;

You're sure to get any number of divergent opinion replies - many of which the authors proclaim to be "THE" answer.

Unfortunately, a good number of these are based on dogma, not fact. It's up to you to do your own research and separate the wheat from the chaff.

To my mind "diet" and "exercise" are not one and the same. Each has benefits but they are not necessarily "joined at the hip" in that one is specifically dependent on the other.

Weight loss is totally dependent on diet (regardless of the methodology selected), it is NOT dependent (exclusively) on exercise (as you have seen). This is NOT to say that exercise isn't a necessary part of overall health and wellness - it IS.

Any number of recent clinical studies have demonstrated that weight loss with NO exercise is not only possible, but in many cases just as successful (in some cases more so). Cardio exercise, by and large has little to no positive weight loss effect. Resistance, in moderation and at the appropriate time has been shown to be at least positive but NOT absolutely necessary.

Many of these forums cling desperately to the old myths and "truisms" - no pain no gain, if you fail it's your own fault, you're just lazy or lying about your cal intake.

It's NOT about morality, it IS about science.

Your understanding of "keto/LC" diets is woefully inadequate but likely represents the level of understanding of many, having been so frequently misrepresented by the ignoranti.

I'd suggest you might want to do your own research and gain an understanding of WHY many believe LCHF is not only much "healthier" in the long run but also provides the weight reduction benefits that it does.

It is NOT a "fad diet", NOT an "...all fat diet...", nor is it ..."NO CARBS..", or that "...they don't exercise AT ALL..."

It IS a specific dietary approach which, first and foremost offers any number of long term health benefits and, as a positive "side effect", allows many to reach their weight and body fat goals. (with or without any specific exercises).

If you are interested, take a look here to begin:
http://tinyurl.com/lez37n4

All of my doctors tell me is dieting is 80% what you eat and 20% exercise. So far I found this to be true. If I eat healthy and in my calorie range without exercise I still lose weight.

If you want the scale to tip it is more diet and I am good at guessing but I have worked at Deli so I measure food all the time but still can be off and I am also good at forgetting to log at times.
I do not agree with the scale being only measure. I would check you body fat or inches they probably have changed. I have worked hard with a trainer and at this point heavier than I thought I wanted to be but when I see the image in the mirror I can't help but smile. I am toned and lean and healthier than ever. I look much younger and energy is high. Don't give up on exercise confidence, energy, mood, sexy are all helped by exercise combing cardio and strength training of some kind. Good Luck

Diet is the single most important thing you can do for your health, weight loss, mood, energy etc. When we do not eat correctly our hormones get out of balance and that causes all of the above to not function properly. Low carb diets are the most studied diets in history and what the research points to is that they are more right than wrong but you can't take that to mean eat all the bacon you want. There are no shortcuts! If we are going to have long term success than we have to examine every calorie that we ingest. Also calorie deficit is important but now we know that not all calories are created equally. A very good book that gave me a better understanding of nutrients is "The Wahls Protocol" by Terry Wahls MD. Diet may very well be 85% of the recipe for weight loss but our overall health and well being is the real goal. I wish you the best of luck.

It is a combination for me. Training hard keeps me on track with my eating and also keeps things tight as I lose. I have the best results being careful of my diet and combining cardio and weights at least 5 times a week. Once I fall off the workout wagon, I tend to fall off the healthy eating wagon too. You can lose weight by diet alone but I doubt it will look pretty naked.

Is there a reason you don't track calories perfectly? I found it very difficult to guess. I have completely eliminated sugar and grain from my diet and attribute that to at least in part to feeling so much better overall. After a couple weeks I did not miss them at all. I do exercise but I make sure I have plenty of recovery time. I only do one body group to failure each visit along with stationary bike. This does 2 things for me. Prevent over training "more recovery time" and allows more energy for each body group. It is very hard to push to failure but that is what triggers change. I feel your frustration regarding long plateaus but they will break. Sadly our bodies establish a set weight and will down throttle our metabolism to accommodate fewer calories. Continued exercise with break through that eventually. The only way I can keep this in context is the knowing that I am not on a diet or temporary lifestyle change. This is just what I do. It is me.

If you're not weighing and measuring your food, you don't know how much you are really eating. And at 5'6" and 143 lb, you don't have much weight to lose, which means you have to be even more diligent in your logging to keep from blowing your deficit.

Diet. Diet. Diet.

You can't out train a bad diet.

This is the best answer. You will notice changes very quickly with all your training if you tweak your diet to suit you.

I found myself in this situation when I started my exercise and calorie limiting my weight went up by 4 kgs in 3 weeks I was gutted, sweat, blisters and tummy rumbles and all I had to show for it was jeans that wouldn't even zip. I still don't know exactly what the cause was however last week I sprained my ankle very badly and haven't been able to any of the exercise I was doing before, walking, jogging in place or star jumps and although I haven't lost a kg this week I haven't gained it either. I am starting to think my body is just resisting my efforts.

This pedantic weighing food is all very well but in 2,3 years time I don't want to be bringing a set around in my handbag in case an apple is 120g instead of 110g's so although I do look at that something is and log it im not going to be snipping about a few cal's here and there.