Diet vs Exercise

Diet for weight management; exercise for fitness.

Exercise is not necessary to lose weight...though I wouldn't recommend it as your calorie targets are going to be that of a little birdie and you're likely to lose more muscle mass...and diet alone is not going to be enough to truly be "healthy" if you're a sedentary person...if you're otherwise a sedentary person, regular exercise is basically a requirement for good health.

For the sweets: eat fruit! It helps me a lot. Just be careful, it has calories just like anything else. Pineapple and bananas are my daily snack, frozen grapes are great too

My goal is long term health so I place equal importance on diet and exercise.

Inzie2016 wrote: »

I was wondering how many of you focus more on better eating then exercising?

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One thing I struggle the most with is sweets in the evening..anyone have tips on curbing those cravings? I have also latest tried to get myself walking more too.

I'm probably at about 60/40 diet/exercise.

And as for sweets in the evening, I eat some low cal yogurt and often have a cookie. Check out your local grocery store for options that aren't high in calories.

Inzie2016 wrote: »

Hi everyone! So I stared using MFP a couple weeks ago and had a little bit of a rough start. I was wondering how many of you focus more on better eating then exercising? I am trying to get my diet under control and in a better place before I start working out more because I know I tend to give up when I try to make a lot of changes all at once. I still have days where I go a little off and I havent really lost any weight except for 2 lbs since and that gets me down a bit but I am trying to not let that scale get me down. One thing I struggle the most with is sweets in the evening..anyone have tips on curbing those cravings? I have also latest tried to get myself walking more too.

Do you want to just lose weight?

Or do you want to be fit and healthy?

Getting to a good fitness level and eating a well balanced nutritious diet will allow you to easily maintain a healthy body weight.

Or you could just be on a diet forever.

My2 cents: In my opinion, start the diet and do the walk. Try to follow the MFP recommendations for your daily intake of food. Remember, a piece of cake is not good calories. Good "healthy" food will/ should satisfy you. Good healthy food will give you the energy to do a nice brisk walk. So, have your egg and toast in da morning with your coffee or tea. Feel good and satisfied and then go for that walk. After the first week of your walking challenge yourself to walk longer or faster. Enjoy the scenery. Eventually your healthy eating habits will give you the energy to do more then walking and that is what you really want. Increase your exercise challenges weekly, maybe.
I have a sweet tooth as well. I am currently adding unsweetened apple sauce late at night. Will be adding unsweetened canned peaches, I also plan to have something to drink late as well, coffee satisfies me. I have found once you cut out the salt and the sugar you really don't miss it. But if you indulge in sweets every other day or on weekends...you might be torturing yourself unknowingly.

Focus on your diet right now- make your nutritional choices and changes things you can live with. If now is not a good time to commit to an exercise program than just look for opportunities to increase your activity. Choose a further parking spot, take the stairs, run in place while you are watching the microwave heat up your 1 minute whatever. Have 20 minutes? Throw on a pair of comfortable shoes and go for a walk- if you don't have a circle- walk in one direction for 10 minutes and turn around. Don't worry about pace, but soon you will see that you have reached a further distance in the 10 minutes. Ask around, have a friend join you for a walk. Think outside the box- we had a health/fitness challenge at work a year or so ago- you scored points for doing activities for a period of time. People were vacuuming more often, gardening, going for group walks, and one even started fly fishing. The points were the gauge of success- the challenge was just a way of getting people to look at ways they could improve their diet and increase activity.

I think we can (or I do) begin obsessing over the food aspect, when can I eat, how much, will that work with what I have already had..... and the activity is just a nice break from that. You will notice the increase in energy that you feel soon! Best of luck with your progress remembering always that it is not linear.

I exercise every day and I would say I eat quite healthily but I find when I rely on exercise alone and don't use the MFP, the weight creeps back on, so I reckon that it is definitely more important to get your diet in check first, Good Luck!

mom22dogs wrote: »

I did it the opposite than most who have posted. I started working out first, to get into the habit of it. I started to feel better, and about 4-5 mos later, I wanted to start losing weight, so I started watching what I ate. To me, it's harder to get into the habit of working out than it is to watch what you eat, so I attacked that first.

Me too. Just counting calories doesn't work for me. I started by committing to a class that I signed up for, so had to go and then a month later started biking every Sunday with some other ladies (love biking) and put in a walk or a swim when I can and lift weights at home. For me, I fee so much better when I'm exercising, and it helps me control my calories because I don't want to undo the benefits of my exercising. It also seems to reduce my cravings for sweets and salt. Exercising by yourself can be lonely, so I would suggest finding others to do something with and joining a class of some kind. Take measurements every 3 weeks and weigh yourself once a week only.
I have a ways to go yet, but seeing some results in measurements and clothes fitting better is encouraging. We are all different so find what works for you. You go girl!