how much is exercise vs diet
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catmomfat
Posts: 97 Member
I have always been pretty active. Not as much in the last year as I should have been because of having to care for family members and working two jobs. But I try to make it to the gym or ride my bike or do something at least 3-4 days a week. But as I have passed 35 the pounds come on faster and leave slower. Ugh. So is diet really 90% of weight loss. I know in my 20's and early 30's I ate everything I wanted and never gained an ounce.
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It's energy balance. People have successfully lost weight and kept it off through diet alone (been there, done that with eating whatever I wanted in my 20s......paid for it in my 40s)
Having said that regular exercise can make it easier to maintain a caloric deficit (studies have shown that people who are active tend to be more successful at keeping the wight off long term) and being active confers other health benefits (improved cardiovascular health, lowered blood pressure, improved lipids, improved sleep etc etc etc)3 -
Weight loss happens from having a calorie deficit. How you create that deficit is up to you. But you can lose weight 100% from diet alone.4
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I have found that it's 80% diet and 20% workout.. But that's me.. If I eat what I want and workout I get zero results.. I almost have to starve myself and workout to get anywhere.... The thing that's worked the best for me and I've lost a truck load of weight was removing any starchy foods.. Bread, Pasta, rice and potatoes... Notta one... Dropped 90 pounds doing that.. Mind you I've snuck back on 25 so I came back.. (clothes were getting tight) lol4
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100% calorie deficit. Exercise is for health, but can help create the deficit.5
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Yes, you can't out-exercise a bad diet. However, exercise helps you maintain a deficit when you get closer to your goal, because you can only cut back food so much.4
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This.I have found that it's 80% diet and 20% workout.. But that's me.. If I eat what I want and workout I get zero results.. I almost have to starve myself and workout to get anywhere.... The thing that's worked the best for me and I've lost a truck load of weight was removing any starchy foods.. Bread, Pasta, rice and potatoes... Notta one... Dropped 90 pounds doing that.. Mind you I've snuck back on 25 so I came back.. (clothes were getting tight) lol
At 50 and with a 43lbs loss, had a few weeks of stalled progress, dropped ice cream kept calories the same and BAM down a pound.
As we get older, diet becomes more critical.1 -
You can do it with diet alone, but you will not look as fit and trim as you would with exercise added in.
Also...
You can't out-exercise a bad diet...so it always starts there.
Once you get done with diet and exercise and get to goal...hopefully it will turn into eat and train :-)
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It's an individual thing, but most people will find that they can more easily create a deficit by controlling how much you eat. Generally, it's easier to cut 200 cals out of your diet than to burn an extra 200 cals through increased movement.
However, that leaves out the fact that it is important to exercise for health, that exercise will allow you to eat a bit more than you would if you didn't exercise (important for diet adherence), and you may find a form of exercise that you enjoy enough that it is easier for you to create your deficit entirely through exercise while eating as normal.3 -
I have always been pretty active. Not as much in the last year as I should have been because of having to care for family members and working two jobs. But I try to make it to the gym or ride my bike or do something at least 3-4 days a week. But as I have passed 35 the pounds come on faster and leave slower. Ugh. So is diet really 90% of weight loss. I know in my 20's and early 30's I ate everything I wanted and never gained an ounce.
It comes down to energy balance, not some %. The more you move, the higher your calorie (energy) requirements are.
From my personal POV, weight management is 100% in the kitchen. I can do no exercise and I will maintain on 2400-2500 calories per day and lose weight eating 1900-2000 calories per day at the rate of about 1 Lb per week...and I'd struggle with that. With regular exercise I average about 3,000 calories per day to maintain and I can lose that same 1 Lb per week eating around 2,500 calories, and that's pretty easy.1 -
I read once that you can't out-exercise a bad diet, but you can probably out-exercise a mediocre one. For me this is bang on. My diet is not totally on point, but with regular exercise I'm able to achieve my goals and still eat lots of treats. If I had the same eating habits but didn't exercise, I would certainly be gaining weight.6
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This would be so much more miserable without exercise. Not only would I have to starve myself, but most of my fun would be gone. And every hour I spend on the trail is an hour I don't spend near tempting food; weight loss is about avoiding the kitchen, not hanging out in the next room from it.5
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NorthCascades wrote: »This would be so much more miserable without exercise. Not only would I have to starve myself, but most of my fun would be gone. And every hour I spend on the trail is an hour I don't spend near tempting food; weight loss is about avoiding the kitchen, not hanging out in the next room from it.
Oh, I love this analogy! So very true.0 -
IMO you do a disservice to both diet and exercise by even bringing up the topic that sort of suggests they are interchangeable. They both are completely different things, with almost entirely different benefits and risks in and of themselves and really should be evaluated separately rather than conflating the two, like you have to choose one or the other. To each his own of course.1
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kaylajane11 wrote: »I read once that you can't out-exercise a bad diet, but you can probably out-exercise a mediocre one. For me this is bang on. My diet is not totally on point, but with regular exercise I'm able to achieve my goals and still eat lots of treats. If I had the same eating habits but didn't exercise, I would certainly be gaining weight.
This is it for me, too. When I just restrict what I eat without working out, all I think about is food and feel miserable. When I work out, I can eat a little more, but I also am more motivated to eat well (hit my protein goals, eat at a moderate deficit) because I am focused on fitness goals and don't want to waste my hard work at the gym by overeating. That said, I am only about 15 lbs from my goal- which I gained when I stopped exercising over a couple years. So, if I do the math, assuming the exact same food intake, I was in an average surplus of approximately 500 calories a week for those 2 years to gain 15lbs. I easily burn 500 calories a week when I'm working out, so I *could* have out exercised the gain. Of course, if I had gained 45lbs in that same time, that would be a surplus of 1500 calories a week, which would have been much, MUCH harder for me to burn off a week through exercise alone.
That said, weight loss is 100% calorie deficit. Whether you do that through simply eating less, or a combination of eating less and moving more is up to you. The best plan is what you can stick with. Exercise is a large component of fitness and health, but isn't necessarily needed for dropping pounds.4 -
I have always trained, and in the last 4 years or so have trained very hard. But last year at 45, I was frustrated with my lack of results. I was getting stronger but wasn't experiencing the physical changes I wanted to see that were so easy to achieve in my 20s.
Once I started paying attention to nutrition, everything fell into place. In 6 months I dropped 17 pounds and hit my goal weight. I lost about 10 percent of my body fat. I feel better now than I ever did.
Training has tons of great benefits both short and long term, and can contribute to a calorie deficit. But if you don't pay attention to your nutrition, it is unlikely you'll achieve your goals. Good luck!2 -
I like exercise. I also like nachos, beer, and all sorts of other unhealthy fattening crap.1
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I have always been pretty active. Not as much in the last year as I should have been because of having to care for family members and working two jobs. But I try to make it to the gym or ride my bike or do something at least 3-4 days a week. But as I have passed 35 the pounds come on faster and leave slower. Ugh. So is diet really 90% of weight loss. I know in my 20's and early 30's I ate everything I wanted and never gained an ounce.
It is all about being in calorie deficit. That said, I found it much easier to maintain that calorie deficit if I'm training, so psychologically the training helps.
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When I am exercising a lot, I can eat pretty much whatever I want and not gain weight. When I slack off because of injury or travel, I usually gain. OTOH, a lifetime of watching my weight means I know I have to restrict meals out and too many sweets, unless I am really exerting. I enjoy hiking, backpacking and running, so they are an end to themselves, but I also like the fact that I have a lot more freedom in my diet than if I didn't do them regularly.1
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Diet is 100% of weight loss, but not 100% of overall health. IMO.
Exercise all I want, if I dont have my diet under control, I won't lose weight.0
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