Exercise is great, but it's all about the food!!

I so agree!!!!

I totally and 100% agree! I am a runner, have done a couple of half-marathons, 10K races, I exercise very regularly and actually love it. I have no problem with the exercise part. However, if I don't eat right.....I don't lose. The exercise alone is not enough. A lot of people say to me "with all the exercise you do you should be able to eat what you want". So wrong...for me anyway.

You can't WORKOUT a bad diet. :-) 100% agree!

I have to disagree with that statement but would like to see that modified to say: "You can't get good results without proper diet"

For me, it's 98% knowing I can,2% diet, and 2% exercise (:

You can't WORKOUT a bad diet. :-) 100% agree!

:flowerforyou:

You can't WORKOUT a bad diet. :-) 100% agree!

Although I don't disagree, I know weight-loss is 80% nutrition 20% exercises HOWEVER, to be devil’s advocate if this is the case then why do we all workout extra hard to have a treat and other than the slight increase in fuel required we insist on eating back ALL exercise calories when a deficit of 0-900 is more than safe to lose weight and avoid starvation mode.

Maybe most MPF's do that, but I didn't, no exercise calories eaten here. Diet was my primary focus

Amen! Studies have been done with people who went from normal activity to endurance athletes training for marathons and they only took off 5 pounds in the months of training. Yes you need exercise to keep your heart and muscle mass healthy but proper diet is the biggest part. Exercise especially weight lifting and low level cardio are great for building muscle mass and becoming less fat in body composition but without a good diet the overall weight will not change much.

Absolutely agree. I gained weight up to my heaviest - 14 stone (196lb) - when I was training for a marathon as I thought it gave me a license to eat

So...since we all agree on diet being very important..

What is everyone's main diet to follow that works for you?? This should be interesting..

I 110% agree with this ... 110%

If I were to % it, it's probably 35% Exersise 65% diet (weightloss)

I agree that what you are putting into your body is VERY important, but I don't beleive that my body would look as good without exercise/weight training, as it does with these habits.

I am, and always have been, a very healthy eater. While I do indulge on occasion, it isn't enough to make me gain large amounts of weight or sabotage any fitness plan I am following. I eat nutritious food in healthy portions. For me, exercise is much more important than any diet modification I could make.

I do agree however, that for most people who have not had healthy eating habits in the past, the hardest change can be to adjust their diet. That said, I know many thin and flabby women who carefully restrict every bit of food that enters their body. I can't, and don't want to do that. I feel better, and feel like I look better, toned with a little more meat on my body.

A favorite saying of mine, which I am pretty sure I have posted before, is "losing weight makes you look good in clothes, exercise makes you look good naked".

What I've always been told is:

To lose weight - you have to control your diet

To get a better health - you have to exercise


But why not have the best of both - after all they are great synergies.

thank you ALL for your advice.

I weighed in yesterday and gained 6lbs. Six pounds from my starting weight on May 1st. Yep- working out like a fiend obviously doesn't work.

Despite all the sweat I put out at the gym for 90 minutes 5 days a week- nothing is going to be as hard at understanding the "right" way to eat.

Thanks for confirming this for me. Yesterday I left the gym (early- I wasn't doing any good on the elliptical crying like a baby embarrassing myself) desperate to find out what is "wrong" with me.

I started searching MFP when I got home yesterday and now I'm working on imprinting into my head the 80% 20% rule. I had no clue...none what so ever... that the diet was going to be so important.

I really thought that because of my exercise routine I could "afford" ice cream after dinner each night, I could "afford" to drink a Corona a day, I could "afford" to have my cake and eat it too--- so to speak.

Guess not. Here's to clean eating and now officially realizing this will be the hardest thing I EVER do in my lifetime. Keep your fingers crossed!!

IT IS ABOUT THE FOOD...with a few exceptions. Swimmers (like Michael Phelps) burn so many calories swimming that they can eat whatever they want. In fact Phelps has a diet regimen of 12,000 calories a day.

My son has swam competitively since the age of 5 (he swims in college now). He has never had body fat. He eats what he wants. At the same time other swimmers have had more body fat. I'm its partly from genetics as well.