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Diet vs Exercise - Which is more important and why?
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What is important is a healthy lifestyle. It is not just food or exercise. Focusing on only those two items might leave you with poor sleep, little to no stress management, unhealthy relationships, etc.
As @AnnPT77 points out if you are deficient in an area you need to improve it. In my case my weight was pressing down on my life so getting weight off was my highest priority which then made exercise easier.6 -
Yes, many people need more activity in their lives. Both diet and exercise are needed for health. As far as weight loss, I firmly believe it's 80% in the kitchen. My favorite maxim is "you can't outrun your fork".5
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Diet is way more important for weight loss. One can easily consume 1000 calories in 30 minutes. Most would need to work out for 3-4 hours to burn 1000 calories. Every time I have lost weight, it was by eating less. In the past, I have gained weight when I exercise a lot because I get too hungry.4
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At 20 stone it was diet, 100% the most import issue for me. Now I am in the 11 stone zone with a stone or so left to lose what matters to me is both diet and exercise.
So surely the answer here is "it depends". It depends on your circumstances and it depends on your goals.5 -
As @AnnPT77 points out if you are deficient in an area you need to improve it. In my case my weight was pressing down on my life so getting weight off was my highest priority which then made exercise easier.
Same here. When I was morbidly obese it was as much as I could comfortably do to walk a mile or so, so I had to get some weight off as first priority. Now, I walk for a hour and a half every day, which at 20 stone would have been out of the question.
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Agree with jackrabbit and Breefoshee
For me and only me, exercise has to come first. I know what to eat to be healthy, but if I’m not feeling great, I reach for cookies. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME
If I exercise a little, I feel better, I eat better, I clean my house, I call my family to tell them I love them, I plan something fun.
If I exercise too much, I don’t feel good again. Everything’s called off. I sit and watch tv and eat cookies.
Exercise is the driver.
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HoneyBadger155 wrote: »All that stated, FOR ME, I find that exercise and a strict workout plan helps me in the food department for a few reasons. 1 - I want to properly fuel my workouts and recoveries, 2 - I'm more mindful of my weight and what I'm eating, 3 - that "healthy" mindset carries over into my food choices.
So, in my case, exercise can be a key to my SUCCESS - more because of the mindset it induces. Losing weight and maintaining a weight all still boils down to CICO, but I find it easier to be in that place if I'm more focused on fitness than eating. So, in my case, fitness is more important....but that is because it is immediately supported by nutrition. If my exercise falls by the wayside, my eating very quickly follows....just a mindset/way my brain works.
This reason for me too - I think I've finally accepted it.
The food choices not as much perhaps - decent nutritional level, but not great. I'm an example of what a body can do being pushed with poor nutritional provisions.
My mom in comparison has been working out for years, wants to do her own leaves and mowing and snow shoveling, likes her 2 sets of stairs in house (2 narrow for my liking).
Some mutual friends will give me sideways glances about not doing snow shoveling perhaps until they go try to help - then they understand.
And her diet sadly limited with other health issues but keeps trying.1 -
What and how much you eat is important for weight loss - maintenance - gain.
Exercise is important for muscle maintenance and gain.
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Conceptually, I need both 100% to lose weight. I notice I become loose and lazy when I don't workout which leads to a calorie overage. And obviously I can't lose weight if I'm not in a deficit. I personally need both and can't lose without incorporating both since I'm not an Olympic trainer and I love food.3
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I have had a struggle with too much weight since my teens. The typical diet, lose weight, go back to old habits, put even more on, rinse repeat. I also was the kid who was rubbish at team sports and school PE lessons were hell on earth. So I thought exercise was not for me. I liked swimming but not enough to go to the trouble of getting to a pool every day or even once a week. Or month. Or year...
The key for me was finding a love of exercise quite unexpectedly. That finally drove me to attend to my diet so I could do more exercise. I've exercised my way out of a somewhat dodgy knee and improved a lung condition no end. I discovered through lockdown just how important exercise is to my mental wellbeing. At the start there were days when I just couldn't be bothered. On those days I noticed I felt much worse as the day went on. So I forced myself to do it daily and found that five minutes in everything started to seem better. I won't lie - lockdown has been very mentally taxing for me and some days I would be in tears when starting the workout, but start it I did.8 -
Interesting focus on the topic - which was left open ended.
I scanned through and there were a few comments of another focus but not that many and brief.
Diet or exercise for mental & emotional well-being, which has bigger impact on you, and what nuances discovered?3 -
Considering I commented with honeybadger I can't seem to do diet without the exercise - I've not really been able to separate the effects.
So I'm out for comparison.
But I will comment that merely the effect of having time during a workout to think about things without distractions (biking without music, usually running without too), I think about priorities and projects, helps greatly.
Of course sometimes it's what is going to be missed because I'm doing the workout, but still.2 -
Considering I commented with honeybadger I can't seem to do diet without the exercise - I've not really been able to separate the effects.
So I'm out for comparison.
But I will comment that merely the effect of having time during a workout to think about things without distractions (biking without music, usually running without too), I think about priorities and projects, helps greatly.
Of course sometimes it's what is going to be missed because I'm doing the workout, but still.
I think I may have said this already upthread, but I also have a lot of trouble with diet outside of exercise (other than for a short period of time), and I think a huge part of that is that exercise is important for my mental well-being, as well as my focus, my ability to prioritize.2 -
Interesting focus on the topic - which was left open ended.
I scanned through and there were a few comments of another focus but not that many and brief.
Diet or exercise for mental & emotional well-being, which has bigger impact on you, and what nuances discovered?
My transformation (mental and physical) began at 100 percent diet and zero percent exercise. As I have lost weight and added exercise the percentages have been moving from one bucket to the other. I still have a few pounds to lose but exercise is now the primary driver. From a mental standpoint, exercise tests me and when I pass, it proves capabilities that I might not have otherwise be sure I had or recaptured.
But it can still be a very much day by day question too. I think I am most bolstered by the biggest win of the day. For some time that has been exercise. In a highly food tempting time of year with a little SAD thrown in from the short days sometimes getting that -50 to +50 calorie number at the end of the day is the bigger win.1 -
Interesting focus on the topic - which was left open ended.
I scanned through and there were a few comments of another focus but not that many and brief.
Diet or exercise for mental & emotional well-being, which has bigger impact on you, and what nuances discovered?
From a mental standpoint, exercise tests me and when I pass, it proves capabilities that I might not have otherwise be sure I had or recaptured.
... sometimes getting that -50 to +50 calorie number at the end of the day is the bigger win.
Hmmm, I guess on reflection it does feel good to have hit the numbers - especially if there were temptations.
It's so hard for me to feel like that is the same type of reward in overcoming whatever.
Probably the age-old problem if when it's here and now and in your face, usually physical - it's easier to put an importance on it.
When the effects are delayed and future and not so material right now - harder to keep that importance.
Very strange, I can do it with finances though, and other things sometimes. (though the desire to better air seal and insulate the new place for future savings hasn't inspired beyond buying material)
Oh the fickle mind.1 -
A sustainable balance of both to make it work long term.
'Sustainable balance' can only be defined by the individual.
Ignoring mental and emotional well being in the overall mix is a mistake.6 -
Ikeeptrying2 wrote: »A sustainable balance of both to make it work long term.
'Sustainable balance' can only be defined by the individual.
Ignoring mental and emotional well being in the overall mix is a mistake.
MFP is kind of a weird place to me sometimes, for reasons you hint at. I know it's because of the main topics the site is oriented around: They're what we discuss, of course.
Still, so many discussions would make it seem like exercise, calories, and maybe nutrition are The Meaning of Life, or all that's needed for health or well-being. So many other things involved in health, but especially can be important for balance and quality of life: Knowledge (history, math, science, whatever), practical skills, psychological well being, creativity, cognitive ability, social skills, family . . . .
On the one hand, I know it's not unusual for people to be mono-obsessed. It's possibly even required for succeeding with some goals (thinking of professional musicians, elite athletes, etc.) Still, I worry about some of the people in threads where someone is figuring out how to fit multiple hours of exercise into their day, now that they've gotten their eating to some point of adequacy or perceived perfection.
Balance. Yup.5 -
Getting back on the actual topic of discussion. My mother has had multiple strokes, to the point where she is on a walker and it is difficult for her to move. She has high blood pressure, diabetes, COPD, AFIB, and is very obese. For her, most of her issues would be greatly improved if she would eat better, and less. Maybe not the COPD, but everything else comes back to a bad diet. She has these things, then sits and eats a whole bowl of caramels and isn't hungry to eat the healthier chicken and vegetables for supper. Even if sweets aren't available to her, she eats way too much, period. So for her, and I think for most, so many things can be at the very least, made so much better by a better diet. Had she changed her diet 15 years ago and lost weight, she probably wouldn't be in the state she is in right now.9
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Ikeeptrying2 wrote: »A sustainable balance of both to make it work long term.
'Sustainable balance' can only be defined by the individual.
Ignoring mental and emotional well being in the overall mix is a mistake.
MFP is kind of a weird place to me sometimes, for reasons you hint at. I know it's because of the main topics the site is oriented around: They're what we discuss, of course.
Still, so many discussions would make it seem like exercise, calories, and maybe nutrition are The Meaning of Life, or all that's needed for health or well-being. So many other things involved in health, but especially can be important for balance and quality of life: Knowledge (history, math, science, whatever), practical skills, psychological well being, creativity, cognitive ability, social skills, family . . . .
On the one hand, I know it's not unusual for people to be mono-obsessed. It's possibly even required for succeeding with some goals (thinking of professional musicians, elite athletes, etc.) Still, I worry about some of the people in threads where someone is figuring out how to fit multiple hours of exercise into their day, now that they've gotten their eating to some point of adequacy or perceived perfection.
Balance. Yup.
Having been on/off MFP over the last 6+ years... I can't agree with you more.
Perhaps it's those that are relatively new comers to the process that struggle with the balance. To be honest, at first I did as well. Thankfully it didn't take me too long to realize that the path I was on was more destructive than beneficial.
This is the risk of being obsessed chasing a number on a scale or particular body shape/condition/look. I see it here often and I now shy away from those threads since I often get ignored. Eventually people figure it out for themselves or they end up abandoning the process altogether.3
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