So is diet or exercise more important when it comes to losing body fat? I am the author of a fitness site so obviously I am a big believer in exercise, but to be honest, you can get pretty dramatic results from diet alone. In fact, I would say that 90% of the people who are having a tough time losing weight are simply messing up when it comes to diet.

In a Perfect World You Should Combine Diet and Exercise

Everyone knows that exercise along with a good diet is a great approach to losing weight. The challenge with exercising is that often times life gets busy. There isn’t always time to exercise, but you always have time for a proper diet. My suggestion is to keep your diet clean at all times, and exercise when time allows.

“You Can’t Out-Exercise a Big Mac”

A Big Mac has 540 calories. Do you realize how much exercising it takes to burn those calories? Well about an hour on the elliptical trainer at a moderate pace would do the trick! So after an hour of boring cardio, you are back to square one. You probably won’t lose weight at all especially if you added the fries and soft drink. Large fries would be an extra 570 calories and a large non-diet soft drink would be an extra 310 calories. So how much exercise would you have to do to burn 1,400+ calories? Let’s not even go there!

It is Easier to Create a Large Calorie Deficit Through Dieting

The most proven way to lose weight (really the only way) is to create a calorie deficit. A calorie deficit is basically when your body burns more calories than what you eat each day. To lose two pounds of fat per week, you need to create a daily calorie deficit of 1,000 calories (2 pounds of fat is 7,000 calories). Would you rather hop on an exercise bike for 2 hours or just not eat those calories in the first place. To create a 1,000 calorie deficit through exercise you have to hit moderate cardio for close to two hours. That is brutal! My suggestion in to not eat those extra 1,000 calories in the first place!

Fat Loss Is A Bit More Complicated

The body is actually much more complex than simply responding precisely to a calorie deficit. There are WAY more variables that come into play when it comes to fat loss; the type of food you eat, the timing of your meals, the metabolic effect of exercise, the muscle sparing effect of resistance training, etc. There are a lot of things that come into the fat loss picture that I’m not addressing here.

Diet is More Important Than Many People Realize

If you are eating a bunch of calories, a large part of your time spent in the gym is a waste. What is crazy is that over 80% of all articles in fitness magazines focus on exercise, while diet is the key to getting a great looking body. I am a HUGE believer in regular exercise, I just think that diet is what is holding most people back from hitting their goals.

Want your Cardio to Be 3 Times More Effective? Then Eat Well!

Show me an overweight person who works outs hard 5 times a week and I will show you a person who doesn’t eat well! The mistake people often make in gyms is that they copy the workout routine of a person who is in great shape. The real reason that person is in great shape is because of their clean diet. True weight loss happens “behind the scenes”. Working out speeds along the process, but the foundation of a great body is in a clean diet.

Bonus: A Great Way to Increase Your Self-Discipline With Dieting

The crazy thing about self-discipline is that it all depends upon the “way you think about things”. We are impressed when we see someone who has strong self-discipline, but you would act the same if you thought like that person thought. Hope that makes sense. Here is the way I think about cardio exercise and diet that works for me. If I know I am going to workout hard later in the day, I will eat strictly. The reason I do this is that I actually want my exercise to mean something and burn body fat.

During the day I will eat low calorie foods to prepare for my early evening workout. Often times the evening rolls around and I don’t feel like exercising. Since I skipped the unhealthy food and spent all day getting my body ready to exercise, it would be foolish if I skipped a workout. I force myself to exercise, since I stuck to a strict diet during the day. This is a great way to make diet and exercise play off of each other.

 

About the Author: Rusty Moore
Want a slim and hot body like Jessica Alba or Will Smith? Learn the Diet and Exercise methods of Hollywood’s Sexiest Actors and Actresses. Click here for advanced, up-to-date, Fitness Tips!