Exercise and diet

Is diet or exercise more important when it comes to losing body fat?
Why are some people overweight despite working out at the gym week after week, month after month?
I love being active, being outdoors, building up a good sweat, 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 your results in terms of weight loss, health and even energy comes down to what you’re eating! You can never out-exercise a bad diet!

Here is my take on both:
Everyone knows that exercise along with a good diet is a great approach to losing weight. The challenge with exercising is actually getting up and doing it, and of course, life is busy. There isn’t always time to exercise -- but you always have time for a proper diet. My suggestion is to keep your diet in check at all times and exercise when time allows. Remember, you don’t need to do endless hours on a treadmill or go to a busy gym. You can go for a walk, play with your kids, take a yoga class, take a dance class, climb a mountain, anything you enjoy! This is where you’ll derive the benefits of exercise. You should combine diet and exercise.

“You can’t out-exercise a bad diet”. A big muffin has 400 calories. Do you realize how much exercising it takes to burn those calories? About an hour on the step machine at a moderate pace should do it! 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 a full milk latte to the mix, and this is just breakfast - so how much exercise would you have to do to burn 600 calories? Let’s not even go there! It’s 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 you eat each day. To lose 1kg 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 exercise for two 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 – don’t eat those extra 1,000 calories in the first place!

Diet is more important than many people realize
If you are eating a whole lot of calories, a large part of your time spent in the gym is wasted. Diet is key to getting in great shape. I am a HUGE believer in regular exercise – but diet is the most important element in terms of weight loss.

Want your cardio to be many times more effective? Then 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 diet. True weight loss happens in the kitchen.

The foundation of a great body is in a healthy solid diet!