Posted on 04/25/2015 5:10:52 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
f you haven't made it to the gym this week then don't fret – it turns out exercise might not be as important as we all think.
That's the stance being taken in a new study which has suggested it is in fact diet – and not exercise – that is the key to tackling obesity.
Research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, has claimed poor diet now generates more disease than physical inactivity, alcohol and smoking combined.
So should we all just kick back on the sofa with a snack – as long as we stick to salad?
Personal trainer Alex Moylan, who is also general manager of PureGym Cambridge, doesn't think so and said we shouldn't write off exercise just yet.
He said: "I can see what they are trying to say but I think they have gone about it the wrong way because it can be a bit misleading.
"People need to look at a healthy diet but eating well only gets you so far – the exercise does need to be there otherwise it will be a very slow process."
Recalling people who have approached him for advice at PureGym, Alex said those who only focused on diet sometimes found their weight loss would plateau after a certain point.
"That's when exercise kicks in," he continued. "Saying exercise is not valid is missing the point as it's for general health as well.
"When we exercise we aren't just looking at people who want to lose weight but we are talking about things like mobility, posture and even mental health.
"All of those things if not in place can affect your weight as well.
"I'd say definitely don't stop exercising but make sure you continue to eat healthily as well."
(Excerpt) Read more at cambridge-news.co.uk ...
Never tried to lose. So that I can't speak to with personal experience.
/johnny
RE: I know that for me, exersize is very important for gaining weight.
Excuse me? GAINING weight? don’t you mean LOSING weight?
It ain't easy. I keep a chart with every calorie I eat.
UPC scanner helps with that... a lot.
/johnny
Is diet – rather than exercise – the key to losing weight?
What an inane question. OF COURSE Diet, rather than exercise, is the key to losing weight.
My gawd what an inane question.
RE: I know that for me, exersize is very important for gaining weight.
Excuse me? GAINING weight? don’t you mean LOSING weight?
However, if I exercise a LOT and eat the exact number of calories my body needs, if I was fat before I started exercising I will be much more “trim” because I’ve turned fat into muscle, which is far more dense. Also, with all that muscle, my daily caloric needs will be higher.
You cut calories to lose weight. You exercise to stay fit.
Most people need both, from my personal experience. I’ve known people on perpetual diets who can’t seem to lose a pound because they never burn any off.
I tried that once but then I ended up filling the curved side of it with peanut butter because I got hungry. That sort of defeated the purpose. Then I went ahead and drank some beer to wash it all down.
Because exercising makes you want to eat more. To lose weight you must either love to eat a lot of rabbit food, or learn to like a certain amount of hunger. Exercising alone won't do it.
“Most people need both, from my personal experience. “
I agree. It’s a matter of balancing the caloric ‘checkbook’. Eating fills the account. Exercise spends from the account. If you spend faster from the account, while decreasing how much you put in to it, it will deplete faster.
In the army, we all knew body weight was 75% diet, 25% exercise. Exercise is still important, but not even close to how important diet is.
Of course if you’re building cardio and muscular endurance, then physical activity is very important too.
The trick is to keep the calories low but with the nutrients that the body and mind require. Also, don't stay immobile for hours on end. I've discovered that the best exercise equipment I've ever had is my current canine housemate. He demands a LOT of vigorous walks!
“gaining weight.. I’m trying to get up to 126 lbs.
Oh, Johnny... I wish you lived near me. I could get some meat on your bones in a flash! For what it is worth, my son needed to put on weight during high school (the whole football thing). The trainers suggested peanut butter and ice cream. Like milk shakes... add some PB to it. Eat at least a few sandwiches a day... and eat when you aren’t hungry. A half a sandwich here.. a scoop of ice cream there... Hope it helps. Personally, I would make you my Mother’s recipe of Pierogies and her home made bread recipes. Within a month, we would have to grease the door to push your hips out (((Hugs)))
We used to have an exercise program that came on one of our local stations everyday at noon. My SIL once told me she put it on everyday while she ate lunch.
Some people have to workout to gain weight. Very frustrating when everything is always about going to the gym to lose weight. If I don’t keep hitting the weights, I drop about 2 lbs per month.
You don't gain strength by sitting around. I've already done one walk this AM. Talk about a time sink...
/johnny
A key to weight gain is consuming more calories then your body spends at the same period of time and the opposite is for weight loss.
It is a no brainer that you might either spend more calories via excercise or consume less via eating less to lose weight.
In practice it is not all that simple because the quality of weight loss matter too.
Poor diet and lack of excercise would primarily ruin your muscle and your fat deposit to lesser extent.
The lesser your muscular mass the lesser overall metabolism which leans your fat would burn even more slower.
You also need to take into account that some key organs like heart are muscles too, and others which are not muscles are built like muscles with protein as a major agent.
All these organs would be partially cannibalized to extract energy along with the muscles under such approach, leaving your fats largely intact.
Technically, you would loose weight, but at the expense of vital bodily functions and it won’t bring health benefits.
I would agree with that.
The key to losing weight and keeping it off IMO pretty much boils down to something as simple as: “East Less & Move More”.
But more precisely – “eat less but don’t ever starve yourself” – “eat healthier, eat a variety of things, but stay away from the fad diet du jour” – “move more but focus on simple and achievable and sustainable exercise”; (especially exercise as simple as just taking a brisk 20 minute walk every day; taking the stairs instead of the elevator where possible; don’t always look for the parking space closest to the door, and perhaps adding some simple calisthenics, some light weight training using hand weights but not over doing it, add some simple stretching). Start slow, keep it simple and incorporate little changes over time, but don’t make it a chore, but something you actually like doing or at least can tolerate for 10 minutes at a time, maybe only once a week to start.
I have a friend who over the 30 years I’ve known her, has constantly been “dieting” and often trying one fad diet after another. Most recently, only in the last 5 years or so – Atkins > the “grapefruit diet” > vegetarian > vegan > paleo > fasting with juice cleanses > back to being a semi-vegan (she thought she could eat cheese eggs and still be sorta be a “vegan”) > high fat – low or no carbs > no or very low fat – and “whole” and “raw” foods only > various ethnic food kicks > gluten free and “organic”. I love her dearly and she is my best friend in the world, she’d do anything for me and I for her but since I moved out of state and we don’t get to see each other as much anymore, when we get together and go out to eat, it’s always a challenge to find a place that serves whatever fad diet she’s on at the time. But then again, bless her heart, she “cheats” a lot.
She has had some success with losing weight on some of these diets, but always gains it back and sometimes gains back even more.
She also had gone on several exercise fads, sometimes in combination with a fad diet and sometimes thinking if she exercised a whole lot more, that she could eat anything – years ago bought a mini-trampoline and told me it was the greatest thing ever, how I should get one too – until she broke her ankle; then it was Zumba and she was going at least 5 times a week until she got bored and sick of it; then it was the very expensive elliptical machine she bought and put in her basement and was using it at least an hour or two every day, that she now uses as a place to hang laundry from. LOL!
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