Diet or Exercise (page 2 of 2)

Be Committed

Here's why. Let's say you want to lose a pound a week. You'll need a daily deficit of roughly 500 calories. On a diet, you can reach that goal by cutting back your portion sizes at dinner by one-third and eating an apple instead of a slice of apple pie for dessert. To burn that number of calories through activity, however, you'll need to jog for an hour.

If you're more concerned with how you look than with numbers on the scale, though, exercise may be the way to go. By increasing physical activity, you'll burn fat and build muscle tissue. Dieters often end up losing both fat and muscle tissue. Scientists at Queen's University in Canada recently compared the effects of diet versus exercise in 30 men. Over three months, volunteers in both groups lost more than 16 pounds. But the exercisers lost almost two pounds more body fat than did the dieters. "Losing fat and not muscle is really the goal of healthy weight loss," says exercise physiologist Robert Ross, who led the study.

Exercise also may be your best bet if you're committed to losing weight and keeping it off for good. In the mid-1990s, obesity researcher John Foreyt, and his team at Baylor College of Medicine, tested three weight-loss approaches in a group of 127 men and women. Some volunteers ate a low-calorie diet. Others exercised at least three times a week doing brisk walks. The rest did both. At the end of the first year, the dieters had lost an average of 15 pounds, the exercisers 6 pounds, and the combination group almost 20 pounds. After the second year, however, the dieters were heavier than their starting weight. People in the combination group regained all but five pounds of their losses. Only members of the exercise group held steady.

Why? Foreyt has an idea. "No one ever grows to like dieting, but some people begin to like being more physically active," he says. "Over time they're more likely to stick with exercise than with diet -- and to maintain their weight loss."

Your best approach is one that suits your temperament and lifestyle. Like to cook? "When you prepare meals yourself, you can control exactly what goes into them, which makes it much easier to cut back on saturated fat and add more fruit, vegetables and whole grains to the menu," says John LaPuma, a physician and director of a weight-loss research and education program in Santa Barbara, Calif.

If you hate the thought of counting calories, you're a candidate for exercise. Be prepared to burn plenty of calories, though. Most people who lose weight through activity have to expend about 2500 extra calories a week, the equivalent of taking a brisk hour-long walk daily.

Finally, consider your past. If you've tried and failed at one approach, consider the other. "A lot of people have become so frustrated that they begin to think they'll never be able to lose weight," says Marcus. "That's when it's time to try something new. Even a small step forward can help people regain confidence and convince themselves they can make even bigger changes."

From Reader's Digest - February 2002

 

• Lose the Weight
• • Strength Training
• • Cardio Workouts
• Exercise

• Walk Your Way to Weight Loss
• You don't need a gym membership to do this effective exercise.
• 
• 15 Ways to Cut 50 Calories or More
• A little here, a little there. Cutting calories is easier than you think!
• 
• 9 Simple Diet Changes
• Tips to kick-start your weight loss.
• 
• Top 10 Nutrition and Fitness Tips
• Tips and hints to get you fit and healthy.
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