Diet vs Exercise

Are you having a hard time wrapping your brain around the idea of both changing your diet and exercising to lose weight? This article tackles the pros and cons of a weight loss program that only incorporates diet changes or alternatively includes only exercise. You will discover from reading this information that your original attitude to losing weight may change.

Diet Alone

Cutting calories alone will encourage your body to lose weight effectively. Ensuring that you eat sensibly and nutritiously is very important. You should avoid following any fad diets that restrict certain food groups. A healthy balanced diet is necessary to lose weight and keep it off.

The problem with only limiting your calorie intake to lose weight is that eventually you will reach a plateau where by losing further weight will become very difficult. You will find that your metabolism begins to slow down and as a result your body holds on to fat to maintain its reserves. One pound of fat is equal to 3500 calories and so to minimize that many calories by cutting calorie intake alone can be very hard. You would need to eliminate 500 calories a day to lose 1 pound per week.

Exercise Alone

Exercise speeds up your metabolism. Anytime you burn more calories than you eat, you will lose weight. It is possible to eat what you want if you are burning the calories off with exercise. However, this plan is far from fool proof. Not unlike restricting your calories, you will likely reach a plateau, where by your weight loss will slow down or diminish. Too much exercise can lead to injury and fatigue and then as soon as you stop exercising the weight begins to creep back on.

Diet and Exercise

For maximum benefit and optimal health, combining both diet and exercise is key to losing weight. Diet and exercise work hand in hand. One boosts calorie burning by adding more muscle in your body and the other limits the amount of calories taken in. A combination of both will help you avoid the usual pitfalls that come from doing one without the other. Not only will you successfully lose weight, you will also build muscle and tone your body. The more muscle you have, the more calories your body burns and the faster you lose weight.

In conclusion, it is a lot easier to burn a high number of calories with both diet and exercise combined than it is to burn them all with diet or exercise alone. Hopefully from reading this article you will have realized that what may appear to be the easier or more appealing route to weight loss, may actually be harder. So why put so much pressure on yourself by taking extreme measures to lose weight when it's really not necessary?!