Diet vs. Exercise

By Dee Barker

Which is the best method of weight loss?

For millions of people who make the decision to lose weight the biggest question is, “should I go on a diet or should I start exercising?” 

Making the decision to lose weight is a big commitment no matter the path one chooses.  Next is the age-old problem of sticking to whichever path you chose; statistics show that 70% of people that begin a weight loss program will fail. Many will lose the weight only to find out within a few months they have not only gained back the lost pounds but added a few to boot.

I am hoping by sharing some extensive collection of which paths proved most successful for specific body types I can shed some light. (My evaluation is based on over 25 years of following & collecting data results from those participating in a diet or exercise program or both who have succeeded at becoming healthier and maintaining weight loss).

First, it will most likely not surprise you that most people choose diet as their first choice of weight loss. Why? Because diets seem to be easy, “I will just change what I am eating” or “I am going to count calories”.  Or probably the most popular would be “I am going on the (whatever the most popular diet is) diet” because I saw on TV that ________ lost 30 pounds in just 4 weeks!!!

Reasons diets fail:

1.  Too drastic of a change or too restrictive to sustain for long periods of time, any drastic change to regular behavior is hard to maintain for this reason many people begin a diet and then after not being able to stick to it have a feeling of failure and may seek comfort in over eating.
2. Some popular food diet programs are very costly and not financially feasible for much of the population. Also, this is usually package foods which you may or may not like. More data needs to be available on the long-term success of these types of programs we only hear the success stories no one knows how many tried and failed.
3. All or nothing, most diets do not offer a gradual change and even if they do most people desperate to lose weight want to do it fast, so they jump in feet first, only to find themselves unable to continue such a drastic change.
4. There is no real data that supports that specific diets work for the overall population, more data needs to be obtained on individuals that obtain lasting weight loss and succeed, what did they really do? What were there body types? What other lifestyle changes were made? How long did it really take.
5. No matter the diet simply said the key to weight loss is calories in calories out but sustaining the weight loss is the real issue for most.
6. There is no "one diet for all" different body types respond differently to both diet and exercise, however "sensible eating and sensible exercise" has proven to be the best method for losing and maintaining weight.

Reasons Exercise programs Fail

1. Exercise is essentially not a weight loss program but rather an overall health program, it takes time to see lasting results. In other words when you add exercise, you burn additional calories but if you replace those calories by over-eating you will not lose weight.
2. Many people consider walking as exercise, walking for most of us is activity, don’t count your steps make your steps count!
3. People have a misconception of how many calories they are burning during exercise, a 155-pound man burns about 232 calories walking at 3.5 mph. or approximately 100 calories per mile.
4. Many people who begin an exercise program do so without proper supervision or direction, therefore they may in fact injure themselves doing too much, or doing something that is incorrect. 
5. There is much hype and unrealistic claims related to many commercial exercise programs that are marketed to the public. People simply do not know what to believe or what program would be best for them, confused they do nothing. 
6. Not seeing the claimed results quickly also dissuades people instead of seeing the advertised six pack after 2 weeks they still see the same belly they thought would be transformed.
7. Hiring a personal trainer (one of the most successful programs in reference to retention and behavior change) can be costly and not affordable for most of the population.
8. Exercise takes time and is a commitment that many find hard to stick with getting to the gym 3 to 4 times a week is hard.

Conclusion:

There are many reasons why we have increased in Obesity besides the failure of diets and lack of exercise but helping to resolve the issues with these programs will help. We need more data to help us better understand which programs, methods or tools offer the best results for most of the population. 

In the meantime here are some helpful tips:

Since I have spent over 25 years helping individuals change their behavior get healthier, maintain or lose weight I have found the most successful path to be Moderation. Don’t drastically change your diet, take one thing that you know is not healthy for you and try to decrease and eliminate it. Ask yourself "can I live without this?" the answer is YES!  Give yourself plenty of time to get the urge out of your system (usually within a few weeks) and then do another, remember to replace these foods with new healthier ones.

• Visualize your results, find a pair of pants or skirt that is too small, and you want to get back into and try them on weekly to see if they are fitting better. View pictures of yourself at a healthier weight and view them often.
• Focus on body change not weight! Since about 60% of the human body is water weight will fluctuate day to day depending on hydration and other factors. This can be discouraging for those seeing the scale go down and then up, especially if you are weighing daily. Measure your actual weight loss by weighing yourself at the same time weekly also measure your waist or a part of your body you are focusing on, even if the scale is not moving you may see a loss in inches.
• Next don’t jump into a crazy exercise routine, Moderation, begin with making sure you are increasing daily caloric expenditure gradually let your body get use to the increase in expenditure, if you normally walk 2 miles, make it 2.5 then 3 or If you exercise two times a week make it 3 times.
• These subtle but effective changes will allow your body and mind to adjust to adding healthier habits and braking old ones.
• When ask what should I eat? I say “take good look at what you are about to put in your body, if it doesn’t swim, walk, grow on a tree, bush or in the ground then it is most likely not healthy and high in calories & sugar”
• When ask what is the best exercise? I say, “something that makes you sweat and increases your heartrate, find something you love to do, it could be dancing, basketball, jogging, power walking but no matter it is not exercise unless you are working harder than your normal activity”. 

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