Which is better for weight loss, diet or exercise?

[steveark]

Diet, I ran 15 marathons and tens of thousands of training miles. Never lost a pound. I wasn't overweight but still didn't lose any. Muscle weighs more than fat.

 

[financemups]

Diet, I have lost just over 30 pounds this year since Feb (going for a total loss of 50 so a little less than 20 lbs to go) and I don't really do a heck of a lot of calorie counting or exercising but I do track all my food (kind of ahead of time in the day as a road map of what I will eat) and I typically only eat like 1800 calories per day, and never exceed more than 2000. I gave up drinking alcohol a long time ago so there aren't really any foods I go out of my way to avoid specifically (i.e. carbs, dairy, meat) but I just want all that I eat in a day to never exceed 2000 calories. I walk about 2 miles a day, 7 days a week and do an hour of strength training, so yes, I do exercise but it's super mellow. I was running Couch Potato to 5K like March-June but when it heated up for summer I gave up running because it was hot and I was miserable.

 

[maestro]

Third option - fasting. Does wonders for spiritual health, too. Peace be with you with whatever you choose.

 

[Ronstar]

Diet, I ran 15 marathons and tens of thousands of training miles. Never lost a pound. I wasn't overweight but still didn't lose any. Muscle weighs more than fat.

I’ve been running since 1979. Ran 6 marathons. Weighed the same at each one, except for most recent one. Doc put me on keto diet to reduce acid reflux, right in the middle of marathon trading when I had been at a constant 180 lbs for several months.

Still lost an additional 15 lbs in 2 months of keto after running 24-30 miles a week for months.

 

[Old Microbiologist]

I agree with the rest 80/20. Personally, I went full Keto, increased exercise AND did intermittent fasting (one meal a day). I lost 15 kg and am now the same weight I was when I was drafted into the Army. I wasn't obese but 30 pounds on my frame was way too much and I was having a terrible time losing. Increasing exercise, which worked for me in the past, wasn't working so I took it to a new level. My wife is doing nothing deliberate except I cook 5 days a week and only cook Keto so she is getting the diet by proximity. She also has lost 5 kg and never exercises at all. She does do intermittent fasting (16:8) but not by design only because of her normal habits. We cut off all eating at 1900 hrs and she gets up at 11 in the morning and only has a cup of espresso until a late lunch around 1400. So, diet without exercise can be enough if coupled with intermittent fasting.

I also agree that BMI is pretty useless for athletes. Better is body fat and I use the caliper method which seems to work well enough. The electronic conductivity method is equally useless as BMI.

My main reason for dieting was because I recognized that I was becoming Insulin resistant. I believe the only way to address that problem successfully is via a ketogenic diet and it has worked well for me. I eat less than 50 grams of any kind of carbohydrate a day. I will say though that it takes a great deal of focus and discipline to change long standing (lifetime) eating habits. The other thing is food becomes something you eat to survive and you sacrifice a lot of the gourmand behavior of eating for pleasure. There is plenty on the keto diet which I enjoy but no sweets, bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, etc. at all. I have found it easier to just eliminate this stuff altogether and not even bother to fake it with nauseating keto substitutes. My friends who have serious weight gain since retirement can't do a keto diet as they just don't have the discipline to change long standing eating behaviors and their love of food even when it is an obvious problem they have an illness which will kill them. They just can't change even though they fully understand the dangers. It is a serious problem.

 

[5Miler]

I agree that diet is the primary factor for weight control although I have seen how effective exercise can be at helping control food intake. At age 58 I found myself teetering at close to 200 lbs which at 5'11" began to prove uncomfortable. Trouble bending over to tie shoes, wheezing after climbing stairs to the bedroom and etc. Sure didn't help my air consumption when scuba diving. DSIL asked me to train with her for a 5K run which for some unknown reason I accepted. I hadn't run a step since leaving the military at 28, what was I thinking.

Survived the 5K in February and we trained for the Peachtree Road Race 10K on July 4. Survived yet again. Kept upping the ante and before I knew it I was running an average of 5 miles per day and up to 7 miles at times. The weight dropped off but much was due to reduced appetite as I found I wasn't eating near the portion sizes that I did previously. At my lowest weight I hit 157 lbs. Trust me when I tell you that 157 lbs looks much better on a 28 year old than it does on a 62 year old. I significantly reduced my mileage after that.

I have been running for 9 years now, 5 days per week unless on vacation. I limit my mileage to 3.5 miles per day which I have found keeps my appetite in check and has kept my weight right between 175 to 180 lbs which was my goal. If I start eating too much junk food, it creeps closer to 180 and if I get religion again on food quality it will dip closer to 175. Diet has a much more profound effect than mileage changes but I had to find an equilibrium that works for me. The lower mileage is much easier on my body and allows me to spend less time running. I also smoked for 35 years until I was 50 so I am paying for that sin as well when I run I am quite sure.

 

[seraphim]

As someone who has done a lot of weight loss over the decades:

Diet is the primary factor. Exercise hones it a bit. A daily 3 mile hike at a 20 minute mike pace burns off - for us - about 250 calories. 2 tablespoons of peanut butter wipes that out.

Diet for weight loss, exercise for body tone which will augment the diet. Track your diet. We use the free version of LoseIt on iOS devices. Also use an iWatch to track execrrcise based on heart rate.

Good luck

 

[Nemo2]

Anecdotal: Single status in Riyadh. Cafeteria provided, all you can eat. Age 41. Marathon training, gorging on food. Weighed self once a week..."Oh, down another pound".

Flew back to Toronto for an R&R because my late wife couldn't get time off work.....she said her initial reaction when I came through the arrivals gate was "OMG, he's sick!"

I'm opting for metabolism.

 

[timo2]

The two are inextricably joined. Per unit of volume, muscle weighs more than fat, but the difference is small (makes a good excuse though [emoji41] ).

Running or brisk walking burns somewhere around 100 calories per mile, but it sure feels like more!

Personally, I try to give equal attention to both.

+1

moderate diet (flexitarian/mediterranean for me), light to moderate exercise. Using that method I lost 40 lbs (240 to 180 lbs) the first three years after retiring, and have stabilized at 180 in year 4.

Five more lbs lost and I'll be at a BMI of 27. Some studies have indicated that a BMI of 25 to 27 is a better weight for seniors than the 'normal' BMI of under 25.

 

[Yoheadden]

Sure, I know it's not obvious to most who might never have considered it, but the author is someone who's been deep in the fitness world for over 20 years by his own bio.

Other things that are not as commonly understood: Not all exercise builds muscle, and building muscle is far slower than most people estimate. You don't simply start doing the elliptical 30min a day and gain any amount of measurable muscle in 2 months. You have to lift progressively heavier things to do that, and even then it's 2lbs a month for men to start, and half that for women. (and that's for younger people than most here)

And doing cardio for long periods (slogging out a 10 mile run, etc.,) your body isn't always as calorie efficient on the burn on mile 6 as it was on mile 1.

But yes, having a fit strong body that can move and lift and go is one that is more efficient and a better metabolizer of what you do eat. So it does all work together, especially over the long haul. That's why the goal for most people shouldn't be simply to "weigh less" but to reduce body fat, increase cardiovascular capacity, strength, flexibility, fitness.

Very well said.
If we are picking one over the other, then yes, diet would have to be the choice, but a combination of the two are ideal for an overall healthy lifestyle.

 

[Music Lover]

As far as whether to use the old height v. new height if you get shorter, there is no one consensus on this. You can find arguments both way. I researched this awhile ago because I have list about 3/4". At the time I did this I was at the top of the normal range for my original height. But, I went to a new doctor's office who insisted I was now an inch shorter (using rounding) and so that would make me "overweight". I hoped there was a clear answer on this but there really isn't.

Maybe there are arguments both ways (I'm not sure why), but the reality is that if you once were 5'4" but now have shrunk to 5"3" then your height is 5'3" for calculation purposes.