Whats more important... exercise or diet?

Diet 100%.

In a high intensity hard core work out you would be lucky to burn 500 calories... in the average take out there is over 1000 calories...

Exercise is good for you and does increase your metabolism but if you dont change your eating you probably wont see any changes in your weight from exercise alone. If you just change your eating though you will see change without the exercise... hope that makes sense :-)

I think the general consensus is that its 80% what you eat 20% exercise that matters, when trying to lose weight. I should imagine that you would need to spend a significant period of your day at the gym / /exercising several times a week to lose weight if you had very poor eating habits. But a lot of that would depend on your portion sizes too.

I would personally say exercise buuuuut....If your not a keen exerciser then I guess it would be diet.

I signed up for the half marathon and just by doing extra running rather than my usual classes I have lost 7lb and I haven't changed my diet at all

If exercise doesn't come naturally to you though, you probably wont push yourself as much as you could go xx

Would have to say diet, I went to the gym for a year and never lost more than about 5-6 Ilbs then I changed my calorie intake to about 1400kcals per day and did the same amount of exercise has before and I lost 2 and a half stone in 4 months. I've gone from a size 14-16 to a 10-12. I still manage to have a takeaway once a week :-)

Wow thats amazing!!

I bet you feel wonderful dont you!

?

I am a size 14-16 in trousers and a 12-14 in dresses and want to lose around 2 stone... I have 5 months to go eek!

Were you managing to have takeouts while you were dieting! I do love take outs haha

I think both are important but I do think you have to change your lifestyle. The best way I find is to find a awful photo of myself and put it on my fridge so everytime I want a snack or a beer I see my tyres and chubby cheeks staring back at me.EEEECK! It works for me x

Xmasangel 14, going from a 14 - 16 to a size 10 - 12 is amazing! And exactly what I'm aiming for. Was there a particular diet plan that you followed?

In the end it will all come down to calories.

You can create fat loss by reducing calories you eat and exercise you do.

Ideally for sustainable results you would do both!

The good new is you can do this without just eating salads and doing endless amounts of cardio.

Let me know if you need help setting up and tracking your daily calories. I'd love to help.

Regards

Jonny

I would say a bit of both, it depends on what motivates you I suppose.

When I want to lose weight I set myself a daily calorie balance of 1200 calories. If I plan to eat more than that, then I have to do the exercise to burn it off (that same day!) so for example by walking the long way round to work instead of driving I increase my calorie allowance to 1400 in a day - because I move more I get to eat more! I do use the My Fitness Pal app to keep me on track with this though as it's too easy to either over estimate portion sizes, or to reward myself for 20 minutes walking with a whopping chocolate bar, which clearly isn't proportional!

For weight maintenance I up my daily allowance to 1500 cals per day, but with the same rules regarding exercising if I want to exceed that limit. I find that doing this means that I'm not 'forced' into either an exercise routine I might not stick to, or a set of diet rules that don't suit my lifestyle. I can pick and choose how I want to do it each day.

My calorie limits are based on the fact that I have quite a sedentary lifestyle, my job is a desk job so i don't move much throughout the day.

I agree 100% with yorkshiredaisy. The most successful way of losing weight is to log what you are eating. My Fitness Pal is fantastic for this and educates you at the same time so you can understand what is good and bad. Exercise should also play a part in all of our lives to at the very least maintain muscle mass and tone. Exercise makes you feel so much better as well. Good luck all! x

I have to say exercise has changed my life this year!!

I joined boot camp in April and would say I properly got into it in August and from October onwards have also been seeing a personal trainer.

The exercise I do is a mix of cardio and weights... alot of using your own body weight so press ups, squats, lunges, Rows, shoulder presses... flipping tyres.. etc...

I have so far now lost 1 stone and 5 pounds and am pushing for another stone. But the main thing is my mind frame has changed significantly in the last 3 months.. its now all about health & sustaining weight loss through being healthy. I have learnt that weight training is going to mean I can keep the weight off long term as I am naturally burning more calories in a sedentary state as muscle burns more energy... I have learnt how to eat right so I am not hungry and am supporting my body... I am so focused on being healthy that I think about that when I choose to eat something rather than will I lose weight...

Its a huge change for me but it now feels so easy... So from the start I said diet 100% but I have now realised the huge impact that exercise and a proper traiing plan has on your state of mind and focus... huge!

Really both.

Always remember that whatever you put in your body is going to show on the outside so limit the amount of bad food you eat. If you don't want to cut out things completely then just reduce the frequency in which you eat them.

For example, if you have a takeaway once a week, move it to once a fortnight. If you have potatoes with every meal, try not having them for one or two meals a week and fill yourself up on other veggies. Cut out fizzy drinks or again, limit them to maybe the one day you have your takeaway.

Buy lean meat.

I think that if you make subtle changes and then add in a little exercise you'll feel loads better.

I used to until very recently have a bad diet and did little to no exercise. I've started taking note of what I eat and making sure everything is in moderation. I have less takeaways now and have cut out bread as much as possible. I also try not to have white potatoes as much or rice. I rarely drink fizzy drinks, have cut down my alcohol intake (which I think was a huge factor in my weight gain) and have even decided to drink less tea with milk in as some days I imagine I was drinking lots of calories in the milk alone. I now have black coffee or green tea.

I now do exercise classes at the gym rather than the machines, as I find them far more fun and I'm more likely to get a good workout instead of 20 mins in wanting to go home and being able to just leave as no one was watching me or would stop me. I have to say though that I've actually found that in the 4 or 5 weeks that I've done yoga and Pilates I've seen a big difference in how I feel about myself as it has changed my posture for the better resulting in me looking thinner so I would really, really recommend it.

Right, I think I've waffled enough now!

Good luck!