Weight Loss: Diet or Exercise?

A question everyone who is working to shed those extra pounds has probably wrestled with: Is diet more important as compared to exercise? Slashing carbs from our diet, avoiding that cookie jar, working on the 80% diet and 20% exercise plan- we’ve tried it all, yet which exactly is the most sustainable in attaining that dream body?

Taking less calories than you burn

Our meals are important as the source of nutrients and energy. Focusing primarily on diet when trying to lose weight is key as the focus is to achieve a negative balance or in other words to take less calories than you burn. What you eat matters more than how you work it off and dieting is essentially more effective because it takes a ton of activity to create a 500-to-700 calorie deficit through working out. Essentially, you can lose weight without exercise, but you cannot lose weight if your nutrition counteracts your energy expenditure through exercise.

Hold on!

Before you cancel you gym application, read this!

Exercising acts as a boost to your weight lost journey. Cardiovascular training (cardio) such as walking, jogging, rope skipping and sprinting, regardless of intensity is great for increasing fitness levels and building stamina.

Although doing steady state cardio (walking or running at the same pace) may burn more calories per minute, resistance training will continue to burn calories even AFTER the workout has been completed, also known as EPOC (Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption). One great thing to note about  resistance training is that it enables you to lose mainly fat and aids in building that ‘toned’ body.

Are your stubborn fat still resisting all the diet and exercise effort, make an appointment with Beverly Wilshire Medical Centre to find out more about the Coolsculpting treatment, a non-surgical fat reduction procedure that can get rid of stubborn fat on your body gently and effectively.