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Eat Less or Run More?: That Really Is the Question

Posted April 3, 2008 at 01:00 PM by Caroline Shannon

Section: Her Fitness, Her Health, Her Nutrition, Diet Myths, Healthy Eating

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle can sometimes be tough. Not only are health experts asking us to watch what we put into our mouths, but we are also required to stick to an exercise regimen that gets our hearts pumping.

But with the obesity rate in America having more than doubled over the last two decades, the push for a healthy lifestyle is not going to go away any time soon.

This means that the timeless question as to whether exercise or diet is more vital in the maintenance of a fit body also still stands. Because lets face it – if we can afford to add a little relaxation in there somewhere, that would be oh-so-nice, too.

“The reality is that exercise doesn’t do that much for weight loss,” said Dr. Michelle Segar, creator of the health program EssentialSteps and a leading expert on exercise motivation for women over 40. “But people don’t know that.”

Segar explained that while exercise “certainly contributes to the energy and balance equation in a good way,” women who are exercising for weight loss often end up disappointed.

“But of course that’s one of the main reasons women start to exercise, and it’s one of the reasons doctors tell them to exercise and it’s one of the reasons, our country, our government and our social marketing tell people to exercise,” Segar said. “But in my research it turns out to be the worst reason.”

The let down in exercising for weight loss, Segar said, lies in the fact that a large amount of activity is required just to burn one pound of fat.

“What you put in your mouth so much trumps exercise in terms of what you weigh,” Segar said. “In two seconds, you can down 500 calories, but to burn 500 calories would take me almost two sessions at the gym – working hard, which I don’t even like to do.”

“It’s just a misconception that people have.”

Segar, however, does not want women to put aside the running shoes just yet. The key to weight loss and maintaining a healthy body does require a combination of both diet and exercise. The important factor to keep in mind is that working out would not seem like such a chore if you hadn’t consumed that fourth and fifth brownie last night. When you are keeping within a healthy diet, exercise becomes enjoyable, heart-healthy and energy-boosting.

And tweaking your diet a bit is really all it takes.

“It can just mean avoiding or limiting one or more foods high in calories from fat (such as high-fat meat, cheese, or snack foods, or too much added fat), lots of sugar (like sweets or sweetened drinks), or alcohol,” Registered Dietitian Karen Collins wrote in an article for MSNBC. “Cutting calories can also be accomplished by reducing our portion sizes, or by eating smaller portions of those high-calorie foods and filling up on larger portions of low-calorie vegetables and fruits.”

And, like Segar, Collins agrees that women can find the perfect balance between nutrition and exercise:

“Whether exercise changes metabolism to allow more successful weight loss, or whether its stress-reduction benefits allow more consistent progress in changing eating habits . . . studies show that both increasing exercise and decreasing calorie consumption clearly seems the best weight-loss choice for everyone.”

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Tags: activity, calories, diet, energy, exercise, fitness, food, health, healthy eating, heart-health, nutrition, obesity, shannon, weight loss

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