Diet vs exercise – which is more important for weight loss?

Simply put: you can’t out-exercise a bad diet.

Article by Alex McNamara

A lot of research has been done on diet vs exercise for weight loss. It all seems to say the same thing: weight loss is 75% diet and 25% exercise.

It’s much easier to cut calories than to try and burn them off. For example, to burn off a Big Mac meal you would have to run for two and a half hours! I don’t know about you, but I would rather just not eat the Big Mac meal.

However, a big thing I think we don’t give enough thought to in the weight loss fight is how much better you feel on the inside when you’re eating healthy food.

There are benefits to healthy eating other than weight loss – when you feel good on the inside, you have more energy, which means you will have the extra fuel in the tank to train early in the morning and after you finish an 8-hour shift at work.

We all know burning more calories than you take in is the way to lose weight (we also know it’s easier said than done).

However, when we talk about ‘calories in’ we always want to make sure we never cut calories too low, because that can have a negative effect on your metabolism.

Instead of losing body fat you could start to lose muscle mass, and we don’t want to ruin all your hard work building those bad boys up. You can also lose energy if you’re not properly fuelled for your busy days.

Planning ahead is the key. If know what your day is going to be like and that you can’t make it to the gym tomorrow because the kids need you to run them to soccer, or ballet, or flute practice, then plan to eat super well that day and let the 75% take over.

Having the food prepped and waiting ahead of time makes it even easier on yourself.

At The Shed we believe to have a healthy body, both eating and exercise are important. If you want to know more about how we plan ahead, or talk to us about meal prep, please contact [email protected].

• Alex is a member of the My BT Toowoomba Advice Army, on hand to give you expertise in specialised fields from a local perspective. Do you have a question for Alex? Email [email protected] and we’ll pass it on.

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