Weight Loss (or Control): What’s more important, what you eat or how much you exercise?

Just read a really interesting article the New York Times (June 19, 2015) by Dr. Aaron E. Carroll, professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine.  It confirms what my friend M (gorgeous, fit, late 50-something) mentioned awhile back:  for purposes of losing weight, exercising is much less important than what you eat (she said 80% of weight loss – or by extension weight maintenance – is what you eat and 20% is exercise).

                     Versus










Some of the points Dr. Carroll makes:

·      Exercise can increase your appetite, leading you to eat more (maybe because you rationalize that you’re burning it off by exercising)

·      Weight loss often slows your metabolism, regardless of whether you exercise, according to research studies, explaining why, over time with dieting it becomes harder to lose weight and you seem to plateau

·      Both dieting and exercise are hard, although “dietary change still works better than exercise” in terms of weight loss

·      In terms of dieting, slow gradual improvements that are sustainable over time, i.e., changing your eating habits in ways you can maintain long term, are more effective than brief drastic changes or cutbacks in calories that are not sustainable over time.

Read the full article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/16/upshot/to-lose-weight-eating-less-is-far-more-important-than-exercising-more.html?smid=nytcore-ipad-share&smprod=nytcore-ipad

So, it almost sounds like you shouldn’t bother to exercise if you’re trying to lose weight.  I would argue that nothing is further from the truth.  Why?

Because there are MANY important reasons to exercise besides burning calories or losing weight.

www.mayoclinic.org/healthy.../in.../exercise/art-20048389

nihseniorhealth.gov/exerciseforolderadults/healthbenefits/01.html

According to the Mayo Clinic and the National Institutes of Health, exercise improves mood, boosts energy, promotes relaxation and improves sleep, and can prevent or delay certain diseases and health conditions, such as osteoarthritis or hypertension, and improve your endurance, flexibility, and balance.

I would also add that exercise makes you stronger, an important issue for older women as bone density naturally decreases with the aging process.  Exercise also combats stress and is a very healthy coping mechanism that has helped me greatly over the years as well as others.

Also, exercise can and should be fun.  There are so many different ways to work out.  To be sustainable, exercise has to be at least somewhat enjoyable for its own sake.  If you don’t like to (or can’t) run, think about hiking or bicycle riding.  If working out with weights is not your thing, consider yoga, which improves strength as well as promoting flexibility.

Furthermore, according to the NIH, it’s never to late to start.  So if you are not someone who has never exercised, or haven’t done so recently, you can start now.

So get moving!!

Next Up:  How to establish a new healthy habit.