How to Lose Weight Series - Habit 9
- Pooja
- Jun 16, 2018
- 2 min read
Updated: May 16, 2019
“Needing to shed a few pounds, my husband and I went on a diet that had specific recipes for each meal of the day. I followed the instructions closely, dividing the finished recipe in half for our individual plates. We felt terrific and thought the diet was wonderful—we never felt hungry!
But when we realized we were gaining weight, not losing it, I checked the recipes again. There, in fine print, was "Serves 6."
—Barbara Currie
I have had countless friends, colleagues and acquaintances come and ask me what’s the secret to me having a good figure - is it dieting or exercise?
So let’s check out the fact file on what will help to lose weight and maintain weight, to serve our health goals better.
Philip Stanforth , a professor of Exercise Science at the University of Texas and the executive director of the Fitness Institute of Texas, was asked whether diet or fitness was more important for weight loss and his answer was - “Studies tend to show that in terms of weight loss, diet plays a much bugger role than exercise.”
Here’s possibly why - “Exercise requires time and consistent effort, and it takes longer to see its results. It also burns far fewer calories than most people think.
2. One large review of 20 studies involving more than 3000 people published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2014 found that high protein diets and meal replacements (low calorie substitutes for heavier meals) were linked with better outcomes in terms of helping people keep wait off after a reduced-calorie diet period when compared with exercise.
3. Samuel Klein, MD at the Washington University’s School of Medicine states that “Decreasing food intake is much more effective than increasing physical activity to achieve weight loss. If you want to achieve a 300kcal energy deficit you can run in the park for 3 miles (4.8kms) or not eat 2 ounces of potato chips (56.69gms).
Some studies have borne out this dichotomy, pitting exercise against diet and finding that participants who diet tend to lose more weight than those who only exercise. Of course, both together would be even better.
4. Shawn M Talbott, PhD, nutritional biochemist and former director of the University of Utah Nutrition Clinic says that “As a rule of thumb, weight loss is generally 75% diet and 25% exercise. An analysis of more than 700 weight loss studies found that people see the biggest short term results when they eat smart. On average, people who dieted without exercising for 15 weeks lost 23 pounds; the exercisers lost only 6 over about 21 weeks. It’s much easier to cut calories than to burn them off.
So, clearly that tells us which part to focus on more greatly in our weight loss expedition, namely, our diet.
From the next article, we will learn what habits that we inculcate can be great for our overall healthy lifestyle mission which certainly includes weight loss.
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