Diet Vs Exercise - Which is Important For Weight Loss And Health

Diet vs Exercise?

Which one should be given higher priority?

In this article, we will explore the most important topic about weight loss and its “Diet Vs Exercise”. You might have googled it or read books on it. But still, weight loss looks confusing.

Is diet vs exercise ratio 80-20 percent? Or you have to give more important to exercise?

What is the perfect balance of diet and exercise for weight loss and health?

In this article, I will solve the mystery about diet vs exercise for weight loss.

What you will get from this article…

What are the roles of diet and exercise in weight loss?
Which one has more importance?
How can you get maximum benefits?

Know how calories play a major role in your weight management. Later you will able to learn and decide the best option for your goal.

How Calorie Affect Weight Loss?

You need to know about calories in details before knowing its effect on weight loss.

Whatever may be your goal; weight loss or perfect health, you will come across calorie. As study proved that, weight loss and weight gain depends on calorie consumption and expenditure. It makes it important to learn about it first.

Calories provide energy to every cells and organ. On an average person needs 2000-2700 calorie a day depending on factors like height, weight, gender and age.

One of thing that is important to know is, calorie intake can be higher; but it burn required calories to supply energy while the rest are stored as fat.

So.

To Lose Weight, you have to consume less calorie than you expend.
To Gain Weight, consume more calorie than you expend.

From where do we get these calories?

For weight loss, priority is given over healthy eating and making a better food choice. Making a healthy food choice is found most beneficial in managing calorie and weight loss.

You will get calorie from every food that you eat, while calorie density differs from food types and its nutrients.

Calories more nutrients:

Protein: 4 calories/gram
Carbohydrate: 4 calories/gram
Dietary fiber: 1 calories/gram
Dietary fat: 9 calories/ gram
Water: 0 calories/ gram

You will later learn, how making a better nutrient choice will balance your calorie intake and help losing weight. (especially protein and fiber)

You can have a look how a 200 calorie look like. (1)

Celery – 1425 grams = 200 Calories
Mini peppers – 470 grams = 200 Calories
Broccoli – 588 grams = 200 Calories
Apples – 385 grams = 200 Calories
Canned green beans – 357 grams = 200 Calories
Whole milk – 333 ml = 200 Calories
Coca Cola – 496 ml (2 glass) = 200 Calories
Ketchup – 226 grams = 200 Calories
Sliced Smoked Turkey – 246 grams = 200 Calories
Eggs – 150 grams = 200 Calories
Avocado – 125 grams = 200 Calories
Flax Bread – 90 grams = 200 Calories
Blueberry muffin – 72 grams = 200 Calories
Smarties candy – 57 grams = 200 Calories
Medium Cheddar Cheese – 51 grams = 200 Calories
Snickers Chocolate Bar – 41 grams = 200 Calories
Peanut Butter – 34 grams = 200 Calories
Butter – 28 grams = 200 Calories

You don’t need to get scared by watching the list of food and its calorie content.

A healthy food like eggs, milk, beans, etc. may contain calorie, but they also have other nutrients that make it healthy. While fast foods like cake, coke, candies don’t have any additional nutritional value.

How Just Fitness Focused is Ineffective?

Fact: You can consume large amount of calories a day than you burn it through any fitness routine

Example: An apple may have 80 calories, while a 1 mile walk might use up about 100 calories.

One of the biggest mistake that people usually make while estimating and tracking their calorie intake and consumption.

A study published by International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders, asked subjects to track their dietary intake and energy expenditure. It was found they underestimated their calorie intake and overestimated calorie expenditure. (2)

In a study by the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, people ate 2-3 times more calories than they estimated. (3)

Exercise is always recommended to stay healthy and lose weight faster. During an intense workout, a body burns calorie which is said to boost the weight loss process.

Is it a smarter choice to focus more on fitness regime than diet?

Look:

A chocolate bar provides you 200 calorie, while you have run for 20 minutes to burn it.

During the whole day, if you eat such calorie dense food, your calorie intake, and storage increases. To burn that lot amount of calories you have to do exercise for hours, which is not possible or practical.

To lose 1 pound, you have to cut 3500 calories. You can achieve by the combination of diet and exercise.

Cut 500 calorie that 2 cup coffee provides than running 3.5 miles.

Another important thing to mention…

Have you ever seen some of the people working hard in the gym doing a long session of cardio?

From those many of them complain, they aren’t getting the desired result instead of complete dedication in the gym.

Simple.

They are focusing on their fitness routine while completely neglecting their diet.

What is the sense in burning 500 calories in gym and later drinking those calories through coke?

Solution and advice:

If you want to lose weight and stay healthy, incorporate both. You shouldn’t ignore fitness from your list.

Fitness routine is the base of healthy and stronger body. While diet will quicken your weight loss and improve health.

50-60 minutes normal to moderate exercise for 3-5 day is enough for stimulating your weight loss process.

Stimulating weight loss!

Wait…

What does it mean?

Yes! Fitness routine is required to stimulate your weight loss process. It helps to build lean muscle and boost metabolism that is found beneficial in losing weight. (We will further explore in detail.)

By healthy metabolism and balanced diet you will prevent any calorie deposit getting the result faster.

Also, don’t be over-obsessed with counting calorie. You should always prefer to eat a healthy and balanced diet.

Roles of Exercise in Weight loss and Health

As promised earlier, we will explore more about exercise importance.

1. Boost calorie expenditure

There are many ways that exercise can be helpful in losing weight.

Firstly, during exercise, you burn calories. Aerobic exercise or other exercise force body to burn calorie for energy supply.

Secondly, by gaining muscles, you will burn additional calories without noticing. Calories are utilized to provide energy to every cells and tissue. More the muscle density, more calorie you will burn.

Fact: Fat cells also burn calorie but fewer calories compared to muscle cells.

Third; by doing exercise, you can boost your body’s metabolism to burn calorie even after a workout session. Intensity interval training like HIIT has shown to increase calorie consumption even after 12 hour.

All these factors are enough to motivate you not to miss exercise in your weight loss routine. You will also get other benefits too.

2. Promote Health

By adding you will get a whole lot of advantages than just weight loss.

It reduces stress and anxiety
Boost Creativity
Makes you smarter
Allergies
Strengthen heart
Reduce risk of metabolic syndrome
Protect from many diseases
Strengthen bones
Improve Sexual life
Improves sleep
Boost energy
etc.

Roles of Diet in Weight loss and Health

As said, diet plays a major role in weight loss, let’s explore it in detail.

1. Balance calorie intake

By eating healthy, you will be able to manage your calorie intake. With less calorie dense food along with other essential nutrients, you will fell full and prevent unwanted craving.

2. Increase Calorie Burn

Another great way of eating healthy will burn calorie is its high thermic effect.

During digestion, body utilize calories to breakdown nutrients.

From 100 calorie protein, you will just get only 70-80 calories

Carbohydrate will release just 96 calories from 100 calories.

Fat will release just 98 calories from 100 calories.

Rest calories will be used to break down those nutrients. Fiber is also important as it helps to burn calorie without releasing extra energy.

So.

Increase your protein and fiber content, you will double your weight loss rate.

3. Promote Health

With weight loss, diet has many important benefits that can’t be neglected.

It make you happier
It protects your bone
Conquers cramps
Boost your immune system
Fixes your DNA
Cure irritable bowl syndrome
Boost energy
Healthy skin
Prevent unwanted craving
etc.

Next, we will discuss on what’s the approx percentage.

What is the ratio between Diet Vs Exercise?

It’s impossible to say the perfect ratio between diet and exercise.

Expert usually says it’s 80/20 to just highlight the importance of diet on weight loss and health. But the importance of exercise can’t be neglected instead of being 20 percent.

If you consider time, precision and effort; you will notice that diet take more effort than exercise.

Whole day you have to make a better food choice, follow healthy eating habit, etc… By preparing and following a healthy diet, you will get the desired result making it time and effort consuming.

While you just have to exercise for 30-60 minutes a day to get benefits from it.

The winner…

Finally, you clearly know the winner.

Diet.

It’s diet that has a major impact on your weight loss goal. As it has a significant impact, you have to dedicate more time and effort towards it.

* Don’t assume that following a healthy diet is tough. It may look tough at the beginning, but later it becomes your second habit. Once you start enjoying a healthy food, then you won’t feel the need for unhealthy foods. For this, wiki-fitness.com is always there to help you.

Whoever may be the winner, but you should have a good balance between both. You can’t neglect its importance for weight loss and other benefits mentioned earlier.

Where to go from here?

You have the clear winner. Now it’s time to know how you can go further with it.

It won’t be tough if you maintain a perfect balance between diet and exercise.

1. Determine your calorie expenditure

Before beginning your weight loss journey or diet, you should have rough estimation of how many calories your expend. As calorie expenditure differs from person to person, you should know your calorie expenditure. You can check free calorie expenditure.

Now it’s time to reduce your calorie intake by 20% of your maintenance calorie. You can do it by adding food with a high thermic property like high protein diet. Adding food with high fiber will lower your calorie intake without forcing.

2. Find alternatives for calorie dense foods

Weight loss progress purely depends on the food choice you make daily.

By making a better food choice, you will boost your body function and also lower unwanted calorie consumption.

A salad is healthy and contains few calorie, but adding dressing like 1 tsp of oil or butter can double-folded the calorie.
Brown rice is much healthier than white rice.
You should choose brown bread over regular bread.

There are many food alternatives that can make a healthy diet. You can learn more at Unhealthy Food With Healthier Alternative.

You have to make better food choice in daily life.

3. Increase food that increases calorie burn

Foods containing protein and fiber make diet weight loss friendly. Don’t miss them in your diet, as they help to lose weight without calorie restriction or trying any unwanted practice.

You have to add foods containing protein and fiber, they will do rest. You can learn more about protein and fiber importance by reading Weight Loss Guide 1 – Nutrition Protein Carbs Fiber Water Fat | 2017.

Maintain A perfect balance between diet and fitness

Whatever may be your fitness goals; weight loss, weight management, build muscle, improve strength or endurance. It won’t be tough to achieve, if you maintain a perfect balance between diet and exercise.

Just learn the right approach and you won’t ever get disappointed with your effort.