Diet and Exercise

I get lots of questions about diet and exercise. In combination, these two factors, when applied properly and regularly, are the most potent “weapon” against overweight and obesity. But I am also asked which one is MOST important or MOST effective. This brings up other issues that are also related to a comprehensive weight management program. First, does one really have to choose one over the other and, second, if one could do only one, which would assist in losing weight more quickly? Since most people choose diet over exercise as the weight management “program” of choice, it seems that this is the best answer to these questions. After all, “dieting” is something that you can do while sitting still and not even attempting to exercise. In a sense, it’s the easier of the two choices and everyone treats the “dieter” like a hero. But the devil is in the details since dieting without exercise can and will REDUCE metabolism or what is known as metabolic rate (the rate at which one burns calories—even at rest).

In actuality, “dieting”, hopefully defined as properly and healthfully applied food choices, is, indeed, the quickest way to excess weight loss. Since most Americans overeat and can easily manage to exist with fewer calories, a daily caloric reduction of, say, 250 calories per day (the amount of calories in a sugared soda and a medium sized cookie) would result in an annual weight loss of about 26 pounds. But combined with regular exercise (even something as simple as taking a brisk thirty minute walk each day, for example) the weight loss would not only be accelerated—it would be far more permanent as a result of the effects of regular exercise on metabolism. It is the bane of every dieter when they hit “the wall”, a situation where they just can’t seem to lose any more weight or the rate at which they are losing weight slows to a maddeningly dissatisfying pace. Exercise is the answer to this issue in the sense that the body responds far more regularly and naturally to dietary factors vis a vis its increased or “improved” metabolic response. Add a strength training component to the mix and the added lean tissue helps to drive metabolic rate even more. More lean tissue (muscle) requires more calories to be “burned” and the result, over time, is a leaner calorie-burning machine—in other words, YOU!

So you don’t have to make a choice of one method over the other. In combination, they will produce the quickest and most permanent way to get rid of fat weight and support the cardiovascular and metabolic processes that help to burn calories the way that nature intended. Don’t just sit there and “diet”—get up and move too! You’ll see the benefits of each component on a more regular and permanent basis.

I’m Dr. Paul Kennedy and that’s the “Be Fit, Stay Fit” Topic of the Week. Good luck with YOUR program. I KNOW you can do it!

Copyright © 2003-2005 by Dr. Paul Kennedy. All rights reserved.
May not be reproduced without expressed written consent of Dr. Paul Kennedy