If you want to lose weight, you have to first decide how to do it right. To get started with confidence, just look at the different benefits of both dieting and exercise.
Plus One, Minus One
In concept, your body’s weight follows simple economics, using calories instead of dollars.
When you eat more calories than you burn through activity, you have a surplus, which gets stored on your belly or hips. When you burn more than you eat, you have a ‘calorie deficit,’ so you lose weight.
With money, we want to take in more than we spend. But adult bodies are healthiest when they break even. So if you’ve regularly eaten more than you’ve used, a calorie shortage would force your body to burn the surplus.
The Similarities
Recently, researchers at St. Louis University1 compared the effects of diet and exercise. For weight loss, they work equally well. Eating 100 fewer calories has the same effect on body fat as burning 100 more calories.
The Differences
But the researchers saw one key difference: exercise improves your aerobic fitness. That comes in handy when you’re climbing stairs, running for a train or trying to keep up with a toddler.
Said lead researcher, Dr. Edward Weiss, "If push comes to shove and somebody wants to know if they should diet or exercise to lose weight, I would suggest exercise, provided they are willing to put in the extra time and effort.”2
That makes sense; a separate study found that, while low-calorie diets cut fat, they also cut lean muscle mass and strength.3 Exercise, of course, promotes lean muscle, which quickens your metabolism so it’s easier to stay lean.
But Weiss adds that dieting “provides enormous benefits with respect to reducing the risk of disease.” And a nutritionally balanced, calorie-restricted diet can keep you young at heart … literally.
A Washington University study4 analyzed adults who ate low-calorie diets for an average of 6 years. Ultrasound scanning showed that their hearts acted 15 years younger, even where there was a family history of heart disease.
Washington’s lead researcher, Dr. Luigi Fontana, stressed that it’s not just eating less, but eating well. “Half a hamburger, half a bag of French fries and half a can of soft drink is not healthy caloric restriction.”5
So how do you get all the benefits – a trim waistline, a strong, limber body and a youthful heart? A combination of regular exercise and a healthy, portion-controlled diet should help you look better, feel better and live longer.
© GlobalFit 2007
You should consult your physician before beginning any exercise or diet program. Wellness Notes articles are offered as introductions to basic concepts and are not comprehensive or necessarily applicable to a particular individual’s circumstances.
1 Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, online edition, January 2, 2007
2 Doisy College of Health Sciences, Saint Louis University, press release, November 16, 2006
3 Journal of Applied Physiology, February 2007
4 Journal of the American College of Cardiology, January 2006
5 Washington University at St. Louis, School of Medicine, press release, January 12, 2006
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