Eating healthy and exercising is an ongoing struggle for me and many people. I'm not overly fat by any means, but losing 10-20 pounds would be nice. When eating badly, I say, "I'll just exercise more". When exercising, I say, "I'll just eat better".
Losing weight doesn't have to be synonymous with exercise at all IMO. Eating the right way is all you need. If you have other goals, then comes exercise.
Less calories is all you need for losing weight. Eating the right way for health. Exercise is vastly over emphasized. Every time I see a person with a dislocated patella from flipping tires or a, jacked knee, slipped disk from front squats or power cleans I wonder if they really think they are doing this for their health.
I regularly exercised and eating fast food and junk. I'm starting to get older (early 30s) and I do not want to deal with diabetes and heart disease when I get older. So i decided to eat better. After I reduced fast food, I felt some much better and lost weight. I still eat crap once in awhile i make a better effort to eat better. I notice a big difference when running now. I have much more stamina and my knee don't hurt as much when I run.
Unfortunately I was raised by fast food when it was time to eat because of time (quick, cheap, readily available). I am trying to turn the corner as it was a staple for me in my life for so long. I am starting to see it catch up to me, and I don't like it. So a change must be made.
I've managed to work exercise into my daily routine (walking 3-5 miles a day), but fried food and booze torpedo that every weekend.
Guys mostly lift weights for women. Cardio helps burn calories, but is also good for the heart. My blood pressure dropped 20+ points after 2 weeks of good exercise. I was still eating poorly and drinking during this time. Fotunately, I can drink much less now (thank God) and can exercise pretty regularly, but I always want a bad meal. The longest I can resist is about 3 days.
this sounds like the recent coca cola sudy.... the answer is both, although I think changing what/how much you eat is easier than adding in exercise
Exercise is hardly overrated. Movement is incredibly underrated. Movement is integral to health. Does 40yr old housewife NEED tire flips and power cleans? Nope, not at all. But they need movement and strength training. They need balance and coordination. Everyone does. People get out of hand with programming because they get bored but proper exercise works. The goal for everyone, And especially for someone looking to lose 10-20lbs like OP, is to not just lose weight but to lose fat. You need to hold on to lean tissue as hard as you can. Try not working out and just dropping your calories and "eating clean". Not gonna work the way you want it to. I think the worst thing we could tell people is eat clean and sit in your chair for a computer 8 hrs a day.
Not trying to talk anyone out of anything but highly unlikely exercise was the cause for that large of a drop in blood pressure. Your drop would have been twice as much in half the time as the greatest drop found in this study.
I run around after kids a lot, but no time for actual dedicated exercise. (nor to be on this board) I always preferred exercise over diet, with the idea that exercise might make you miserable for an hour a day but being hungry would make you miserable all day. So, hopefully I can manage to eat less, or healthier. Sadly I am not sure how possible that will be anytime soon. I'm very short on time (for cooking) and money... and sleep... and being behind on my sleep makes me more hungry. My body tells me all the time that it needs more food and is weak and empty. I know it's lying, but I wish I was better at withstanding the misery of dieting.
Dieting and exercising are two terms misused quite often as is simply trying to lose weight. A person needs to identify what exactly they are trying to accomplish. Are you trying to lose weight or are you trying to lose fat or are you trying to get a better looking body? What exactly are you trying to accomplish dieting? Are you trying to lose weight, cleanse the body to feel better? Cutting out the garbage like fried foods and soft drinks is all one really needs to do. For others, they need to stop over indulging. Exercising to burn calories to lose weight is a very poor method to weight loss. Exercise to work your body out, not to lose weight. Being active is just as beneficial to exercise, if not more. And by active, I dont mean go walk for 30 mins and sit on the couch for the rest of the night.
A few years ago, "eating healthy" was a lot harder. Mainly because I hate eating healthy. It also helped that I enjoy long distance running...one of my favorite things in the world. So, all the exercise would help keep my weight down. But now I have a kid and it's difficult to find the time to exercise. Starting to get to the point where it might be easier to eat healthy just because the time constraints don't allow me to run as much as I'd like.
The concept is easy. Eat Lesss Eat Healthier Exercise a bit BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! No As easy to do. Eating Less is obvious Eating healthier slightly more of an issue - While what is healthy changes alot . . what is NOT HEALTHY is pretty straight forward Exercise can be a mix of time and effort I think you can do it. . . . I am trying but not going as well as i would like Rocket River
This is how you should live Think about what I'm going to eat. Eat. Think about what I'm going to eat. Eat. Repeat till I go to sleep. Wake up, get high from coffee, pick up the refrigerator, tow the car, get a sick pump, imagine when I'm in final form and think about what I'm going to eat.
I would say eating healthy. I have a decent routine going. Eat clean Mon-Thurs for the most part and eat whatever for the most part Friday through Sunday. I lift 4 times a week and ball twice a week now. I look like I have an athletic build and I'm fine with that. I don't freak out about it like how I used to be.
Calorie counting is a lazy,ignorant man's approach. Yes 3,500 calories equal a pound, but the notion that person can calculate how many calories their body is burning is ridiculous (there are millions of variables that come in to play). Calorie counting also stupidly assumes all calories are the same. Eating 100 calories of snickers is the same as eating 100 calories of broccoli in the eyes of a calorie counter. Don't be lazy and take the time to learn the biochemistry. Not all calories are equal when it comes to fat loss. Lustig's very popular sugar rant is not bad. Or go read anything by Gary Taubes.
OP, I feel like people missed your question simply because of the way your title was posed. To clarify, I think OP is asking which is harder, not which one is more important or crucial. In my experience, eating healthy is much harder. It can be tough to get up and going into a workout or exercise routine, but the minute you start you pretty much can't finish till you hit your goals. Eating healthy is an ongoing, three times a day struggle for me which I commonly fail at (lol). I also tell myself if I'm eating junk I'll just workout "harder" tomorrow. But then again, what's the point of working out if not to enjoy a treat every now and then? It's better than eating junk and NOT exercising, which many people do anyway.
