Diet vs. exercise for weight loss

[Paplo]

If I eat a healthy diet that is also low in calories can I lose weight just by dieting without having to do any real exercise? I'm not a huge fan of jogging or doing any types of intense workouts. That, and I really suck at being consistent with exercise, no matter when I choose to do it in the day. Has anyone tried this? Does it work and how effective is it?

[treehuggertodd]

You can lose weight through diet alone (by reducing the number of calories you eat). Researchers agree that the best weight loss approach is 75% diet and 25% exercise. Even though you don't technically need to exercise to lose weight, it is good for your health and helps you maintain long-term weight loss.

[madscientist]

I agree with enviroTodd (and science) that you can lose weight by reducing the calories in your diet. In fact, this is how you end up losing most of your weight. That being said, I would still recommend you exercise, even if not for weight loss (which it definitely helps with when you're reducing the number of calories you eat) it's still really important to your overall health.

[anne]

I also think that while what you put in your body definitely matters the most in terms of losing an controlling your weight, exercise really helps to keep the weight off and helps you lose it. It also makes your body look a lot better. A toned body combined with weight loss looks amazing!

[Ron]

You can, but eventually you'll start losing lean muscle as well as fat. That's bad. You need to exercise to build and maintain muscle. Exercise is good for your overall health and wellbeing, it tones your body and it can help you burn more fat, which means even faster weight loss. Diet and exercise are just a good mix for weight loss, period.

[antoniojones1968]

You really should workout alongside your diet. It's never a good idea to just focus on dieting alone. I mean, yeah, you will lose weight and it is the most important component for weight loss, but exercise is the major healthy and lasting part of weight loss.

[ffviifan]

I couldn't agree more with everyone else here. Exercise is REALLY important to weight loss. Yeah, yeah, the bulk of what you lose comes from cutting out the calories, but just because you lose weight doesn't mean that your body is naturally going to look good! Exercise is what tones you and it helps you to keep the weight off and from coming back. You also burn it faster and it's soo good for your joins, muscles, etc. (when you do it right of course!) I can't stress how much I really think it's a bad idea to only focus on diet when you want to lose weight. If you want to be truly healthy, you need to do more than just eat less and eat better. You need to move your body, too.

[bonniekins]

If I eat a healthy diet that is also low in calories can I lose weight just by dieting without having to do any real exercise? I'm not a huge fan of jogging or doing any types of intense workouts. That, and I really suck at being consistent with exercise, no matter when I choose to do it in the day. Has anyone tried this? Does it work and how effective is it?

I have done this. The trouble is that eventually you reach a point where you don't really lose much weight any more and you start to get a lot of sagging skin and you can also start losing muscle. Exercise isn't just important for helping you burn more calories, it also helps to tone your muscles, keep you fit and strong. So, adding exercise, not only helps with losing more weight and possibly at a quicker rate, but it also helps to make sure that when you lose weight you look your best.