Which Is More Effective For Weight Loss: Exercise Or Diet?

Increasing physical activity and decreasing your food intake are common prescriptions for weight loss. While combining the two is most effective, you can lose weight using just one of these strategies. Understanding the effects of both on your body can help you best devise a weight-loss strategy for your body and schedule.

Understanding Weight Loss

To lose weight you must burn more calories than you consume. A pound of weight is equal to 3,500 calories and a healthy rate of weight loss is about 1 to 2 lbs. per week. You can create the necessary 3,500 to 7,000 calorie deficit per week by eating fewer calories, by increasing your burn rate through exercise or by combining the two strategies. It might seem easy to simply eat less, but going below 1,200 calories per day for women and 1,500 per day for men is not healthy, says Medline Plus. At the same time, your body will only tolerate so much vigorous exercise without suffering from overtraining.

Considerations

According to the American Council on Exercise, only 5 percent of dieters succeed at keeping their weight off. Some people start their diets with enthusiasm, only to burn out quickly. Extreme diets, which make you feel deprived or cut out entire food groups, usually fail in the long run because you cannot stick to the regimen forever. When you return to your regular eating pattern, you regain the weight--and sometimes more. Exercisers may start with similar enthusiasm, going to the gym every day for a few weeks. Over time, boredom sets in, schedules become filled up and exercise time becomes less of a priority.

Empirical Evidence

People from the National Weight-Control Registry, a group of more than 5,000 people who have been studied for their ability to sustain significant amounts of weight loss, largely used a combination of diet and exercise to achieve their goals. Eighty-nine percent of the members of the ongoing research group used both strategies. Only 10 percent used diet alone and 1 percent used exercise only.

Expert Insight

Trying to diet alone or exercise alone for weight loss is likely to not result in effective long-term weight loss. A study published in the journal "Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise" in October 2002 reviewed data from 104 people who completed an 18-month weight loss program involving restricting calories and a progressive increase in exercise. Although the low-calorie diet alone caused some weight loss, when exercise was included weight loss increased, leading researchers to conclude that combining the two strategies improves long-term weight loss compared to pursuing just one strategy alone.

Verdict

Devising a strategy that you can incorporate into your life forever is the best strategy for weight loss. Most people find combining diet and exercise is most effective for balancing energy intake and expenditure. As noted by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Researchers in a 1994 issue of "Obesity Research," exercise is essential to long-term weight maintenance. In the initial stages of weight loss, reducing calories can help you lose weight. Becoming aware of your calorie intake ensures that you do not inadvertently increase calories consumed to make up for the extra calories burned during your workouts.