If you are like any Frustrated dieters, you’d think that you tried them all; low calorie diets. low-fat diets, starvation diets. You might say:” I’d lose 20 pounds and gain them right back again, plus a few more, usually.” what you should do is ditch the idea of dieting and join a fitness club, where you would workout 5 times a week, and lose more than 80 pounds in a couple of months. you might end up loving a new sport and excelling in it.
Or you could be a 24 hour athletic, walk to work, go biking on weekends, gym in the afternoons, but still don’t lose any weight, and sometimes even put on an extra pounds, knowing that your food diet is a mess. In this case you must turn to dieting, cutting back on fatty foods, sweets and total calories, and lose a 100 pounds just like THAT !
The truth is, researchers stress that we need diet and exercise to drop pounds. But you already know this, it’s obvious..However, experts also admit that it helps to concentrate on one more that the other. But how would you decide which one? well its in your hands. In other words, ask your self: “where do I want to start? what am I willing to focus on?”
The answer depends on everything from what you hope to achieve to how your life is organized, because some people feel overwhelmed at the thought of changing everything; diet, lifestyle, the whole package.
If you’re in a big hurry to drop pounds fast, dieting is the way to go. Decades of research have shown that it’s the surest and quickest method. In fact, it’s much easier for most people to cut back on calories by controlling what they eat than by burning an equivalent number of calories through physical activities.
=> Here’s why lets say you want to lose a pound a week. you’ll need a daily deficit of roughly 500 calories. On a diet, you can reach that goal by cutting back your portion sizes at dinner by one third, and eating an apple instead of a slice of apple pie for desert. To burn that number of calories through an activity, you’ll need to jog for about an hour depending on your body’s metabolism rate.
If you’re more concerned with how you look that with your numbers on the scale, which is the more reasonable goal, exercise may be the way to go. By increasing physical activity, you’ll burn fat and build muscle tissue. Hear this, Dieters end up losing both fat and muscle tissue! In fact, Losing fat and not muscle is really the goal of healthy weight loss!
A Study by Robert Ross, and exercise Physiologist, compared the effects of diet versus exercise in 30 men. over 3 months, both groups lost more than 16 pounds. but the exercisers lost 2 pounds more body fat than dieters and replaced them with muscle tissue.
Exercise also may be your best bet if your committed to losing weight and keeping it off for good. Another study done in mid 1990′s where 127 individuals where split into 3 groups, one group ate low calorie diet, the other group exercised at least 3 times a week doing brisk walks, while the rest did both.
Results:
- at the end of the 1st year, the dieters lost 15 pounds
- the exercisers 6 pounds
- and the combination group almost 20 pounds !
After the 2nd year however,
- the dieters were heavier than their starting weight!
- the combination group regained all but 5 pounds of their losses
- only members of the exercise group held steady.
WHY?
Answer: simple. “No one Ever grows to like dieting, but some people begin to like being more physically active” as one of the scientists in the study concluded.
Conclusion:
Your best approach is one that suits your temperament and lifestyle.
Like to cook?
=> When you prepare your own meals, you control exactly what goes into them, which makes it much easier to cut back on saturated fat and add more fruit, vegetables, and whole grains to the menu.
If you hate the thought of counting calories, you’re a candidate for exercise. Be prepared to burn plenty of calories, though. Most people who lose weight through an activity have to expend about 2500 extra calories a week, the equivalent of taking a brisk Hour-long walk daily.
Finally, consider your past. If you’ve tried and failed at one approach, consider the other, because you might be so frustrated that you’ll begin to think you’ll never be able to lose weight! That’s when it’s time to try something NEW ! Even a small step forward can help people regain confidence and convince themselves they can make even bigger changes!
Source: readers digest magazine
