Exercise or Diet: Which is the right approach for you?

[James]

More often than not, whenever a person takes up the resolution to shed the extra pounds, he often ends up facing crossroads. Some suggest a rigorous diet plan while others might force a planned exercise regime. But what actually would be the one way that would lead you to your desired physique might require a little more pondering than what the easy weight loss guides portray.

An analysis suggests that losing weight depends on two primal factors, what we eat and how we spend what we eat. Altering either of the factors can affect the weight pattern of the body. But what is required to sustain the effects of a weight loss program throughout life is an intelligent combination of the two. What is of utmost concern here is that after investing loads of time, money and energy in losing weight, almost every one faces the singular problem of re-gaining weight. Thus comes into picture the need to identify your lifestyle and body chemistry so as to proportion the exact ratio of exercise and dieting into your weight loss regime.

It has been observed that to shed the stored fat in the body, dieting takes precedence over exercising. Case in point, burning about 3500 calories would amount to a loss of 1 pound weight. A 2 mile running or walking would effectively burn about 250 calories, the same amount that one could regain by enjoying a slice of cake on a birthday. What does not work is sweating the calories bit by bit on the treadmill and failing to have a control on what diet is being taken. For those with a sweet tooth who cannot adapt to strict diet routines for long, the weight lost during the dieting is bound to return with a vengeance. Not only there is a risk of gaining more weight than before since the body has been into a starvation mode, the sudden release from a controlled environment would lead you into eating more than before. What comes to rescue at times such as these is a well thought out exercise plan. Consistently spending bits of energy does not allow it to be stored in flab that may push you beyond redemption once again into obesity

For people with prolonged severe obesity problem, exercising may not be possible at the very onset. But what should be done is to start cutting down on the intake of calories and then eventually enter an exercise schedule. Dieting could help achieve weight loss single handedly, but it fails to sustain the results over time. A well thought out exercise routine has to be followed keeping in mind the imbalance that the sedentary occupations might cause. In cases where obesity is caused as a result of the play of genetics or hormones, where any amount of dieting has been unsuccessful in reverting it, a combination of strenuous exercise and a proper diet may do the bit.

To put it plainly, different bodies have different problems, which drive them to varied solutions. In the realm of cutting flab, exercising and dieting are like two ingredients to a soup; add them to suit your taste.