While there are many common myths and questions surrounding weight loss and fitness, it seems whenever you go to a gym you will hear people asking is diet more important than exercise or is it the other way around. Today we will help you to get the the bottom of this conundrum and improve your own fitness results in the process.
Depending upon who you ask and their own fitness background, it's highly likely that you will get a different answer every time you pose this question to somebody. Ultimately, many of us base our decision purely off our own experiences and opinions. For instance, everybody has a friend who is always trying to latest celebrity diet plan. That friend will probably put huge faith in their eating plan being the most important factor because it's what they know.
Likewise, however, those with a long background of exercise under their belts will be much more likely to advise you that you need to concentrate more on the fitness aspect of your lifestyle. Many people even go as far as to advise that if you do this effectively, you can pretty much eat whatever you want. So who is correct?
Neither approach is correct if you are trying to achieve your best possible physique.
You may have heard people trying to put percentages on the importance of each factor, often saying things like "It's 70 percent what you eat and only 30 percent training" or the other way around. This is a nonsense approach usually used by people who are unwittingly planning to work harder at one aspect than the other.
Following just one principle tends to make people fall into one of two potential categories. While everybody is different in build and stature, there are certain stereotypical features to watch out for here. The next time you are having a discussion about how to lose weight and this matter pops up, take a look at the individual in question and they will probably fit into one of two fields:
* Somebody who follows a new eating routine every 3 months and tries to keep up to date with whatever is being championed as the latest super food. Despite losing weight, they tend to have an unhealthy shape to their body because they haven't been exercising at all. Remember, your muscles won't grow or become leaner unless you force them to.
* The guy at your local gym who always seems to be there no matter what time you workout. Every gym has at least one of these characters who believes that more exercise leads to more results. The main issue for this person is that they love the physical act of exercise but they completely neglect to watch what they eat. As a result they are able to build a bit of lean muscle but tend to have additional fat storage around their midsection.
Of course, it wouldn't make sense to knowingly put yourself into one of the two boxes shown above. If you want to build a better body you're going to have to learn how to apply both aspects to your lifestyle, otherwise you will not be very happy with your results.
This nonsense approach is something which could be compared to an individual trying to decide whether their DVR is more important than their television. Both would be pretty useless without the other as a companion. Exercise and nutrition are designed to work together in exactly the same way, so try not to put more effort into one than the other or neglect one completely. By learning how to make a few easy lifestyle changes you can get your diet on track incredibly quickly. Combine that move with a regular fitness routine and you are on course to see a major transformation for the better.
To sum up, listen to bodybuilder Jay Cutler's response when he was recently asked the question is diet more important than exercise or vice versa. Jay advised that placing importance on one over the other is a useless mentality which leads to long term failure and you should be focusing 100 percent on your workout routine as well as 100 percent on your eating habits. Most people aren't trying to become champion bodybuilders, of course, but if you apply a similar mentality to your fitness regime you will notice that discovering how to lose weight isn't rocket science after all.
Depending upon who you ask and their own fitness background, it's highly likely that you will get a different answer every time you pose this question to somebody. Ultimately, many of us base our decision purely off our own experiences and opinions. For instance, everybody has a friend who is always trying to latest celebrity diet plan. That friend will probably put huge faith in their eating plan being the most important factor because it's what they know.
Likewise, however, those with a long background of exercise under their belts will be much more likely to advise you that you need to concentrate more on the fitness aspect of your lifestyle. Many people even go as far as to advise that if you do this effectively, you can pretty much eat whatever you want. So who is correct?
Neither approach is correct if you are trying to achieve your best possible physique.
You may have heard people trying to put percentages on the importance of each factor, often saying things like "It's 70 percent what you eat and only 30 percent training" or the other way around. This is a nonsense approach usually used by people who are unwittingly planning to work harder at one aspect than the other.
Following just one principle tends to make people fall into one of two potential categories. While everybody is different in build and stature, there are certain stereotypical features to watch out for here. The next time you are having a discussion about how to lose weight and this matter pops up, take a look at the individual in question and they will probably fit into one of two fields:
* Somebody who follows a new eating routine every 3 months and tries to keep up to date with whatever is being championed as the latest super food. Despite losing weight, they tend to have an unhealthy shape to their body because they haven't been exercising at all. Remember, your muscles won't grow or become leaner unless you force them to.
* The guy at your local gym who always seems to be there no matter what time you workout. Every gym has at least one of these characters who believes that more exercise leads to more results. The main issue for this person is that they love the physical act of exercise but they completely neglect to watch what they eat. As a result they are able to build a bit of lean muscle but tend to have additional fat storage around their midsection.
Of course, it wouldn't make sense to knowingly put yourself into one of the two boxes shown above. If you want to build a better body you're going to have to learn how to apply both aspects to your lifestyle, otherwise you will not be very happy with your results.
This nonsense approach is something which could be compared to an individual trying to decide whether their DVR is more important than their television. Both would be pretty useless without the other as a companion. Exercise and nutrition are designed to work together in exactly the same way, so try not to put more effort into one than the other or neglect one completely. By learning how to make a few easy lifestyle changes you can get your diet on track incredibly quickly. Combine that move with a regular fitness routine and you are on course to see a major transformation for the better.
To sum up, listen to bodybuilder Jay Cutler's response when he was recently asked the question is diet more important than exercise or vice versa. Jay advised that placing importance on one over the other is a useless mentality which leads to long term failure and you should be focusing 100 percent on your workout routine as well as 100 percent on your eating habits. Most people aren't trying to become champion bodybuilders, of course, but if you apply a similar mentality to your fitness regime you will notice that discovering how to lose weight isn't rocket science after all.
About the Author:
Writer: Learn how to lose weight with the UK's most watched Personal Trainer Russ Howe PTI today. So, is diet more important than exercise? Visit his fitness blog for more tips every week.
