Main menu

Exercise vs. diet choice: Do both

Obesity experts in Canada and the U.S. recommend anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes of exercise most days of the week. As for diet, the suggestions range from a daily caloric deficit of 500-1,000 calories to "maintaining sensible portion sizes."

Once again researchers have shown that the battle to lose weight isn't best resolved by diet alone. Nor is exercise the sole solution. Nope, when it comes to whittling away unwanted pounds it's the combination of the two that is the most successful.

While this may not seem like startling news, confusion about weight loss abounds. After years of research there's still no single set of guidelines for the overweight to grab and run with. Obesity experts in Canada and the U.S. recommend anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes of exercise most days of the week. As for diet, the suggestions range from a daily caloric deficit of 500-1,000 calories to "maintaining sensible portion sizes."

Another challenge in weight loss is the definition of success.

The medical community suggests that lifestyle interventions like exercising more and eating less typically result in a weight loss of between five and 10 per cent of baseline weight. This level of success results in the reduction of many weight related health issues, which makes it an important milestone for obesity experts. However, this conservative number rarely satisfies the esthetic goals of anyone who has dreams of fitting into a pair of skinny jeans.

Finally, and perhaps the biggest challenge to creating a set of weight loss guidelines, is that the response to diet and exercise interventions is not the same for everyone. Typically, women are less responsive to lifestyle interventions than men, and even within the genders there remains plenty of variability in pounds lost among individuals following the same weight loss program.

Given these facts, a 2011 study out of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle, proved particularly interesting. Not only did it focus on exploring the best combination of diet and exercise, it also featured an extremely challenging group of weight loss subjects — overweight and obese post menopausal women.

The 12-month study, which featured 439 subjects 50 to 79 years of age, split the women into four groups — diet only (1200-2,000 calories a day with less than 30 per cent of the energy intake from fat,) exercise only (45 minutes, five days a week for a total of 225 minutes per week,) diet and exercise (a combination of both interventions) and a control group whose diet and exercise habits remained unchanged.

After 12 months, the exercise-only group lost the least amount of weight — two kilograms. The diet group weighed in at loss of 7.2 kg, while the biggest losers were the diet and exercise women who lost 8.9 kg.

But that wasn't the only good news for the diet and exercise combo. Their waist circumference shrunk more than the diet-only and exercise-only groups (7 cm compared to 4.5 cm for the diet-only group and 2 cm for the exercise-only group) as did their percentage of body fat (5.9 per cent for diet and exercise, 4.2 per cent for diet only and 1.6 per cent for exercise alone).

But weight and inches lost weren't the only successes. They also increased the average number of steps they took per day as measured by a pedometer. Again the diet and exercise group showed the greatest improvement, boosting their step count by 58 per cent, compared to 42 per cent for the exercise-only group.

Beyond analyzing the weight loss data, it's interesting to note that the diet and exercise targets cited by the various medical and scientific experts aren't far off those that proved successful for this group of overweight women. It also worthy to note that weight loss through exercise alone is a tough battle and one that offers disappointing results.

Another strong message gleaned from the study is that subjects who demonstrated the greatest commitment in terms of time spent exercising and adherence to the diet plan lost the most amount of weight, which goes to show you once again that some exercise is good but more is better.

And for a final take-home point, the authors noted that the most successful losers kept a food journal of everything they ate and drank. They also were more inclined to eat at home versus in a restaurant.

So, if you're looking to lose a few pounds and are being enticed by the success stories doled out by diet groups and fitness clubs, you may want to explore the possibility of signing on to both. There's no such thing as an easy way to drop pounds, so avoid fad diets and exercise shortcuts that suggest you can lose inches on a few minutes of exercise a day or by eating cookies, grapefruit or twinkies.

At this time of year when funky diet and exercise routines start making the rounds, remember that the combination of regular exercise and a healthy diet is still the best way to get rid of unwanted weight.

jbarker@videotron.ca

Related Stories

Lively discourse is the lifeblood of any healthy democracy and The Star encourages readers to engage in robust debates about our stories. But, please, avoid personal attacks and keep your comments respectful and relevant. If you encounter abusive comments, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. The Star is Using Facebook Comments. Visit our FAQ page for more information.