Exercising regularly and following a healthy low calorie diet both lead to greater weight loss results. But is it possible to lose weight through exercise or diet alone.

Well, it’s possible to drop few pounds through one but if the goal is big then focusing on either diet or exercise won’t work.

To lose a single pound of weight per week you have to put your body into a 3500 calorie deficit plan. So, you have to create 500 calorie deficit each day through diet and exercise.

Choosing only diet or exercise to lose a healthy amount of weight and keep it off for a long time, will make the whole weight loss process much more complicated.

Exercising Only To Lose Weight Is A Tough & Slow Process:

Trying to achieve this daily 500 calorie deficit goal through exercise alone will take a lot of hard efforts and time at workout.

For example, to burn 500 calories a day by running, you have to run more than 30 minutes at 8 mph pace or by swimming you have to swim for 60 minutes

How many calories will you burn through any kind of exercise, it depends on how much you weigh and intense level of the exercise.

According to Harvard Medical School, a person who weighs 125 pounds burns 240 calories during a 30-minute run at 5 mph.

A person who weighs 185 pounds, however, burns 355 calories during a run of the same speed and duration.

For, a 125 pound person, a general 30 minutes strength session burns approximately 90 calories.

So, whatever workout plan you create to reach the daily 500 negative energy balance goal, you have to exercise hard at your highest level.

Creating an intense workout plan can make you feel demotivated to continue it on a regular basis unless you’re passionate about it.

So, there will be higher chances of missing workout frequently.

After successfully burning calories at workout, you still have to count your calorie intake.

If you don’t, you could easily fill up the calories you just burned. One large piece of pizza or few calorie rich cookies is enough to fill it.

Study shows, people who only increase their physical activity and neglect the diet don’t achieve any significant results in weight loss.

So, to minimize the calorie burning task from exercise and to make sure the weight loss achieve by exercise is gone forever, it’s very vital to incorporate diet with exercise.

It’s proved by science that exercise can help you in weight loss but it won’t help you lose too much weight.

Dr. Michael Mosley says, “To lose weight, you have to eat less- not exercise more”.

Numerous studies also show people who only diet lose more than those who only exercise.

So, there is no doubt that diet is more important than exercise in weight loss. But that doesn’t mean, you should only focus on diet.

Dieting Alone To Lose Weight Is A Bad Idea:

To lose weight through only diet you have to cut 500 calories from your daily calorie intake and it’s not a small number to cut.

You have to fight with your appetite, overcome craving and avoid your favourite foods that are high in calorie for the sake of creating the daily 500 calorie deficit.

Restricting too much calories will results in a slow metabolism, slow digestion and your body will also be lack of proper energy, vitamins and minerals it needs.

A low calorie diet can also lead your hunger hormone to a higher level. As a result your hunger will increase naturally and you will crave for foods more frequently.

All of these will make the whole weight loss journey slower and harder to achieve.

Without exercise your body will cut more muscle mass than fat.

The necessity of combining exercise with diet are too many to describe. Exercise helps in improving metabolic rate, build muscle mass and whatever weight loss occurs for exercise it comes from the belly fat.

After constantly following the 500 negative energy balance diet plan and overcoming all the obstacle that comes with it, you may get your desire body.

But the weight loss journey doesn’t end there. You still have to maintain a diet to keep the weight off.

The best way to keep the weight off is exercising. No matter in which way you lose weight, it might be through diet, surgery, intermittent fasting or taking weight loss pill.

It’s always advised by dietician, weight loss consultant to do 20 minutes of workout daily in order to keep the weight off after successfully losing it.

Exercising regularly will also boost your self confidence level and improve your mood.

A healthy weight loss calorie deficit plan should consist of 70% diet & 30% exercise or whatever ratio you feel best for you just make sure you incorporate both.

Few More Words Before Finishing:

“Diet and exercise are like the heart and lungs. Each one benefits from the other,” says Dr Scott-Dixon. To enjoy the full benefits of diet and exercise for weight loss, you need to incorporate both not depend one.