No Need to Both Diet and Exercise to Lose Weight
A new study aims to destroy the widely held belief that diet plus exercise is the most effective way to lose weight. Researchers report that dieting alone is just as effective as dieting plus exercise.
“For weight loss to occur, an individual needs to maintain a difference between the number of calories they consume everyday and the number of calories they burn through metabolism and physical activity,” Dr. Leanne Redman of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, explains in a press release.
“What we found was that it did not matter whether a reduction in calories was achieved through diet or burned everyday through exercise.”
35 overweight healthy adults (16 men and 19 women) completed the 6 months study and were assigned to 3 groups:
- 12 to a diet-only group (they reduced the calorie intake by 25 %)
- 12 to diet plus exercise (they reduced the calorie intake by 12.5 % and increased their exercise by 12.5 %)
- 11 subjects made no significant diet or exercise changes.
The researchers found that the diet-only group and the diet plus exercise group lost the same amount of weight.
According to this study, if the goal is purely lo lose weight, diet or exercise will work, so you don’t need both of them.
However, the researchers point out that regular exercise is better, because it can improve aerobic fitness and lower the risk of heart disease, diabetes and certain types of cancer.
Source: Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 2007
My opinion
For a healthy weight loss you should always consider both exercise and diet. This way you will reduce your daily calories intake through exercise and not through fasting. A good exercise routine will also improve your personal life, because you feel more active and have a better image about yourself. 
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RSS Trackback URL 22. February 2007 (14:00)Filed under: Steaming diets