Which is best? Cutting calories or burning them off with exercise?

Question

If someone had a 2000 calorie diet typically and wanted to lose a few extra pounds which would be better: cutting more calories from food intake while moderately exercising, or cutting less calories from food intake and exercising more to create a higher calorie deficit? Or do these have the same effect? Also, in extreme cases which could be more damaging? Thanks.

Answer 1

Great question.

I had extra pounds that I couldn't lose for a long time, even though I exercised quite a bit. Educating myself on food intake made the difference. I learned to balance my calorie intake with outflow. I learned to eat more often and to eat better foods - I incorporated more fruits and vegetables into my diet and, believe it or not, more fat. And, I learned to better balance my carb, protein and fat intake in order to eliminate hunger pains.

I wrote a short book about how I lost 30 pounds - and kept it off for five years now. You can download an .pdf file for free at my blog (below).

I don't believe you need a severe calorie restriction. You just need to balance your calorie intake with your calorie burn. In many cases, this amounts to avoiding a few bites of food a day (hence the title of my book and blog).

Good luck.

Answer 2

Of course exercise is good, but cutting calories is by far the fastest way to lose the most weight. Weight loss is 80% diet and 20% exercise. You probably burn around 200-300 calories/hour of exercise. Cutting your calorie intake to 1500 calories a day will help you lose weight a lot quicker. Adding some exercise will help that much more.

Answer 3

I have an exercise habit --- every other day at the Health club that consists of cardio vascular workouts for 24 mins and the rest of the hour on machines. I also walk up 6 flights of stairs at work twice a day, instead of taking the elevator. As a result I can eat anything.....I eat at all you can eat buffet restaurants almost every day of the week and don't gain weight. All the exercise burns calories...why do I have to cut calories? I'm trying to get more calories to keep my workouts going or I feel weak. I actually like eating pasta, rice and other carbos cuz I am hungry all the time from the work outs. I also eat a lot of protein at the buffets.

Answer 4

I think cutting less calories and exercising more would be most beneficial. By exercising (strength training AND cardio) you are raising your resting metabolic rate. That means, you'll be able to eat even more for the energy you'll need! If you focused just on cutting calories, you may run the risk of cutting them too low. This would slow your metabolic rate, and your body would try to hold on to every pound of fat possible. Ultimately, a mix between both of your options is ideal. Try using the website Sparkpeople.com for help tracking exercise & food. But if you insist on choosing one or the other, choose whatever plan you would really follow through with. Good luck!

Answer 5

A balance of both is good. If you were excercising but taking in alot of calories then its possible that you won't lose any weight and end up breaking even. If you just go on calorie restriction - it has its benefits but it has a different effect on different people others feel weak and just can't hadle it. So just have excercise and and have a deficit in calories but don't go too low.

Answer 6

From my experience, cutting calories is a lot easier & effective than exercising. You can get on a treadmill and see how much calories you burn...it's not a lot for all the hard work you do. However, not eating requires no work...

Answer 7

you could do a little of both - an rather than just cutting out food, try replacing bad food with good food - that has better nutritional value - you should still want to do exercise so that you can get muscle definition as well as lose fat

Life is about balance - too much is bad - but so is too little

Answer 8

A combination of diet, running and weight lifting.

Dieting will keep excessive carbs, fats or both (depending on your body type) away from your body. Diet (proteins) will also improve your muscular mass.

Running will help you burning fat, but only if you either run at 70-75% of your maximal cardiac rate OR at 100% in pulses.

Weight will help you putting on more muscle, which will increase your metabolism and help you burn more calories.

Remember, what do you do if you are cold? Do you put on more sweaters (dieting) or turn the heater on (exercise)? ;)

Answer 9

You should cut calories a little and exercise. It's a good balance.

Answer 10

It depends, do you want to keep the weight off? If so, then you need to choose the method that you can do for life. If choose to increase your excerise, and then slow down after acheiving your goal, you may gain the weight back. So you have to pick a program that you can do for life.