Are you struggling with fat loss? While this blog is overall tracking my progress as I move toward becoming a kettlebell trainer, meaning a lot of it will be about exercise, I will try to add in as much as I can about fat loss. Diet can be a scary word, everyone wants to lose weight but nobody wants to be "dieting". I believe diet makes up at least 80% of your fat loss progress. As important as getting regular, strenuous exercise is for cardiovascular health, fitness, and even fat loss; how much you eat is more important in that last category. Note that I don't say "what" you eat. Is eating healthier food good for you? Of course - eating more natural, unprocessed foods including lots of fruits and vegetables is much better for you than a meal plan consisting of pizza, ice cream and junior mints. But the amount of calories you take in is what is the key. It is certainly possible to lose fat on either of the above eating styles. It is harder to do eating pizza, but it could be done. Pay attention to how much you eat, whether it's "junk" food or green salad. Your diet is absolutely the most important thing to consider when it comes to fat loss.
A lot of people I've talked to seem to find this idea unbelievable or at least somehow incorrect. All the TV experts seem to show that insanely intense exercise programs are the key to dropping pounds, and infomercials advertise their workouts a lot more than they mention the diet program they recommend you do at the same time. It should be obvious that it is possible to lose weight without ever exercising by cutting enough calories. An example of this would be someone who had gastric bypass surgery of some kind. By limiting the amount of food they are able to eat at a sitting, they consume less calories over a day. Contrast that with someone (maybe you?) who commits to exercising regularly but plateaus after dropping a 5-10 lbs or so. No matter how intense your daily exercise, it's possible to derail it with overeating.
What do you think about diet vs exercise when it comes to fat loss? Do you agree with my 80/20 weighting toward diet in terms of importance?
80/20--definitely. I lost 45 lbs between June and December 09, and have kept it off since then. Kettlebells and cleaning up my diet did the trick for me. I found that I was losing 2-3 lbs a week, and if I had a random down week from exercise, as long as I kept my diet in check, I still lost 2-3 lbs. Makes me think that ratio might be even higher...90/10 perhaps.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog by the way. I am going to subscribe and look forward to following your progress. Good luck on the chinups!
Thanks Jon!
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