Do you think diet or exercise plays a greater role in weight loss?

I think exercise is more important. I have raised, bred and trained sport horses. I observed that exercise always helped them eat more appropriate amounts for their demanding workouts. If horses were unable to exercise, they almost always became very fat. (The horses were allowed to feed freely). We have all read and heard that humans who lose large amounts of weight usually regain it. It seems so sad and so futile. Yet, there are humans who lose weight and keep it off. Every person I have known who has lost weight and maintained it for many years relied on a disiplined exercise program to reach their weight goal. Considering my observations of the horses and the humans, it appears that exercise has a major effect on weight maintenance.

Speaking from experience weightloss comes from eating correctly. I wish the questioned asked was "which will make you healthier, diet or excercise?". The answer would be both.

Balanced eating and exercise combined.....

I'm not sure my situation applies, because I developed an endrocrine disorder many years ago that let to metabolic issues and weight gain/retention. I tried all kinds of diets and approaches to exercise, and if I did lose weight, it wasn't very much. I never kept it off until my disorder (PCOS) was diagnosed and treated for about two years. You know how long I went on desperately struggling with rapid weight gain and yo-yo gain/loss/gain/loss before being diagnosed? 15 YEARS. No joke.

People need to take wonky medical situations into account before they assume weightloss is easy or even possible; just sayin'.

It's all about diet. A person can lose weight if they eat right and don't exercise very much but the same person can exercise all the time and still gain weight if they are eating sugary crap all day. Not to mention that eating a healthy diet gives one energy and motivation. It's good for your brain and so good for your thought processes and attitude. Get depressed or unmotivated and you are less likely to exercise. It is the diet is most important.

Having said that..! Putting the two together is the very best way to lose extra pounds and to stay healthy.

I agree with Colleen that exercise is the key to weight maintenance. To lose the weight, you have to gradually build up your workout AND be strict about your diet, but keeping it off requires consistent workouts because eventually you're going to want to eat. I lost 50 pounds 2 years ago and have kept it off. Exercise has been absolutely critical in keeping the weight off, because I do like to eat. Now, you can't just eat the worst stuff on a frequent basis, but I can eat pretty much what I want since I reached a level of fitness where I can run 20-30 miles per week and hit the Bowflex 3 times a week for 30-45 minutes each time. You do reach a point where you actually WANT to work out, both because you like how it makes you look and you enjoy the exercise.

These articles seem to normally decide that while you can try to be moderately active, the only "diet" options are eating whatever you want all the time or running a negative caloric tab by crushing down on your diet. They never consider eating normal healthy meals, while allowing yourself to indulge from time to time. That's how I've been for many years because my wife has always been a healthy eater. Then 6 years ago I started running after having previously only done recreation that allowed walking or coasting. At 6'1" I went from about 220+ to 200 within the first few months. Since then I've been at 185, and my diet hasn't changed much at all. I've since added biking and moderate boot-camp style sessions of the old-time classics pushups, pullups and core work.

But far FAR more important is the endurance and strength I've gained as a result of these activities. These articles make the huge mistake of focusing simply on body mass. You can have a man or woman who looks like a stringbean but still can't jog a mile, will have heart problems someday, and is composed primarily of a little fat and bones. I say get functional fitness and quit worrying about pants and dress sizes. If you come from genetically big stock then make your body solid in its larger frame rather than trying to make it something it doesn't want to be.

People need to chuck "dieting" and just eat sensible meals, and more importantly get out and do the hard work of becoming active. Regardless of this article, I can say without a doubt you CAN count on the additional activity allowing those treats--heck not even as an "allowance" but as a REWARD.

I have managed to lose around 15 pounds over the past year due to diet and exercise; but honestly it's more diet than exercise. You really have to watch the junk food, empty calories and mindless eating. I am the kind of person that eats when I'm not hungry, because the food is there or because I like the taste of it. You can't exercise enough to burn off the calories from an "all you can eat" buffet, you just have to stay away from those things. Truth is, I HATE dieting, but I do have to watch the portions and concentrate on produce. A healthier diet makes you feel better, and I did do some "binge" eating last week when something really depressing happened. It made me feel worse. I think exercise goes a long way toward MAINTAINING health and weight loss, but diet is how you get there.

Everybody who has posted is so right! The articles are so slanted toward one view or the other; yet we all need to eat well and exercise to be healthy. Agreed that you can gain weight if you eat a high calorie, high fat diet while exercising, but this article doesn't address cardio health and that matters.

Too much of any good thing is bad for you. If all you want to do is lose weight, by all means diet your butt off. A "sound" diet and frequent exercise will make you a much more healthy person. Why would you simply want to lose weight and still be out of shape. Do both and quit worrying about the conclusions that "studies" come up with. When you exercise, make sure you have a blance of "heart healty" excercise as well as some strength training. You need to be able to build up endurance as well as strength. There is nothing new here...this info has been around for a much longer time than anyone reading the above article.

A person can loose wt by diet but I think you become healthier with exercise and diet.Over all who is the healthier?The person who looses by diet or by both.You can be slim but out of shape..

This report, claiming that exercise doesn't provide a significant metabolic boost, is highly suspect. They seem to regard burning 400 calories in an hour as intense exercise. That's nonsense. On the treadmill (I also use weights intensely), I burn that many calories in about 22 minutes. I further boost the metabolic effect by using interval training -- bursts of very fast running (over 9 mph) alternating with recovery periods. These researchers simply were not studying people doing genuinely intense exercise. Their results are useful, since they do show the limits of mild to moderate exercise, but they don't prove what this article says.

Actually, the article makes the point succinctly: its really a matter of calorie consumption and usage. If you eat more than you expend, you'll gain weight. If you burn more than you eat, you'll lose it. So if you want to sit on the couch all day, just eat less.

I have lost 66 lbs in the last 6 months through a combination of 3 changes in my lifestyle. I am a 61 yr old man who is still working in a desk job. I've done it by: 1) Stopped going out for a fast-food lunch and replaced it with a lunch brought from home including sandwich, fruit, yogurt or cottage cheese, and baby carrots or apple slices. 2) Walk an hour a day after work on a treadmill gradually increasing the slope as my weight has dropped so that I burn at least 600 calories. and 3) take a Meridia capsule prescribed by my Doctor which has eliminated any desire to snack between meals or overeat at mealtime. The easiest way to lose weight I've ever tried! (And I've tried a number of times). So I say it takes a combination or reducing (and changing) what you eat and increasing your exercise to be successful at losing weight.

I am 34 have 7% body fat and eat 3000-4000 calories a day. I had surgery last year and when I came back to the gym lost 35 pounds in 90 days. How? Diet not how much you eat but when you eat and what you eat. Low carbs only in the morning no carbs at night, low fat, high prtoein and 2 hours exercise 6 days per week as soon as I wake up to raise metabolism for the whole day.

As usual, the important factor of adequate dietary fiber is being overlooked. At normal fiber intake, about 300 calories per day are excreted unabsorbed. Do the math.

that is such bull.  Exercise absolutely enhances the metabolism of fat burning.  Thousands of weight lifters and athletes will agree with that.  Of course, you must a have a good diet but a diet alone will not do what combining exercise with eating properly will do.

Just a bunch of dorks who want recognition and have something to put on the stupid internet.

First you just can't say exercise. Aerobics will let you burn calories but your body will stop burning this calories after three minutes. That is when the heart rate goes back to normal.

Weight lifting will burn fat for 24 hours but there is a catch to that. You have to increase your fiber intake to get the extra fat out of the body while some fat is converted to rebuild muscle.

If you really want the secret to dieting take Acidophilus, same stuff in yogurt (need more that yogurt can supply at a time) with a big helping of wheat germ at every meal. Eat sensibly three times a day with your big meal at lunch and exercise in the late afternoon. No food after 6:30pm unless it is fruit.

i think people who eat 1200 calories per day, no matter what they weigh in the beginning, is asking for trouble.

it's a pretty simple formula to lose weight. if you weigh 180 lbs, multiply by 10 and that's the amount of calories you start with.

and then move. do you have to become a marathon runner? no. do you have to exercise four hours a day? no.

if one has to keep increasing the intensity to keep weight off, then one will have to exercise from waking to bedtime. there has to be a sensible 'in the middle' moderation for both eating and exercise.

while both are important, i think the quality and quantity of what you eat is important for the functioning of your body. this means eating fat and eating food.

oatmeal, vegetables, plant fats, low saturated fat, but some.

we are omnivores. that means we survive on grains, vegetables, a little bit of fruit and meat or fowl or fish.

take a walk. ride your bike. park further away. to become a workout junkie can be harmful, as i have found out.

read about those who ate 1200 calories per day and worked out like fiends. ask them if they still have their gallbladders.

moderation in everything is key.

For me, if I maintain a 2 mile run daily, I maintain my weight regardless of caloric intake. If I run 4 or 5 miles every other day, I lose weight regardless what I eat. None run days are weight training, not for mass but to maintain muscle shape, size and form. Cutting calories doesn't work for me, burning them off does.