Eat less or exercise more for your best body?

Will eating less or exercising more increase weight loss and create your better body?

The case for diet

Changing your food choices to those that are lower in calories and higher in nutrients will lead to both a decrease in body fat as well as a healthier, more energetic body. The aim is always to provide your body with the nutrition it needs to function optimally, whilst not giving it the excess calories it doesn’t need and will store away on your bum, tum and upper arms.

You can simply eat less to reduce the overall volume of food consumed, or separate you daily food intake into more frequent, smaller portions to help ‘shrink’ your tummy, so that over time you want less food at each meal.

Reducing or eliminating certain food groups that you have trouble digesting can help reduce bloating and flatten your tummy, even if you haven’t actually lost body fat. It might be bread or some types of fibrous vegetables that irritate your gut.

The trend of intermittent or partial fasting using either the 5:2 diet or extending the time between your evening meal and breakfast can be useful in ‘resetting’ eating patterns.

Whatever technique works for you remember not to be too restrictive for too long. You don’t want your body to think ‘famine’ and hold on to fat, nor do you want to diminish your overall health in the quest to wear a smaller dress size.

The case for exercise

The clever Fitness First ad of 2016 stated fitness is not a size, ‘fitness is a feeling’. Is being smaller better, if you have no shape and tone, get puffed easily and lack the energy and confidence to really enjoy life?

Yes, food is important to weight loss. Evidence suggests you can lose weight without exercising, but it is very hard to out-exercise a gluttonous diet.

However, exercise can help you get to your weight loss goal faster and maintain it long-term. During exercise you burn calories you would not use up sitting on the couch not eating. Your body is in fact a more effective fat burning machine on any day that you exercise, as opposed to days that you don’t.

More importantly, increasing your muscles mass not only gives you a stronger, more toned and shapely body, it also helps you maintain your new body weight over time.

For weight loss and a better body it’s a combo deal – diet and exercise.

By Rachel Livingstone Personal Trainer & Owner of The Health Hub 

Rachel Livingstone

Rachel is a PT and Maternal Health specialist who found the gym at 14 through her weight lifting dad and never looked back. Originally from the UK she finally settled her wanderlusting feet on the shores of Sydney and can often be found on the back of a paddleboard exploring Rose Bay and the beautiful harbour.

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