What is the best way to reduce body fat? Exercise or Diet.

[gkubal]

I have stalled a bit in my wieght loss and it seems to be directly linked to my percentage of body fat. Is it better to diet and eat foods extremely low in fat or is it better to exercise even more than I am already doing. I am very active at least three days a week for an average of 1 hour or more on those days.

[Not_quite_fit]

don't eliminate fat from your diet - make sure you eat good fats - avocado, nuts, olive oil, yogurt. otherwise your body will think it's starving and will hold on to every calorie it gets. in another post, someone suggested taking a week off of dieting, eating your maintenance amount, to kick start weight loss if you've reached a plateau. I think it sounds like a good idea, both physically and psychologically. I think eating less is the key to weight loss, but exercise and sensible eating are the key to changing your habits and staying at a healthy weight. good luck!

[gerrymcd]

For most people, losing weight is something like 80% diet to 20% exercise. The reason is obvious - an hour in the gym probably burns no more than the calories in a bagel with cream cheese. Not eating a bagel with coffee every morning results in a greater calorie deficit than spending an hour in the gym every other day. 

As for what to eat...... personally I believe its better to modifiy my diet in ways that will persist long term.  Yes, there may be some combinations of low-fat/high-protein that could result in me losing weight a bit faster, but I would rather look for a long-term change in my eating habits (for example, by starting to eat breakfast I find I don't get hungry late in the evening and end up eating too much).

[Colinm39]

It's all about sensible eating and a balance with exercise. The 80/20 rule applies, 80% is diet and 20% exercise.

I have gained a great deal from reading Jonathan Bailor's latest book "The Calorie Myth". It's theme is eat more, exercise less and lose weight. The readings are based on quality calories and quality exercise.

A couple of years ago I thoroughly enjoyed a piece of genuine carrot cake with the creamed cheese icing and a soy yoghurt..... When I got home I checked the franchisees web site, because I purchased a 2nd slice for my bike riding son and after weighing it......800 calories !!!!!, about a  third of my daily calorie burn goal. That really opened my eyes at 72 years,  then...... when I realised I should then walk for just over 3 hours at 3.5 mph (5.6 kmh) to theoretically nullify that very enjoyable 10 minutes......

It was delicious and my very fit 48 yr old son took 4 days to divide and eat the slice I gave him.  Lesson learned....

[KJScarp]

I just want to add some additional information about healthy fats - Vitamins A, E, D and K are fat soluble, meaning that if you do not ingest the appropriate amount of dietary fat, then our body is unable to absorb those vitamins.  I always scratch my head when I read about someone eating a healthy salad, while using a low-fat or fat-free dressing.  It totally defeats the purpose of ingesting the veggies in that salad, to say nothing of the fact that in order to mimic the taste and mouth-feel of the removed fat, the manufacturer replaces the fat with sugar and other chemical foodstuffs.

I believe the current FDA recommendations are to eat no less than 25-30% fat.  I eat a low carb high fat diet, and my fat intake ranges from 60-75% fat.

[gerrymcd]

I think unless there are compelling health reasons for a particular diet - for example diabetes - then its best to shoot for a calorie mindful diet that mixes high/low fat, protein and carbohydrate rather than sticking to one highly biased diet (high carb, high protein, etc.).  A well-balanced mixture minimizes the risk you end up with a nutritional imbalance, which may have no health consequence or may cause problems.  For example, I know people on a low fat diet who eat huge portions of 'low fat' food, rather than just eating a smaller portion of the 'real thing'.   I will be very, very surprised if a lot of the fat substitutes and emulsifiers are not damaging to our health in the long term - I've worked with these chemicals and they are really unpleasant if they get on your skin.......eating them?  No thanks! 

[Colinm39]

I don't watch Dr Oz here in Australia but 2 days ago they had a segment on obesity and what the food manufacturers put into their products to "make" us eat more. They had a table of the packaged food and next to it the equivalent in natural vegetables and other foods. The alarming thing that came out of it was the massive increase in diabetes 2 and the statement was "this generation of children will not live as long as their parents". Quite a statement.

They explained how the brain gets affected, and then they showed and listed the chemicals... a real eye opener.

I have a 46 year old daughter with mental issues who is well overweight and one of her problems was drinking carbonated drinks, and she was drinking 2 bottles/day and this image shows how much sugar is in 6 standard bottles, 1 KG (35 oz). She also drinks copious amounts of water  and her blood tests are perfect. The doctor thinks it is the water flushing her system, so there is a medal for drinking water. She is now down to 2 cans of Sunkist/day.