Is it REALLY 75% DIET and 25% exercise??

[Jonezie]

Elizabeth, you may not get a response to this, as the original post was 8 years ago! I found it quite fascinating that 8 years ago, people were talking about the same damned things we do now - clean eating, how much diet comes into play in weight loss, etc. Annette, I wonder if you have changed any of your philosophies in the past 8 years, or if they still hold true for you.

Certainly, I am not a "clean" eating fanatic (hell, my friends are lucky if I shower once in a while) and I find it really interesting what are considered the great evils of our time nowadays - wheat, dairy, soy, too much/not enough protein, even cooked food. There's so much we still don't know and we are still consistently and constantly told that such and such food that we've been eating for a thousand years is actually spelling humanity's doom and that such and such exercise is actually not effective after all (Bosu, I'm looking at you!) There are still no definitive answers on anything, but we all have a religious devotion to what we think is the right way to try to navigate this mess. We read the fitness magazines (has Women's Health EVER had a cover that didn't promise flat, sexy abs?) fanatically, hoping that somewhere in there is the shining light that will lead the way to the perfect body, ignoring the fact that there is never any new information, just some reporting on some new study that has been done showing that green tea will save us all.

Okay, rant finished, Morningstar out.

LOL, Morningstar!!! How did I not notice that? And how did it get bumped back to page 2? Too funny! PS...I just said the same thing the other day. Remember when avacados were from the devil? Now, it's the RIGHT kind of fat to eat.

Elizabeth

 

[jnka825]

IMHO, this "75% diet and 25% exercise" nostrum is ridiculous. How can even you make those measurements, let alone apportion their importance in developing and maintaining a healthy body composition and performance capacity. My "diet" is about as dirty it can be - chips or Cheez-Its or cheese doodles every night, M&M crunchies each weekday afternoon, grazing on DH's french fries when we go out, smoked cheese and veggie quesadillas at Chile's . . . the list goes on, and I'm a size zero in a skirt. I seldom bring that up, but I think it warrants noting here.

Sorry I can't be of more help. All I can suggest to you is: let go of it. IMHO, it's a myth.

annette q. aquajock

Woo-hoo! I agree with Aquajock! I have lost over 50 pounds and am now a size 8, a size which I have not been since I was 20. I lost the weight after having two babies and I did it by doing Cathe workouts, that's it. Ok, I "tweaked" my diet. I gave up juices and soda and drink water, plenty of water, and two glasses of milk a day. I try to eat more protein and less carbs, but if I want some Doritos or some chocolate, I go for it. After working out, my evening snack is usually 3 oreo cookies and a glass of milk. . . still lost 50 pounds and I I feel and look better now in my 30s than I ever did in my 20s.

Maybe it is different for everyone. I know working out with Cathe has given me more strength, muscle definition and a much improved metabolism. My energy level is always good and even this holiday season, with all my snacking, I lost another two pounds.

Kristin

 

[Pinny150]

Jennifer Ann...I SO appreciate this post. I have been working out like a wild woman the last 4 months but not very devoted to clean eating, especially with the holidays, and have only lost 15 pounds. I needed to hear this, especially since you had so much success after changing your junk food intake. By the way, do you cook a lot? I am struggling to love cooking and have purchased Tosca's Clean Eating Cookbook, but haven't been able to force myself to make one thing. Can you maintain a life of clean eating if you don't really like to cook?

Elizabeth

Hi Elizabeth,

I am also a fellow anti-cooking hater lover struggler as well...lol I'm all about instant "as close to" clean eating as I can..... Being a single gal makes it hard because a.) who wants to take all that time to cook for themselves, and b.) who wants to take the time to store all the extra, and c.) who wants to take the time...in general. I bought the Tosca Reno cookbook a couple of months ago....and starting last week I am making a conscious effort to start learning little bit by little bit. So what I'm doing is ONE recipe at a time....I started with the crock pot porridge...made myself a list for the market, asked a THOUSAND questions about what the hell all that sh*t was and where to find it. I now have breakfast for over a week...a clean breakfast! And it's good!! I feel so accomplished, and not only that, but all the ingredients I could store and make this again and again because theres a ton left! I froze some and put what I thought would last a few days in the fridge. Now this week when I go to the market, I will get what I need for those cottage cheese pancake thingies. I dont' worry so much about the cost of all this because I'm a single girl that lives alone, and I do ok for myself, AND it goes a long way, So I'm taking advantage of it, or at least going to try to! It's defintely going to be trial and error, but whatever. I think as I get better acquainted with the market, and my kitchen, then I can be picky and choosy about recipes and not feel so overwhelmed by it.

 

[workingToBeFit]

I am guessing this is different for every one of us - but for me it's more like 90/10. Perhaps it does depend on age as well. But from 2001 - 2006 I was 30 pounds overweight, and I was working out like mad, but eating in a kind of "whatever" mindset. I believe I was working out wisely - weights, cardio, and flexibility - and while I did feel fit, my weight would NOT budge. UNTIL - I started eating clean. I read the Eat Clean Diet and probably more important, Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle, and I changed my style of eating totally. Then the weight just fell off, and by the end of 2007 I had lost those 30 pounds and my percentage of body fat felt dramatically. This was all in my very late 40s. So, I am a believer.

 

[nancy324]

Interesting looking at this ancient thread again. Since it's here, I'll just add that I can be thin without exercising at all, but I certainly can't be healthy, relaxed or happy. I exercise to feel good, be healthy and look toned. If all I cared about was being a certain weight, I probably wouldn't exercise at all, because it tends to increase my appetite. But everyone is different.

 

[macska]

Interesting looking at this ancient thread again. Since it's here, I'll just add that I can be thin without exercising at all, but I certainly can't be healthy, relaxed or happy. I exercise to feel good, be healthy and look toned. If all I cared about was being a certain weight, I probably wouldn't exercise at all, because it tends to increase my appetite. But everyone is different.

I feel exactly the same.

 

[serene_46]

Great discussion!! I am 49 years old and in the last 2 years I have found that when I chose to eat lean protein and lots of low glycemic vegetables, some nuts and keep my starchy intake limited to Ezekial bread, I feel soooo much better!!! For me, this combo represents quality intake and much more energy to do all the workouts I love. A bonus is that my overall body fat goes down.

 

[runfree]

I feel that you have to find what works for you. What works for one person may not work for another. Alot of its genetics. I feel better when I eat healthier but I am someone even when I clean up my diet and exercise I dont see results for quite some time which is very depressing. I mean I give up junk and still dont see much maybe a couple of pounds especially since I turned 38. the past two yrs have been depressing to me to see that my body is responding less to what I do. I workout 5-6 days a week , hardcore workouts and I cant lose this 8-10 pds. I am going to give this eat clean thing a couple of months and see what happens with increased exercise. I decided if I dont see anything good from it I wont worry about it anymore, I will just go with the flow. I mean I cant beat myself up about it if my body doesnt want to change. I dont know what else to do. for those of you who can eat and eat and eat, whatever you want it has alot to do with a high metabolism and genetics. I use to be able to eat like that until 38 hit and now that I am 40 it certainly isnt getting better for me. I just hope that I find what works for me like some of you have.

 

[pinkquinn]

I have to work harder than anyone I know too, Runfree.

 

[lioness]

I haven't read all the posts in this thread but I agree that what works for some people won't work for everyone.

For me eating healthy and working out go hand in hand. The last couple of months it's been hard for me to workout consistently. I was worried that I would gain weight but that hasn't been the case. I really got super clean with my diet and stopped eating all sugar and I starting dropping some weight My jeans were falling off of me. I was working out but not as hard or as much as I normally do so I feel that in this case diet was the key for me.

I also like how I feel when I eat healthy. I feel much better about myself in general.

 

[Ivy]

I just wanted to add that this was a super interesting thread. Bottom line it would seem is fitness and health, like life, can be a journey and we all have to find what works best for ourselves. Many times this can change at different stages in our lives. Just a side point, as a person who is hypothyroid although my thyroid is supposed to be functioning at the proper levels on my current medication, it has always been and always will be more difficult for me to take and keep off the weight than the average person. Put that with the fact that I'm older now and I just have to keep an eye on what I put in my mouth, along with exercise. Good reading through this thread.

 

[Liann]

I just want to know how you found this thread?

 

[Beavs]

I just want to know how you found this thread?

Ironic A 2002 classic was dredged up considering the number of P90X threads out there. HAAAAAAAA!

 

[elsie3]

I've kept a food log so I can find out what is going on with my body. For me, the type of calories really do matter--as does the time of day I eat certain foods. I try to eat "clean" because I feel better that way. I'm sensitive to refined foods and how they make me feel--physically and especially emotionally. But I do purposefully indulge on special occasions. I have found that I will gain weight on the same number of calories (or less) if I eat refined foods. I also gain weight if I eat too few calories. And, of course, I gain if I eat too many--hence the food log. I've really experimented with this over the Christmas holidays and proved it to be true for my body.

I agree that one should not become obsessed with counting calories--ingested or expended. But for me, tracking keeps me "on track."

Every "body" is different, but I've found what "works" for me.

HTH

 

[melanalyus]

Haven't read all the posts....mostly just the title...I think I'm a minority here....but for me the 75% diet 25% fitness applies to me. *gulp*

When I tried to exercise my postpartum weight off......it didn't work. It was only when I cleaned up my eating (in addition to exercise) did I finally lose weight.

I LOVE exercising & wish I could just do it that way......but my weight loss rate more than doubled (maybe tripled) when I added clean eating to exerise.

 

[chefkate]

Melanie, It's so hard post-partum, isn't it? You're STARVING from nursing and could eat EVERYTHING in sight! Mike just watches me in amazement as I shovel food in my piehole in the first weeks after a birth! I swear all the weight I lose after having a baby isn't pregnancy weight at all, but rather the food I eat in those first few weeks! And you've got double duty nursing those 2 sweet girls! No wonder you're working out like crazy! Enjoy those girls!!! I know you are!

 

[Lastchance09]

After dropping 40 pounds last year I can say that for me, DIET is key - more so than exercise. When I am sloppy with my eating AND exercise, my weight doesn't budge. When I am strict with my diet, stick to a plan and all that PLUS exercise - the weight flies off.

And I do not believe in calories in/calories out. People should not diet or eat that way. You have to think about health, first - always. For example, 1500 calories of junk cannot compare with 1500 calories of meals with veggies, good fats, protein. I don't count calories. I watch my serving sizes and focus on whole foods. I don't watch my fat intake, but follow my sugar intake pretty closely (which is not hard since I focus primarily on whole foods).

I also agree that some foods should be off limits. If you know that you can't resist a certain food and if just one taste sets off your cravings - keep it out of the house or make it very inconvenient to get. And there are bad foods or as Michael Pollan said, 'edible food like substances.' Nothing nutritious about a blooming onion, fried twinkies, hot dogs, fried snickers - all delicious I'm sure, but not foods that should be a regular part of anyone's diet.

That's the food philosophy that works for me.