Nutritional Limitation is Key to Fat Loss, Not Exercise   

While diet and exercise combined have been proven time and time again to be effective for weight loss, new research shows that exercise without its partner diet provides little if any results in fat loss.  

Recent studies have been conducted to see what exercise on its own could produce for fat loss results. Apparently not much. One study took one hundred sedentary individuals, half of which remained sedentary and the other fifty began to exercise actively. All one hundred were observed over a twelve week period and started with body fat percentages between thirty-five and forty. A highly regarded trainer and nutritionist, Dr. John Berardi, provided only his expertly designed work out routines, which occupied between five and a half to six hours every week. He provided no nutritional knowledge to the participants.  

The results? The exercisers when compared to non-exercisers did not fair much better. After twelve weeks and no change to diet, the exercisers lost one pound of fat but gained two pounds in muscle mass while the non-exercisers remained roughly the same obviously. Another study went over the span of ten weeks with fierce training taking place and it too resulted in very little fat loss. Most of us are interested in losing the fat and doing quickly, so this is disappointing news. Some would wonder if they should bother with exercise at all then, but this is a wrong train of thought.  

What this proves to all of us is that exercise can not overcome a bad eating routine. Intense exercise followed by an overindulgence at dinner or dessert time will simply not work for losing weight. This instead tells us that we need to change our dietary habits in addition to the exercise. The exercise is still very important for our health and our body's ability to function and can with diet help us to lose weight and become healthy.  

What should be done first?  

* We should be eating daily, five to ten servings of vegetables.  

* Lean sources of protein should be included in every meal and if possible snacks as well.  

* Water is essential. Minimize coffee and tea intake, and should be without sugar or cream. Any form or type of soda should be eliminated from ingesting.  

* Count calories accurately and reduce from current counts. Start with what your average calorie count is, reduce that number by ten percent. When results slack off, perhaps after two weeks, decrease the calorie counts again by ten percent.  

* The body does require some small amounts of fat for function. Limit the fat intake to good fats and consider what is already in some of your food sources, in other words, don't over do. Coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, nuts - especially almonds or walnuts or avocado oils are good fats or contain good fats.  

* Replace white, starchy carbohydrates with limited amounts of wholegrain carbohydrates. The carbs to avoid: processed wheat-based products, sugar, cakes, cookies, pastries, white rice, potatoes, regular pasta and the list goes on. Carbs that are better: wholegrain-based products, sweet potatoes or yams, oats, quinoa, brown rice, wholegrain pasta and breads to name some.  

* Occasionally give yourself a treat for being so good. Reward yourself by allowing ten percent of your weekly total calorie intake to be your craving. The reason for this is two fold. One is that you get your item that is desired and that provides a measure of fulfillment, the other is to give you the incentive to keep going on your diet.  

* Keep interest in your diet, be willing to try a new healthy food on a weekly basis. You may find some that you will love a lot but never dreamed of trying.  

Diet is extremely important, but exercise can not be left behind either. Exercise fortifies the diet through activating the metabolism, improves our condition of health, increases our energy levels and enhances our performance as humans. Healthy nutrition with exercise together they make the keys needed for unlocking the bolt that causes fat loss and a healthy body.