Being healthy is easy, isn’t it? “Eat less, move more!” Easy to say, but in practice, it is one of the most important aspects when it comes to health and fitness.

Recommendations like this are like statements that do not address practical issues – so when it comes to this topic, which of the two is more important? Diet, or exercise?

Diet VS Exercises

Yes, we should all eat healthier. Yes, we should exercise every day. There is a myriad of things we could do to be healthier, such as eating less lazily, eating more vegetables, eating less processed food, or consuming less alcohol. Meal replacement diet companies that offer you a complete program that will result in weight loss can also be very helpful.

But all these recommendations do not take into account the reality of everyday life: we are all constrained by a limited number of resources such as time, energy, will and money. BritainReviews‘ recommendations that do not take these issues into account can easily make us feel unable to meet our health and fitness goals.

Winning combo

For an optimal result, there is nothing better than combining proper nutrition and fitness training. According to Reader’s Digest, a systematic review of studies found that the combination of diet and exercise is even more successful in weight loss than diet or exercise alone. Research shows that focusing on both has led to better long-term results or maintaining healthy habits, which explains why people who follow both are more likely to maintain weight loss after one year.

Moreover, with exercise, we do not limit ourselves to burning calories and building muscle, but we increase the production of endorphins, an important factor for the success of the diet, which psychologically may not be easy to treat. In conclusion, if you want to lose weight, nutrition is essential, but to maintain the result over time and live healthily you must also combine sports.

So does exercise matter?

Of course, it matters: on the one hand, if we want to lose weight, it helps us burn more calories, even if they are not very significant. On the other hand, more importantly, it helps us to improve our body composition, although even this is not possible (or at least is much more ascendant) without proper nutrition which consists not only in counting calories but in bringing a good contribution of quality micro and macronutrients.

A combination of healthy eating and long-term exercise, with a diet that generates a good grip and a training system adapted to our needs, will be what makes weight loss effective and that we will not regain it again. But a global change in our mentality and lifestyle is needed.

There is no mathematical formula for success when it comes to losing weight, but there are some variables we can control to achieve the goal of burning fat:

• There are no miracle cures or magic pills
• Weight loss is a process in which many factors have involved that control, including some psychological effects related to our ability to cope with the potential path to success. 
• It is a matter of good planning and not leaving anything to chance.