In order to really lose serious weight, you are going to have to do both. It simply isn’t worth beating around the bush on that one, or setting unrealistic expectations. You need to eat less and exercise more if you are trying to get fit. (You didn’t really expect I had a magic pill, did you??)
In order to maintain your weight, you will need to be smart about what you eat and exercise. (You didn’t think I’d change my tune in one line, did you?)
I think this is a good thing. I think it helps me to know I will always have exercise to help me out. I know that hormonal changes, stress levels, family commitments, and even holidays will all affect how much I eat and what I eat. So I have come to learn to expect my weight to fluctuate over the course of a month, and over the course of even a year. I don’t worry too much about it, but I’m always paying attention to how my pants fit. My pants, fortunately or unfortunately, never lie.
I love knowing that all I really need to do to handle these eating changes is to keep up my exercise.
I know for certain that my life would be “simpler” if I could eat the same amount of food every day at the same time—I could definitely manage my diabetes better that way. But I’m also fairly sure that eating that way would create a barrier between me and others in my life—something I don’t think would serve me at all. So I’ll have to settle for paying attention to it, being aware, always trying to eat more vegetables and less bread.
I think that’s what life is: finding a way to balance in the grand scheme because we all know there is no hope for staying balanced every day.
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition surveyed more than 4,000 females aged 14-22 over four years as they self-reported their weight and activity levels to see how they could prevent long-term weight gain in female adolescents and young adults.
Well, now, lookey here: females who exercised five or more days per week gained significantly less weight than did their peers. (Recall, this was between the ages of 14 and 22—big years with many many changes in a person’s life and body.)
My response to this is an unqualified Awesome!
Frequent exercise sounds harder than it is. This is something we can all actually manage to do! We can all stand to spend more time moving ourselves without the aid of a motor.
Your pants will thank you.
