I used to eat decently and work out about 5 days a week for about 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer. I was fine for awhile but I never lost any weight. I gained 25 pounds in a year. I never eat at any fast food places because they make me sick and I never have. I thought I had what was a healthy diet. I was shocked about my weight gain.

Then I started seriously watching what I put into my mouth and counting my calories and i upped my workouts to longer cardio and added weight training. I have now lost about 23 pounds in 3 months and am about back to where I was before I gained.

I really think it was the diet. I mean upping the exercise was good as well but I always worked out at least 30 minutes and I gained.

I worked out for a while & was just maintaining my 204. I thought I could get away with it, but it wasn't until I change my eating habits that I began to lose. In 20 days, I had lost 11 pounds just by changing my diet. My best friend was even saying this same thing to me today that exercise is essential, but to really lose you have to acknowledge eating better is the most important element. Even these last few weeks have opened my eyes to that. I binged last week, but exercised, but I was still up 2 pounds. Once I got back on the wagon yesterday, today I was down 1.6 pounds & I didn't even exercise. So, there ya go!

I've read this many, many times. And I tend to agree with it.

It would be next to impossible to create ENOUGH of a calorie deficit to continually lose a substantial amount of weight and keep it off. Unless of course you're running marathons.

I personally could exercise 24/7, but if I weren't closely monitoring my food intake, my calories coming in that is, then it would be pointless.

I could lose weight just with exercise ten years ago. Not this time.

But, exercise make the good eating possible for me, or at least much easier. It changes my mental state.

Wow, I'm truly amazed how many of you have agreed with this, I was just thinking how it doesn't really ring true for me personally... I find it easier and more effective to work out to burn 600 cals, say, than to cut those 600 cals from my diet. If i don't eat what I want it doesn't work for me, or rather it does but I quickly give up. I eat a LOT of food, and rubbish food too, but I work out quite intensely six days a week with two sessions with a trainer. So for me it is 100% exercise.

And I've lost 2.2 kgs in the past 3 weeks so I'm super happy!

I think the reason behind why diet is generally thought to have a bigger effect on weight loss is because of the amount of calories you burn. If you go to the gym for say, an hour, you maybe burn around 400 calories (depending on what you do, who you are, etc). On the other hand, you could eat a 400 calorie muffin in under a minute. Or you could pass on the fries and ketchup and have veggies instead, and eat 400 fewer calories. If you think about it, burning 3500 calories (to lose one pound) a week just from exercise would be pretty hard - a marathon only burns about 1600!

But exercise does burn some calories, builds muscle which increases your metabolism, suppresses appetite, and improves mood and concentration, which are all really important aspects of losing weight. And almost all people who maintain their weight loss are really active, so it's got to help with long term success :)

i see exercise as a way to get a leaner body - not to lose weight.
When it comes to lose weight (as in lbs/kgs), i depend more on watching wat i eat.
So yeah, it's 80/20 for me as well.

Hey, luckily we don't have to choose. We get to do both. And study after study after study has proven that the combination of calorie monitoring and exercise, is the most effective weight to lose weight and keep it off.

I agree with this. I still lose weight if I just watch what I eat and don't exercise. Though the combination helps maximize my capabilities.

For me, it's about 90% diet, 10% exercise. If I skip a workout or two, it isn't a big deal and my weight doesn't react. But a high calorie meal or two? I'm gaining weight, instantly.

Technically, I would agree with the 80/20 ratio - as far as efficiency (calorie reduction vs. calorie burning) is concerned. But in terms of importance for my personal weight loss and body image, I'd put it at more like 50/50.

That's exactly how it works for me. If I don't work out, my eating inevitably spirals out of control. I have a much easier time staying on my eating plan when I work out regularly. It seems that my post-workout body lets me know what it needs and doesn't need. Also, exercise relieves some of the stress and pressure I would otherwise convert into stress eating.

The other thing is muscles and posture. After hardly working out for two months now, I haven't gained that much weight on the scale, but I look and feel a lot bigger because my muscles are all gone.

In the past, I have lost big amounts of weight without exercising, just via what and how much I ate (far too little, I might add). It worked, but I felt weak and didn't look in shape.

So, yeah, 50/50 for me.

I agree that the 80/20 expression or any variation of it comes from the point that it takes a lot longer to burn calories than it does to consume them. A few cookies can take over an hour of high intensity exercise to burn off, for example.

Libby it sounds like you exercise a lot, and you also may not eat as much 'rubbish' as you think!! You've found what works for you and that's great. :) For most of us though, the food has to be number 1.

I agree that it is mostly about food. At MY age (ahem, 5 days away from 39) I was not able to move the pounds anywhere without doing the exercise too.

And I am finding that exercise allows me to eat a little bit more, now that I am maintaining, w/o automatically gaining the weight back.

sooo, hand in hand, but mostly food.

I think that since you've managed to stay below 145, your diet is probably already pretty decent. As long as you're eating just a few hundred calories less than you usually do (which basically means substituting fruit/veggies for some other things you normally eat), then I'm sure your diet is already close to what a normal dieter eats.

But diet is very very important for those of us who have overeating problems, and need to lose weight because of that. I recorded some of my eating habits a few days before I started dieting, and found that I was eating around 3,000+ calories per day. For those of us who normally eat that much, learning to eat a lesser diet is very very important.