Exercise or Diet first?
 

Hey people,

Im wondering if i should focus more on diet or exercise in the beginning of my weight loss journey. Thoughts?

At the beginning, I focused more on my diet as I found exercise discouraging and hard. Now, I am slowly incorporating more exercise in...it's still a challenge but not as hard as before. I am able to do more now since some of the weight has been shed and I feel lighter. You know your body the best, so you'll know what will work for you. GL

I would definately focus more on diet first. Once you learn how to eat more healthy and control your portion sizes then begin to incorporate an exercise routine. It will be nice to be able to see a weight loss before you begin exercising!! Good luck girl!

I agree, I would focus more on diet as (in my opinion) weight loss is about 80% diet and 20% exercise. But that doesn't mean no exercise at all - even a walk outside every day would be good!

Diet/calories reduction, your choice on how to do that.

I actually started doing both at the begining. I set myself small exercise goals that i could achieve and achieving them made me want to do well in my diet, which motivated me to exercise etc

I started with diet since it is the biggest lifestyle change. Now I am incorporating exercise, and it is hard, but I think I still have my diet keeping my goals going.

I did both at the beginning as well. When I started exercising, I got hungrier, so I was able to incorporate healthier, lower calorie snacks. I also started eating every 3 hours to make up for my increased metabolism.

I started with both. Eating healthier is obviously crucial but mentally the exercise made me feel like I was doing something good for my body and kept me motivated.

Maybe do a bit of a hybrid (would be my suggestion)

Like....start a workout routine and make a CONSCIOUS effort to make good food choices

or

Start a healthy eating plan and make a CONSCIOUS effort to be more active (take the stairs, go for a walk at lunch, etc.)

Either way you're doing something great for your body...only you know yourself well enough to know whether you'll respond to gradual change or a bigtime shock best. But Welcome!!

I would say try to start with both... but if you only want to do one I'm going to disagree with everyone else (sorry!) and say start with exercise. I heard someone once say that exercise is a good motivator because it's all about what you CAN do vs. a diet that is all about what you CANNOT do. Plus, once you start exercising healthier eating choices become a little bit easier (at least they did for me!).

Sorry to confuse you, but that's just my opinion!

Oddly enough I started with exercise first... I will say that I lost, but REALLY s l o w l y... it wasn't until i got my diet in check with Weight Watchers 3 months later that I really started truckin'.... Whatever you think you can stick with... I think that getting your eating in order will give you the most bang for your buck up front, but exercise is VERY important too.... I finally feel like I can describe myself as an active person... LOL :) Good question!

I'm in the same boat. Right now, I made the choice to focus on healthy food choices. But I also choose to park further away in parking lots, take the stairs, find a reason to get up from my desk at work...small changes can add up big!

If I were you I would focuse most of my new healthy habits to eating and only workout out slightly (like dont just jump right into it. do like 8 to 10 min to start off with somthing light)

I found this to be helpful since when I was eating right i had more energy to do things because I didn't feel sluggish and it motivated me to work out more.

hope this has helped you!

I did both in the beginning as well. Won't hurt to try!! And, you'll probably loose a big chunk as most people do in the first few weeks!