What is more important to the weight loss equation? How did you do this over the long haul without going crazy with the numbers? I need to weigh myself no more than once a month. I am doing the actions and focusing on buliding the habits...

Is there any way to build the "patience" muscle? I've been trying to focus on building the habits as a diversion from the numbers. It isn't working. Can anyone relate???

In my opinion nutrition is absolutely more important than exercise (but that is important, too!). Exercise can be a great supplement to a weight loss plan, but without modifications to your diet the exercise will not do much. Keep in mind that it would take about an hour of high intensity exercise to burn 600-700 calories, but you could consume that in a burger in under 5 minutes. You have GOT to create a calorie deficit by modifying your food intake. Then you should add exercise in to enhance the calorie deficit as well as improve your fitness and overall health, but as far as importance for weight loss what you eat is far more important than exercise. Just my opinion, of course.

They go hand in hand, working together. I started with nutrition and added in exercise because I knew that exercise wasn't going to do much if I was binging and stuffing my face the way I used to do. That said, exercise is now what holds it all together for me. When exercise starts to slip my eating goes right along with it. It is just easier to make the right choices with food when I am exercising, because it lifts my mood, keeps me focused, and I don't want to add in junk after I busted my butt working off those calories.

Basically, I think you need both but the food has to get under control if you want to keep weight off in the long term...but I couldn't get to where I am now without the exercise. It goes together in my opinion.

I don't know as one is more important than the other. Successful weight loss is a combo of both. I find exercise does more than calorie burn for me. It makes me feel good (love those endorphins!), my skin is better and I feel strong.

The patience muscle is a hard one though. Seems like it never gets any stronger LOL!

First concentrate on your body fat not the number on the scale or concentrate on your measurements. You can track your health much better.

Second you absolutely, absolutely cannot lose body fat without exercise. Yes, the number on the scale will go down without exercise. I can guarantee you that you have lost lean muscle and water not just body fat.
To lose weight is easy to remove the fat for the rest of your life is harder.

You must do cardio and weight lifting for a lifetime to become healthy. I've tried it without and now I'm paying the price. I'm sure I lost lean muscle when I was dieting and not exercising regularly.

Please, please exercise and eat plenty of protein to keep the muscle you have, it will keep your metabolism going.

I agree with Jordan that nutrition is VERY important. I was working out 3 x a week very intensely and not losing because I as eating like a pig!! Thank God I changed that!

I have it the EXACT same way as you, Theresa! They go hand in hand, and obviously you can exercise for hours on end and not get anywhere if the nutrition isn't there. I will have to be conscious about my food for as long as I live - that's a given. That's not going to change. I know that when I'm exercising regularly, I'm in a better mood overall, I make better decisions about food and otherwise, I have a clear mind and can see the goal. And have great sex!

The nutritional is the more critical of the two to achieve weight loss. For someone who only has five or ten pounds to lose, they can probably do that just with upping their exercise, as they probably do not have significant daily calorie surpluses. For us on the 100-pound club, though, we tend to have surpluses many days. (This is not a judgement - some very disciplined people have obstacles that cause the calorie surplus to occur.) Jordan makes a great point about it only taking a few minutes to consume a 600-calorie burger and two hours of moderate intensity exercise to burn it off.

Exercise is key to looking and feeling good, though. All weight that is lost is a combination of fat, muscle, and water, as Sharon noted. Exercise will change your ratio, though. If you don't exercise, you will lose a larger ratio of muscle. You cannot lose 100 pounds without losing muscle. But if you're working to maintain and build that muscle, your ratio of fat loss will be higher, and you'll look and feel better - plus you'll be able to consume a few more calories during maintainance because you'll burn calories faster.

Plus, for me, exercise makes it easier to eat less and eat healthier. I can eat crap and work on a computer all day, though I don't feel as good when I eat better stuff. However, I cannot eat crap all day and go running.

Both part of the equation. If you're only going to do one, though, as a start, you'll get better results on the scale if you concentrate on the food.

I can also relate to the "patience" muscle. I FINALLY started to develop one - because I've been essentially plateauing for several months. I wouldn't recommend it as a strategy, but I've finally grasped that even I never lose another pound (which I will), I am so much happier with my current lifestyle than with my past one that I feel like I can maintain the lifestyle (with occasional slip-ups, of course) forever.

Good luck

To lose consistently and to make sure you're losing fat and not muscles, you'll have to exercise. Otherwise, you're weight loss will be much slower. Also, you will be a slender flabby person. Yuck!

I am focusing more on exercise this time. Like many of the PPs I love the way I feel after I do it. It helps to keep me focused and as long as I eat my snacks, I'm not all that hungry throughout the day. I've been there done that with the nutrition so I know what I need to do. I plan my meals in advance and stick to the plan. If I start craving something, I will plan it in. That way I'm not feeling deprived.
IMHO, you need to find a balance between your nutrition and your exercise and what works for you.

Girlygirl is right. You need to exercise too so you aren't a skinny flabby person. lol

I've been reading passages in DH's triathalon book and there's a really interesting study quoted in there. It says that a bunch of people made a 500 calorie per day deficit, half by increased exercise, half by reduced calories. The people who reduced the calories lost more weight each week, but when they looked at body fat content, etc, the people consuming less food were losing muscle mass, not fat. The people exercising more were losing body fat and increasing muscle mass. So, in the long run, the people creating deficit with exercise were going to be able to maintain the loss, keep their metabolism up, etc.

Now, I'm not saying, "eat it all, just exercise". I'm saying exercise makes the weight loss work in the right way.

Just talking about weight loss and not health here but I believe nutrition is more important to weight loss and exercise to keeping it off.

I think most of us believe that both are vital to success. I know for me that since I've fully embraced exercise, I can't go without it. Even though the scale isn't moving as rapidly as I wish, my body is changing in ways I never imagined it would. I love feeling strong and watching the giggly get firmer and leaner.