Confessions of a Fat Runner

For years people have been asking the question "What's more important for weight loss- exercise or diet?"

A recent article in Newsweek should go a long way towards shedding some light on the issue, and makes a point I've been hammering away at for over a decade.

The article, "Confessions of a Fat Runner" is by a woman named Jennifer Graham. Graham runs over 10 miles a week and has been doing it for 20 years.

You'd think she'd be thin, right?

Wrong.

She's a healthy size 14. Defying the laws of science, she says, "my body doesn't look much different even though I've run at least 10,000 miles".

Her conclusion is this: "Without a significant reduction in ice cream (a sacrifice I'm unwilling to make), running won't make you thin".
Amen. Does this mean you shouldn't run or walk, or play tennis, or Spin, or take Pilates or lift weights? Of course not. All these things are great for your heart, your muscles and your health.

But without a change in diet, they won't cause you to lose weight.

You'd have to exercise like Michael Phelps to burn up the calories most people consume with one typical meal at the Olive Garden. (And I don't mean to pick on the Olive Garden. The same could be said of the meals at most restaurants in America, and virtually all typical meals at a fast food place.)

And though you may think you're burning off all those extra calories with exercise, the sad truth is most people greatly overestimate how many calories they burn and greatly underestimate how many they eat.

Exercise alone- as Jennifer Graham has found out- is not the magic formula for weight loss.

Exercise and diet is.