Here is something very interesting.

Whether you eat fewer calories or burn them off through exercise, the effect on body composition and fat distribution is the same.

Researchers at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., found that dieting alone is as effective as a combination of diet and exercise at cutting weight and fat - as long as calories consumed and burned equal out.

Their study also indicated that adding exercise to a weight-loss program doesn't change body composition and abdominal fat distribution.

What a good news! I do not need to exercise any more!! :laugh:

What a good news! I do not need to exercise any more!! :laugh:I hope you are joking, as you will lose weight twice as fast dieting AND exercising. Also, you need it for the health of your CV system and bones. Plus, muscles are something, if you don't use 'em you lose 'em, and end up being weaker. (seeing the :laugh: after your posts gives me some hope, but I just hope people don't read that and think, cool, I can stay lazy, that is no good)

Yes, I was joking. I love to exercise.
Some days, exercising is the best part of my day.

Some days, exercising is the best part of my day.

This is every weekday for me! I actually have come to enjoy being outside every morning before the sun comes up, in the freezing cold, working so hard I want to pass out, doing pushups, running all over the place. It is so much more fun compared to what comes afterwards, when I go to work and sit in a stupid cubicle for 8 hours!

:jn :wn :dc :dn

That Pennington study had a rather small control group - 35 overweight people that were divided into three groups.

I think that rather well known study by exercise physiologist, William Zuti, is a lot more revealing. He worked with three groups of overweight subjects in programs designed to take off one pound of fat per week for 16 weeks.

Those in Group 1 were to reduce their food intake by 500 calories per day. Subjects in Group 2 had their diets restricted by 250 calories per day and they were asked to participate in an exercise program to help them burn off 250 calories per day. Persons in Group 3 were asked to participate in an exercise program designed to help them burn off 500 calories per day. At the end of the experiment, the average weight loss for Group 1 was 11.7 pounds; Group 2, 12.0 pounds; and Group 3, 10.6 pounds. At first glance this appears to show only a slight difference among the three approaches.

However, before the study, Dr. Zuti had measured percent of body fat for each subject. At the end of the 16 weeks, this test was repeated and showed that Group 1, while restricting calories, had not only lost fat but 2.5 pounds of muscle tissue. When one subtracts 2.5 pounds of muscle tissue from the 11.7 pounds of weight lost, the result is that the average member of the calorie-cutting group lost only 9.2 pounds of fat during the 16-week study.

Group 2 subjects who reduced calories and increased exercise, gained one pound of muscle with their 12-pound weight loss. The one pound of muscle tissue gained, which replaced one pound of fat, means they lost a total of 13 pounds of fat during the 16 weeks.

Group 3, the all-exercise group, gained almost 2 pounds of muscle tissue, which, when added to the 10.6 pound average weight loss, brought their group average to 12.6 pounds of fat loss.

Dr. Zuti's findings recommended the second approach, combining calorie restriction and exercise, for preventing muscle tissue loss and reducing body fat.