Walking Vs. Dieting for Weight Loss

People who want to lose weight often debate what is more important: dieting or exercise. You'll find hundreds of diets to chose from and plenty of places to walk, so the choice is yours.

Considerations

• Do you want to be a gym-aholic, or do you want to eat only healthy foods? Think about your lifestyle, as well as your strengths and weaknesses. Do you like to exercise? Are you disciplined enough to cut out those fatty foods?

Walking

• Walking is not a strenuous exercise regimen. It may not take off the weight you can put on eating high-fat, high-calorie meals. According to Ezinearticles.com, walking 3 mph burns .027 calories/pound/minute, so a 150-pound person walking 1 hour would burn 270 calories. Decide if this is enough exercise for you to lose weight without changing your diet.

Dieting

• With so many diets to choose from, you can find one to fit your lifestyle. Weight Watchers, Atkins, South Beach, The Zone and Life Choice are a few choices. Some diets, such as the Cyclical Ketogenic Diet, claim that because of the low amount of fat you take in, you will not need to exercise. Evaluate your dieting options before deciding whether you need to exercise.

Prevention/Solution

• The best approach, instead of choosing either diet or exercise, could be to combine both. IFitandhealthy.com says that in order to lose weight, you almost always need to exercise at least every other day, in addition to being on a diet.

Warning

• Avoid crash dieting, even if you want to lose weight quickly. The weight will probably be gained back as fast as you can say "Look how great I look, I lost 15 pounds!" Take your time. Follow a balanced diet and exercise schedule.