Activity Matters More Than Diet.

Women are FANATICAL about diet. Men can be too. Not that diet doesn't matter. What we put into our body determines what we get out of it, how it's built over time, what type of health we can expect, what types of diseases we can expect to contract and harbor, and so on.

But ultimately our bodies are built for UTILITY. For us. For activity. Even if it's 15 minutes of bodyweight exercises, or 1hr of walking, DOING something NOT related to work is ideally better than JUST focusing on diet alone.

Diet alone, while that's well and good, negates that we LOSE WHAT we don't USE. Older people find themselves with osteoporosis because they don't use their muscles, flex their tendons and ligaments, and remain constantly active. When it's not used, the body folds up shop and shuts down. Then you have the uphill battle of reinstalling or rebuilding that, or in other words what is known as ATROPHY.

Yet, diet alone won't determine the COMPOSITION of our body. What you put in DETERMINES its composition BASED on activity, but a LOW carb diet with NO activity will not yield six pack abs. A moderate carb diet with HIGH Protein and Fat with strong activity levels WILL. It's the simple. It isn't magic. Too many people in America focus on diet. What you should realize is, if you ate your MAINTENANCE calories and did some type of activity daily, you'd get leaner and stronger. And that's just the basics. People really don't have to be fat, but preferenced over activity is INACTIVITY. Inactive pursuits provide more mental masturbation and pleasure than activity, at least initially. Anybody who has been on a team of intramural sports KNOWS the fun comes over the duration of play. I've tried and still try different activities as I go along, all along lifting and engaging in some sport. Not only b/c of my young age, but b/c we SHOULD, we're supposed to. As we age, it's only ACCEPTANCE of a weaker position that people age earlier and get fatter than they have to. Just look at Jack LeLane for any testament you need to that fact.

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I mentioned women FIRST, because they attempt (many of them) to eat like rabbits, yet never really working out. Some walk, or do cardio, and then lose what muscle they have (and curves), because they're working out while also eating very little. What they eat LACKS protein and good fats, so it's a constant spiral of a further degrading and sickening body. Duh, that's also why women experience wide fluctuations in temperature (excluding menopause), and also have worse body composition than men in most cases. Normally they fear any type of strength workouts that "might" add size or bulk as they perceive it to their body, but don't realize the missing benefits of what they'd gain by doing it. Cardio is a favorite of women b/c it's perceived to LEAN you up. But being lean is worse than being slightly bulky WITH muscle and curves, and what provides curves are the muscles. The fat is like a STRETCHY CAR cover, but it's the CAR under it that provides the great looking shell you see.

Diet + Activity matter. Diet ENHANCES the activity. Of course if you eat MORE than your calories required daily (depending on your goal), then you won't lose, but gain. You may alter, depending on the macro nutrient composition. A low carb diet, coupled with high fat and hight protein and much lifting and walking will lean you out. Initially weight would be water, because water clings to carbs. But over time, less carbs, yield less water, therefore less weight, and in time, fat burning is switched on b/c the body switches internal systems, going from carbs as a semi-source of energy, to fat as a FULL source of energy. However, it's a tough way to live, with many opps to cheat and flounder, and I personally can't and wouldn't remain SUPER low for that long. It's far too easy to fall of the train, and now and then you want to INDULGE, esp if you're one who is very active.

Activity matters more because DIETING is easy to fail on. The biggest resolution, and the biggest "i'm going to start money" mentioned, is DIET. People thinking they'd ditch their bad habits, which are HARDER to alter than ADDING more activity of any kind. That doesn't mean that you can eat the pint of ice cream, but it does mean if you're active, you can erase some of the calories you consumed that you shouldn't have.

And there aren't perfect activities. Each benefit in their own ways. My opinion is of being WELL ROUNDED. What is good strength if you haven't the speed, agility, or stamina to use it? In the flag football I play in, strength is of now use except as a SPRINT. If you can't run, can't jive, shuck, and move, then it's no good. So you're workouting should be tailored to FUNCTION, as well as AESHETICS. You obviously want to look good and building muscle does this more and better than anything else. The bigger question before you define the SPECIFIC program you use is HOW OFTEN CAN I LIFT AND STILL GAIN WEIGHT/IMPROVE? Can you lift twice a week or 6 times a week? Some guys can split the body up and 5 days, 1 part each day. Yet others can only lift twice a week, as I'd only been able to do most of my life. Whatever it is, THAT COMES first. Though a guy says he's succeeded doing one workout, still another might need more or less recuperation depending on genetics.

Once that's determined THEN try different programs from 6-12 weeks, that are likely to be broken down WITHIN those periods, as well.

But activity OVER all else will benefit, whether it's martial arts, swimming, biking, rowing, running, walking, climbing, intramural sports, lifting, etc, it doesn't matter. DO IT FREQUENTLY.

*Activity will burn more calories and fact. Active muscle and weight burns more than standing, stagnant muscle and fat.
*It releases hormones that trigger happiness and rid the body of free radicals floating around.
*It will erase any bad calories you have during the week.
*It burns MORE fat than just focusing on diet alone.
*It breaks you free from concern of what you eat, whereas diet leaves you as a Richard Simmons psycho, overly concerned of each morsel of food.
*It prepares you for activity, keeps you strong and nimble.
*It gives you a body to be proud of. Diet alone can't do it. And without activity, your overall body composition is constantly dependent upon what you consume daily, thereby giving you NO control over what the outcome is. In the short-run, you can determine your mainteance weight, but parties, holidays, and binges will throw you off enough to alter the APPLE CART faster than you would have it doing ACTIVITY + DIET.
*It Preserves muscle. It's misinformation that activity will burn muscle so easily. Any CALORIE deficit splits calories consumed by 75% fat, and 25% lean muscle. So if you're seeking to gain, 75% will be fat, 25% lean muscle, and perhaps some water that throws the numbers off. If you're losing, you're losing water, then fat at around 75%, and 25% lean muscle. The exact numbers are indeterminant in an absolute fashion, it's close to those %. Muscle takes MORE time to build, and to rip off. Whereas fat takes LESS time to build and rip. Altering body composition isn't entirely difficult, but it does take time to build muscle.
*Active muscle burns massive calories. Standing muscle hardly burns any. It's misinformation that muscle burns THAT much calories to turn you into a FAT burning furnace. Activity is the greatest furnace, and your ORGANS, SKIN, HEART, BLOOD, INTESTINES, etc, burn MORE calories keeping you ALIVE, than your muscle does resting. But when you USE the muscle, you're also using the organs of the body, and NOW you're burning LOTS of calories.




A-Unit

Finally somebody says what I've been thinking

I've been trying to stress to girls that no matter how little they eat, they will not lose as much weight as they would if they ate a normal amount, and exercised.

Too many people are drastically cutting their food intake, almost ot the point of starvation in hopes of being skinny. It's a shame.

Re:

If you cut food intake BELOW maintenance level the body will slowly diminish your burn of calories. As you do so it becomes a CATCH 22. Lowering calories slow the burn of calories, rather than trying to create a deficit that will drop fat. As this number lowers, you'd have to constantly go BELOW the new number to drop weight. This is due to the biological and metabolic adaptability of our body. Dropping calories pushes our level ever lower.

If you add calories, from healthy calorie sources, initially, you're not gaining weight. The rise in calories seeks to burn them and utilize them. The organs will consume more and in fatter people, organs are larger and burn more calories to live through the added weight. As you drop weight organs will shrink. They won't be nearly as large as dinosaur organs, but they do increase in size and in metabolic activity to carry such a larger beast.

A 250lb fat person, though they might not be comparable to a 250 muscular person, still burns considerable calories IF they are moderately active. Just to move that person and sustain life takes more effort than a 200 moderately active person and sustain life would. Likewise a 125lb girl doesn't require much in calories to sustain life and her activity wouldn't generate near the caloric requirements that a 150lb girl would, etc. Therefore to generate a calorie deficit that WILL burn fat, you must do SOME activity regularly. And you must do it for a fair period of time. Our bodies were designed for just that. Only, people dread such work because it's more like "brushing your teeth", than actually achieving anything for most people.

One activity I thoroughly enjoyed and am going to hop back into was Bikram Yoga. It's VERY intense in those 105 degree rooms for over an hr. The positions you hold yourself in are variations of wrestling moves, but you learn to balance and hold yourself in them. They are basically SLOW, bodyweight exercises. It will crack and loosen ALL joints in ways you never felt before and release pent up energy. The completion of such a workout leaves you on a perptual high and will provide one of the best nights of sleep possible, without feeling overly exhausted or sluggish the next morning. Anyone who has unfounded beliefs that yoga is for pvssies, doesn't realize MOST athletes do SOME form of yoga, and that yoga is a basis of wrestling, in slow motion. Over time, yoga does what swimming can do, except out of water. And it's a NEVER ending achievable type of workout. You constantly push yourself to complete a position AND THEN stay in it for ever longer periods of time. It's a fantastic workout for all sport types and the stretching moves will be wonderful for lifting and unwrinkling much of the stress you add daily to your body.

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Women feel that way just like most people think FAT will make you fat. It doesn't. CALORIES in excess make you fat. That's it. It's an energy equation. TOO MUCH in and NOT ENOUGH OUT = FAT. You might have a slow metabolism because you're fairly inactive (that will happen), but if you increase your activity, your body will burn through more calories. Simple as that.

Diet does play a role, as you have to SUIT your diet to your goal, but most important in LOSING fat is activity. You can drop your calories by 250, and lose some weight, but to KEEP losing, it's not simple math, because the body adapts. If you keep dropping calories, you'll keep slowing the body down to the point of starvation. If you, however, want to be aggressive, drop a few calories, and be active everyday of the week. Eventually your body will reflect that activity level.


A-Unit

Osteoperosis has nothing to do with atrophy.

Great post man. I see so many people that will change the way they eat but aren't willing to get off their a$$ and exercise. And then they wonder why they're still fat. It's no wonder so many people are fat because many know so little about their own body or they're unwilling to be active.

Dude, I've been working at UPS now for over a month and I pretty much eat whatever the hell I want cus I rountinely do about 5 hours of cardio a day at that place. I'm not nessacerily getting bigger cus I don't have much time to rest my muscles but I haven't been this cut since I was 18. Feels good.

Good post, but both exercies and diet matter equally. The latter is usually harder to get under control, though.