To Diet or Exercise

To diet or exercise is an important choice for those who vows to lose weight and to keep the weight off. Most weight watchers most likely would opt for counting calories rather than exercising because of the physical work involved in the latter.

It is more important to count calories than to get on a treadmill and work up a sweat and an appetite. Invariably working up a sweat only results in working up an appetite that adds on the pounds. With the expenditure of energy, the body recuperate from strenuous labor with an increased appetite. Simplistically, the hard physical work done on the tread mill would be wasteful if all it did was to increase the appetite for added weight gain.

From the author's viewpoint, it is more important to count calories. It is ludicrous to run three miles building up an appetite and then waste all of that physical effort towards losing weight with an ice cream cone, for an example. It is more advantageous to avoid consuming lots of calories and then expect to walk, run or jog it off. Yet, it is disheartening to see overweight people walking or jogging knowing that the moment they get home, they will head to the refrigerator to reward themselves for doing all that hard physical work.

The appetite got to be controlled and satisfied before embarking on a walking or exercise program. On the television show, the America's Biggest Loser, there are grossly obese people beating themselves up with difficult exercise when all they got to do is count calories. It is because of the popular television show that has the participants being treated like cattle herded with tough exercise instead of teaching them how to control their penchant to overeat with the counting of calories.

Obese or overweight people are that way for a reason and most often the reason is psychological and needs to be controlled mathematically with the counting of calories. The process of placing food in one's mouth other than for hunger or boredom indicates that there is also another reason for overeating. For that reason, the personal trainers cannot treat the problem without dealing with the symptoms or causation for the overeating, as well.

Working out can be fun but if there is no weight loss or attention to the reasons for the overeating then most likely exercising is only a drive to build up an appetite. Stories of past weight loss attempts and failures are shown on these weight loss television reality shows but there is rarely a psychologist on the air helping these contestants with the reasons for the weight loss problems.

For the everyday dieter who does not have the benefit of the television camera or a personal trainer, it is best to count calories. Working rigorously on weight loss equipment only builds up an appetite and does not satisfy the reason for the overeating.

It is the grossly obese who most likely needs to get professional help in their weight loss plans. But for the readers of this article who are not morbidly overweight, it is better to count calories than to exercise on weight loss machinery or weight loss equipment that only triggers an appetite.

So the answer to the question to diet or to exercise in regards to the information contained in this article is to diet and count calories. Dieting involves watching what is consumed in the body instead of getting on an exercise machine and working against one's self building up an appetite.

But invariably, it is up to the person embarking on the weight loss program on which activity to concentrate on the most; dieting or exercising. When making the choice, the initial step should be to see one's family physician or practitioner as a healthy alternative than going it alone or trying to get on America's Biggest Loser.