Why You Still Need to Exercise

Posted on January 27, 2010

We’ve all heard it: “You can’t out-train a bad diet.” That’s for reals. What you eat matters (and how much), especially if trying to lose weight. Exercise is still important too, though. Here’s why:

A study out of Louisiana State Univeristy took a look at the benefits of losing weight by diet only or by a combination of diet and exercise. They found:

“Both the diet and diet plus exercise groups lost the same amount of weight, pounds of fat, and belly fat. The diet plus exercise group increased fitness level by 22% with no change in the diet or control groups.”

“Total and bad cholesterol (LDL-cholesterol) decreased significantly in the diet plus exercise group only. Good cholesterol levels increased significantly in all three groups including the control group. However, blood pressure and insulin sensitivity improved in the diet plus exercise group only.”

– via Cooper Institute Blog Fitness vs Fatness: Diet vs Exercise for Weight Loss

Click the link to read more details about the study they reported on.

The bottom line is creating better eating habits AND regular exercise will help you not only lose weight, but also create good physiological changes to your body.

We all need to eat better and get plenty of exercise. No pill can do it for us.