The importance of combining diet with exercise

On a walk with my daughter late this morning I ran into a neighbor-friend of mine who was playing in the yard with his boys. We got to talking about weight loss and he mentioned he had lost more than thirty pounds in a relatively short period of time, but that lately he has only been exercising and the diet has gone to hell in a hand basket.

It's not very often we hear from people who are losing weight by only exercising and not modifying their diet. It can happen, but when it does it means one of two things are happening. Either the person's diet wasn't that bad to begin with or they are exercising a lot. Losing body weight is a simple concept of burning more calories than you take in. If you eat an average of 4,000 calories per day it's going to take more than a twenty minute walk to burn enough to lose weight. On the other side of the coin, one can lose weight by only watching what they eat. But diet and exercise together are an extremely successful combination.

When people tell me they've tried and tried to lose weight and have not been successful, I often wish I could be their watchful eye. I'd love to shadow them for a week and point out everything I believe they could do better or differently based on my experience. It's not an ego-thing; I truly want to help people because I firmly believe everyone can do this in a natural way. I think the problem lies somewhere between understanding the commitment it takes and having the patience to see (and feel) results.

My boss was about to begin a diet awhile back and I tried to explain to him how committed he needed to be. To paint my picture, I asked him how many times he had cheated on his wife during their thirty years of marriage.

"Never!" he quipped immediately.

"Then you understand the commitment it takes to lose weight," I told him.

Weight loss is not a one-night stand. It's a marriage.