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Donald Hensrud, M.D.
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Question
Weight loss: Better to cut calories or exercise more?
Which is better for weight loss — cutting calories or increasing exercise?
Answer
from Donald Hensrud, M.D.
Consuming fewer calories through dietary changes seems to promote weight loss more effectively than does exercise and physical activity. But physical activity is also important in weight control.
The key to weight loss is burning more calories than you consume. Because 3,500 calories equals about 1 pound (0.45 kilogram) of fat, you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you take in to lose 1 pound. So if you cut 500 calories from your typical diet each day, you'd lose about 1 pound a week (500 calories x 7 days = 3,500 calories).
Exercise plus calorie restriction can help give you the weight-loss edge. Exercise can help burn off the excess calories you can't cut through diet alone. Exercise also offers numerous health benefits, including boosting your mood, strengthening your cardiovascular system and reducing your blood pressure.
Exercise can also help in maintaining weight loss. Studies show that people who maintain their weight loss over the long term get regular physical activity. In contrast, people who lose weight by crash dieting or by drastically reducing their calories to 400 to 800 a day are likely to regain weight quickly, often within six months after they stop dieting.
Next questionFast weight loss: What's wrong with it?
- Kushner RF. Obesity management. Gastroenterology Clinics of North America. 2007;36:191.
- Still CD, et al. Obesity. In: Rakel & Bope: Conn's Current Therapy. 60th ed. Philadelphia: Saunders Elsevier. 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/117958748-3/0/1621/295.html#4-u1.0-B978-1 . Accessed Feb. 20, 2009.
- Pinto AM, et al. Successful weight-loss maintenance in relation to method of weight loss. Obesity. 2008;16:2456.
- Redman LM, et al. Effect of calorie restriction with or without exercise on body composition and fat distribution. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. 2007;92:865.
- Weight loss for life. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. http://win.niddk.nih.gov/publications/PDFs/WeightLossforLife_04.pdf . Accessed March 6, 2009.
- Hensrud DD (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., March 10, 2009.
