Exercise or diet? What works best for you 28th Sept 2021
There is much debate on what exactly helps a person to stay fit – is it a good diet or a workout plan? A good diet covers the meals you consume daily, from fruits and vegetables to dairy products and protein-rich food. A good diet will keep you safe from the risks of health issues like diabetes, cholesterol, blood pressure, heart diseases, and the worst-case – cancers.
Exercise keeps your muscles and internal organs active, and there is no alternative to exercise if you want to stay physically fit. Exercise energizes you from within, and this energy is vital to carry out all the day-to-day activities and even at the time of health problems.
If you wish to reduce weight, dieting appears to be the logical solution. When we intake more calories than we burn, we tend to gain weight. As a result, lowering calorie consumption would be the most natural way to lose weight. Right? This, however, is rarely maintained. People tend to jump back to their previous routines after a while. Worse, the feeling of deprivation causes them to binge, further causing them to regain their lost weight.
So, if dieting alone isn’t enough to achieve long-term weight loss, would exercise alone work just fine? Short answer: NO.
Here’s why.
Regular exercise has several advantages, including a healthier heart, enhanced metabolism, and stronger bones and muscles. Exercise is also part of a formula that can help prevent many clinical illnesses, including several cancers. But, exercising will cause you to break your muscles at the gym and burn your fats. If you don’t repair those damaged muscles through a proper diet, it will cause you to lose bone density. You’ll get thinner, but you won’t be any fitter.
So what exactly should you go for?
The answer is, workout and eat smartly, collectively!
If you’re able to maintain the balance between a good workout plan and a healthy eating habit, you’ll complete your race towards the goal of fitness in less time.
Remember, you don’t need to work out every single day to be fit. Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate to strenuous activity every week. Figure out a way to make time out of your busy schedule for a quick 50 minutes workout or have an exercising session every alternate day, whatever works for you.
As for diet, use a calorie calculator on the web to figure out your calorie level. If your target is to gain weight, eat above, and if it’s to lose weight, eat below the maintenance level.
It is preferable to have a minimally processed, whole-food diet rich in healthy fats, fibre, and lean protein to support general health.
Final word:
It may be tempting for you to choose one over the other. Diet and exercise complement each other and combining the two will improve your health and quality of life. As you take your fitness journey more seriously than before, be one step ahead and cover yourself and your loved ones under a good health insurance policy. Because eating and exercising will only take you a certain distance on the path of well-being, good health insurance will be your helping hand when you have to go the extra
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Disclaimer: The information provided above is for illustrative purposes only. To get more details, please refer to policy wordings and prospectus before purchasing a policy.