(05-14-2014 09:12 AM)EverRespect Wrote: (05-14-2014 08:44 AM)Clueless Economist Wrote: (05-14-2014 08:15 AM)EverRespect Wrote: If you are trying to lose weight, get off your arse. Eating has much less to do with it than idleness.
Wrong. 85% of losing weight is diet.
Disagree. It is the other way around in my experience.
Your experience doesn't fit with the general math. I'm not saying it isn't your case... merely that you are far and away rare... and what is true for you today won't always be true.
30 minutes of exercise burns a few hundred calories. Eating a steak rather than a whopper saves 500 calories or more. Eating broccoli or a salad rather than fries and ketchup saves a few hundred more. Even eggs and bacon is hundreds of calories less than most cereals and some smoothies.
It is true that exercise creates more muscle mass which burns more calories while at rest... but you're talking about a very slow and long process here.
The easiest way for MOST people to lose a pound or two a week is to cut 500-1000 calories per day from your diet. It is far harder to burn 500-1000 more calories per day through exercise. Of course, if you can cut 1,000 calories AND burn 500 more, then you will lose weight faster.
A good plan for many people is to reduce their caloric intake and then start with 'large muscle' exercises as they will create the greatest muscle math the fastest. For cardio, interval training works pretty well to shrink the time. ALL of these p90x type programs seem to preach this sort of thing. If 1 lb = 800 calories (it depends on what you are burning... but for conversation) You cut 500 calories from your diet per day... you burn 200 more from exercise and 100 more from having more muscle mass and you lose 1lb per day.
We're not talking about people with chemical imbalances or other maladies... but your typical person.
I agree with your perspective, Aphid... but once a week or so, I truly enjoy a good meal.