What's easier for you: changing your diet or changing your activity level?

AJuliaNJ · March 2013

Both of these are such important part of overall health and weight loss or maintenance, but I find that everyone finds one easier than the other. Some people would prefer to eat healthier and not have to build in an hour a day to work out, but some just cannot give up their favorite treats but have no problem making it to the gym.

For me, I love to work out. I would go to the gym every day if I could fit it in. I love seeing the progress I'm making and am more energetic afterward. I have so much trouble eating healthy. Everything is a temptation, and we go out to eat a lot. I'm slowly trying to turn things around, and my trainer gave me some "eat this/not that" type recommendations based on my food journals. However, I have a lot of trouble turning around the bad food habits I've had since childhood.

nextrightthing · March 2013

I'm the same as you. I have a really hard time eating well and have a lot of "food issues." I love to exercise, though, so it isn't as much of a problem.

swimmy1988 · March 2013

I have a really hard time changing my diet. I even spent 6 years doing degrees in Nutrition, but it's still a personal struggle for me. It's so much easier to go to the gym or do some zumba dancing at home with the wii game, but I can't resist the sweetness of chocolate, or diet pepsi.

entropicbeauty · March 2013

Wow, I guess most of us have bigger issues with eating than activity!

I'm the same - I can endlessly work out so long as I can eat the bad for me stuff I love so much (like chocolate and ice cream). Over time I've gotten BETTER with food, but it's still my major weakness.

Over the next couple of months, I really want to try on working towards having a HEALTHY amount of activity (without going overboard) balanced with mostly good diet. Right now I feel like I'm going crazy with the exercise so I'm ABLE to eat the bad for me stuff, and I think that's a mildly bad approach when it's all the time (versus for special occassions).

AdeleDazeem · March 2013

Both... ish. I tend to think of them like a seesaw - if I move a lot, then I watch my eating less; if I'm not moving so much, then I watch my food like a hawk.

I naturally walk all over the place since we live in the city. I was trying to remember the last time I drove a car and it was some time last summer, I think... We have public transit and I usually take it only one direction each day but if I need to move more, I'll walk both ways (about 3 miles total) every day.

Fitting in a run has been a nightmare, however. I'm doing a program and each block is about an hour. Balancing hydration, eating, sunlight, temperature, and energy on a work day is kinda hard. It'll get easier now that the sun is up much longer after work!

unchatenfrance · March 2013

For me it's a lot easier to work out more than to eat less. I caught the exercise bug long ago and feel really crappy when I don't work out.I eat healthy about 80-90% of the time and the longer I'm Primal the easier it is to control and resist the cravings. But I do love to eat and am the type who could always eat, regardless of my actual hunger levels. And I am at a healthy weight and at this point leaning out further is all about the work that is done in the kitchen, not in the gym. But I find it virtually impossible to eat at a deficit consistently enough to yield further fat loss results. For me the issue, after many many many years of struggling, it not dialing into the quality of what I'm eating - it's the quantity.

Sarah5200 · March 2013

It's much easier for me to control my eating than to motivate myself to exercise more. There are weeks where I do little to no exercise - I feel guilty about that when it happens. I'm not someone who struggles to stay within my calorie alottment. I feel like I can eat enough, even snack a fair bit and stay where I'm supposed to be, or end up a hundred calories or so under! I do have treats, but I don't count that as eating poorly... I count that as part of staying sane and alive?

firsttimersluck · March 2013

Activity level by a LAND SLIDE.

I love being at the gym. It's my escape. I have no problem doing 3 gym classes in a row, but being really good about sweet or chips has taken a looooooooooooooooonnng time. And even now I know that it's easy to fall of the horse if I'm not paying attention. THat's why I just don't keep the crap in my house.

Lobsters25 · March 2013

It was activity level, but now both aren't bad for me. It's just that, if I stop either, I have trouble re-starting, and I have a worse time re-starting at the gym.
It took me a good two years to get the food down, and now a plate of my homemade cookies can last for a week in our house, with me limiting myself to one a night, and only sometimes splurging for two.

cnf2013 · March 2013

Absolutely upping my activity is easier. I've always been athletic and I love to run and workout. I went four days without a "workout" this past week/weekend and was nearly ready to kill someone last night I was so anxious to get back into the gym. I do not have the ability to say no to pizza, so definitely more activity, without a doubt.

KatWAG · March 2013

I am an unhealthy eater but I am an overeater. Which at some point becomes unhealthy. I take the motto of the"clean plate club" to heart. But working out, sweating, is how I clear my head.