No Time to Exercise…Can I Lose Weight by just Dieting?

I get asked this very often and the answer is yes. You can lose weight with dieting alone without having to exercise.

However, this may be good news for you but its followed by some bad news. If you start spelling the word diet as in D-I-E-T, you will find that the first three letters refer to die.

In other words, the diet will fail or you will stop dieting at some point because diets are not meant to last. They’re a short term fix because you will always go back to the things you love to do.

So if you love chocolate like me, you will continue to eat chocolate and put weight on that way and the same can be said of junk food. This is genetic and part of your make up that you like these things and so embarking on a dietary plan is going to be very, very short-lived.

When you do give up the diet, the chances are that you go back to the foods that you like and because you’ve missed them out for a long time, you will certainly make up for it and your weight will normally make up for all that you’ve lost and you add a little bit more.

So unfortunately, that’s the downside to dieting alone and my approach or my advice would be to try and combine exercise with a sensible eating plan or program so that you can have a sustained and enjoyable weight loss run.

Combining Exercise with Sensible Eating

What I’m trying to say here is if you can start out an exercise program that includes some cardiovascular work and some strength training work, you will find that your metabolic rate will pick up to a point where you will start to make a difference to your weight loss.

You combine that with a sensible eating program and when I say sensible, I mean don’t give up anything, especially not the foods that you want. So if you love cheese, if you love ice cream, if you love chocolate or if you love McDonald’s, my take on those is life is too short. Enjoy the foods that you love but everything in moderation.

If you used to have two bars of chocolate in a day, cut it back down to one. That’s what I call sensible so you can still have your cake and eat it. You will find that if you take a long term approach to your weight problem, you will find your belts are loosening up in no time.

A Quick Fix?

If you’re after a quick fix, unfortunately you will have chosen the wrong personal trainer because I don’t do quick fixes.

What I try and do is I try and tell people, “Look, if you’re going to start out something today, you’ve got to make sure that you’ve got to be getting it in one month’s time, two months’ time, six months’ time and really for the rest of your life, so pace yourself.

Don’t kill yourself. Think very gradual changes with moderation.

Examples that stand out from clients you’ve had before… How they freed up time to exercise? What they did or changed?

Yes. Look, I’ve trained many, many clients over the years and I found that clients who have taken the advice to pace themselves are the ones that have benefited the most from my style of training because it’s a question of being patient and waiting for the results that you’re after.

What’s Next?

If you’re ready to become fitter, healthier and happier, then I sincerely ask that you please give Prana a call on (08) 9316 1553 and ask for Agnelo.