The reason people tend to hear so many contradicting answers to this question comes down to the fact that many people base their final decision on what has worked for them in the past. While both aspects have proven benefits, the chances are if you pose this question to somebody who is always trying the latest trendy nutritional program they will heavily support eating habits as the most important factor.
Of course, if you pay a visit to the other end of the spectrum and speak to somebody who loves going to the gym you would hear the direct opposite answer. You'll be told that you can get away with eating your favorite snacks and junk foods providing you are able to put in the work in the weights room to burn them off. The big question is which approach is the right one?
Neither approach is correct if you are trying to achieve your best possible physique.
You may have heard people trying to put percentages on the importance of each factor, often saying things like "It's 70 percent what you eat and only 30 percent training" or the other way around. This is a nonsense approach usually used by people who are unwittingly planning to work harder at one aspect than the other.
At the end of the day you should be applying both factors if you want to see results and maintain them. If you are trying to work out how to lose weight and you only apply the rules of one principle you will tend to fall into one of two categories, both of which can be seen at most gyms and workplaces around the world:
* Those who always keep up to date with the latest eating plans. They're always looking for the next miracle food and tend to follow celebrity magazines which promote this type of mentality. However, you will notice that while these individuals know how to cut calories and drop unwanted pounds they don't actually look any healthier than when they started because they haven't been stimulating their muscles at all.
* Those who love training in the gym but hate watching their nutrition. Sure, they may down a protein shake after a tough workout, but that is as far as it goes. When outside the confines of the local gym they will happily consume junk food, takeaway meals and alcohol on a regular basis. While their workout sessions will lead this person to developing some shape and tone to the biggest muscles in their body, they tend to struggle when it comes to toning their abdominal area and achieve a stocky, square look.
Of course, it wouldn't make sense to knowingly put yourself into one of the two boxes shown above. If you want to build a better body you're going to have to learn how to apply both aspects to your lifestyle, otherwise you will not be very happy with your results.
This nonsense approach is something which could be compared to an individual trying to decide whether their DVR is more important than their television. Both would be pretty useless without the other as a companion. Exercise and nutrition are designed to work together in exactly the same way, so try not to put more effort into one than the other or neglect one completely. By learning how to make a few easy lifestyle changes you can get your diet on track incredibly quickly. Combine that move with a regular fitness routine and you are on course to see a major transformation for the better.
In a recent interview, former bodybuilding champion Jay Cutler was asked the question is diet more important than exercise and his answer perfectly summed up the correct approach. Whether you are trying to discover how to lose weight or get bigger, ultimately it's 100 percent diet and it's 100 percent exercise.
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