Change Diet and Exercise Together for Best Results, Study Finds

Most of us know that diet and exercise are the key to losing weight and maintaining weight loss.

The hard part is figuring out how to work out more and consistently eat healthier meals.

Perhaps that’s why so many people try to focus on one or the other.

Unfortunately, that strategy may backfire. Tackling both at the same time appears to work better. And those who choose to change their diet first, and then exercise eventually, may never establish a regular exercise routine, according to researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine. Their findings were published in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine.

“It may be particularly useful to start both at the same time,” said Abbey King, lead author of the study. “If you need to start with one, consider starting with physical activity first.”

Researchers set out to determine the best way to lose weight for people who say their schedules don’t allow them enough time to make healthy food choices or fit in a workout. If they could develop a successful strategy for busy people, the researchers hoped it would work for others as well.

For the study, they followed 200 people for one year, placing them in four groups. The first group made diet and exercise changes at the same time. The second group focused first on diet and then exercise three months later. The third group changed their exercise habits first and then their diets. And the last group did not make any changes except to learn stress-management techniques.

What the researchers found surprised them.

Study participants who said their schedules were very busy were the most likely to meet national guidelines for exercise and nutrition when they changed their diet and exercise habits at the same time, according to a news release. Federal health authorities recommend 150 minutes of exercise weekly and eating five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables daily.

The other groups in the study, who focused solely on changing exercise or diet habits first, did not fare as well.

In fact, those who added more exercise first and then tackled changing their diet had a better chance of meeting their goals than those who focused on their eating first.

King said this may be because each goal has unique challenges.

“With dietary habits, you have no choice; you have to eat,” she said in the news release. “You don’t have to find extra time to eat because it’s already in your schedule. So the focus is more on substituting the right kinds of food to eat.”

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