Diet vs. Exercise: Should you prioritize one over the other?

Have you ever wondered if nutrition or exercise is more important? You may be hoping it’s one over the other, but the answer isn’t one-size-fits-all. Although this is a theoretical question, in this video, Dr. Layman and I explain our thoughts on diet versus exercise and in which scenario you may focus on one more than the other. Is there one that you prioritize? Let me know in the comments below!

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[CarbageMan]

It's like asking what's more important: breathing in or breathing out. Both are required of you. When I was young, I concentrated on exercise, and my diet preferences adjusted almost automatically. Ultimately, though I had to cut the carbs, seed oils, etc. Having done that, I restored my metabolic health, and now I'm fine tuning with more exercise and more protein (still close to zero carb, other than fiber.)

[floydald]

Will definitely be interested to hear a discussion of activity and effective exercise.

[roberttengler]

It seems both are important. Doing both has been beneficial for me. Equally important is my mental/emotional health.

[kathymacgregor]

Both are equally important to me, as I'm over 50 although I find diet is ultimately more consistent for me. Thank you for all your great discussions & info.

[darkengine]

I would say training is more important to me to prioritize but mainly because I seem psychologically wired in an unusual way. When I'm training as a competitive athlete, the training motivates me to do the best with my nutrition. When I'm not training and just bumming around the house, I get far more temptation to snack, reach for junk, and maybe out of sheer boredom; I don't care about my body in the off-seasons when I'm not competing. So in a sense we might say the nutrition is still more important, but I find prioritizing training the way to prioritize both. If I neglect training and just try to focus on nutrition while being sedentary, I never succeed very much. I'm motivated far less by the idea of fat loss or looking good on their own. My motivation comes from being able to do things like run the 100m dash in record times and being able to do muscle-ups. I never cared that much about how I look or how much I weight on the scale so maybe that's why prioritizing athletic ability is more important to me even to properly prioritize nutrition.

[keliciabrown]

I use both but prefer the diet approach because I know that my tissues are directly affected by what kind of nutrients I take into my body. Thank you both for great content

[Dani-joyr]

As a Fitness trainer and athlete, pain me to say: nutrition 💯But agree of course- two of them should go together for sure🤝👏💪

[philipkim]

I also would (with the hypothetical gun to my head) choose nutrition over exercise (but obviously and practically, both are essential to fundamental physical/mental health).

You can’t always exercise (and not everyone is able to optimally, as Dr Layman quite correctly pointed out), but at some point you must eat SOMETHING, so it only makes sense to choose satiating, nourishing, nutrient-dense foods.

I mean look at old photos of people back in the day. They didn’t have gyms or exercised like we do but most all were lean and/or cut. All because they ate optimally (both the what AND the how)!

[stephendavidrathburn]

Thanks to both of you for your expert input. The issue is very perplexing. Especially for those of us over 65. You say that to better body composition building muscle is the best way however I've also heard you say, as well as many other experts, that building muscle at an older age is next to impossible. I've been low carb for over 15 years and mostly carnivore for 8 months. I've tried every form of resistance training; slow motion, more reps less sets, less reps more sets all with a good understanding of time under tension. If I watch my calories very carefully I can get down to a low weight threshold but my body fat percentage never gets below 23%. I would love to put on more muscle and am willing to work for it but I'm beginning to believe it's true that putting on muscle at an older age is absolutely impossible.

[ggvideonow]

Good point : nutrition has a quicker results than exercise. But exercise is more fun.

[AdnAwd]

I think it depends upon which stage of your health you are at:
. If your metabolic health is optimum, and you trying to optimise your health so both of them are important, just try to raise the bar and push your boundaries further
. but if your are having metabolic dysregulation with risk factors In your health, then start with nutrition first, and the moment you reach "autonomy" with that, add exercise...

[strengthhealthgym]

.. Many people who exercise but follow a poor diet can still show many red flags on their blood work, whereby there are many active people who are not exercise enthusiasts but follow a healthy diet and remain healthy for life .. I am a resistance training specialist (competitive bodybuilder) and understand the value of weight training more than anyone; but given if I HAD to make one choice; I would pick a healthy diet over exercise

[carlasmith]

If I had to pick diet or exercise to have on point, it would be diet. As said..."you can't outrun a bad diet" and I think that's true. But...consistency in both really pays off.

[shaneg]

Great video. Keeping in mind that everyone is different I will share my story. I turned 50 last October and had my first colonoscopy. I went to the initial appointment a few weeks prior to the procedure and weighed 243 pounds. This was the day before my birthday and I said to myself if I don’t get my weight under control now I never will. I spent the evening and next morning watching videos on keto and intermittent fasting and started that day. This was also at the height of the COVID shutdowns and all the gyms were closed where I live so working out would have had to been at home. The weight started melting off of me and by June I was 176 pounds which is my current weight. I’ve been an athlete my entire life and have worked out with a personal trainer for eight years prior to COVID but didn’t exercise once during my weight loss, yet people kept asking me what I was doing to get in shape.
I guess the best part of my story is that when I returned to the gym a few months ago I was almost as strong as I was at 243 pounds and I’m actually kind of cut, and I hit the gym only once a week and play tennis on the weekends, no six day workout plan or anything crazy.
Someone once said (also mentioned in the video) that abs are made in the kitchen, for me it’s the truth.

[robw]

As a T2D, diet is critical, but I exercise almost every day and make an effort to be more active.

[mannyquiero]

Always great information - thank you 👍

[jimmyboyd]

You can't out exercise a bad diet! I am living proof of that. I have always (61 years old) exercised by lifting and running. But that didn't stop me from having high blood pressure and being type 2 diabetes. However through going to very low carb diet with plenty of protein and fat I am now off of my medications for those conditions...diet won the day not exercise!

[JrMellem]

He makes a good point about when intense exercise is not an option and on reversing pre diabetes. (Which applies to most older adults btw. ). She prioritizes intense resistance training. That will result in chemical release that makes it bad for a large part of the population. Stress hormones will negate dietary efforts to deal with the health problems.

[ISTsports]

Both are very important in the long haul of life! Health and Fitness industry is a multi-billion $ industry, unfortunately 70-80% of USA is overweight, obese, and/or under-muscled due to primarily poor food choices from major food manufacturers. I would say there are more who exercise( albeit incorrectly) than those who are very conscientious about food choices. I am a person who enjoys the grind of training( weight and sprints mainly) but I also do tons of research on how food biochemically effects the body. My vote is nutrition with exercise a very close second.

[Hairbytyra.s]

Nutrition is the foundation, exercise is to optimize 🤝