Which is better for weight loss — cutting calories or increasing exercise?

Answer From Donald Hensrud, M.D.

Cutting calories appears to promote weight loss more effectively than does increasing exercise.

The key to weight loss is to consume fewer calories than you burn. For most people, it's possible to lower calorie intake to a greater degree than it is to burn more calories through increased exercise.

That's the reason cutting calories through dietary changes is generally more effective for weight loss. But doing both — cutting calories through diet and burning calories through exercise — can help give you the weight-loss edge.

If you lose weight by crash dieting or by drastically restricting yourself to 400 to 800 calories a day, you're more likely to regain weight quickly, often within six months after you stop dieting.

Exercise can help you maintain your weight loss. Studies show that people who lose weight and keep it off over the long term get regular physical activity.

Feb. 20, 2020 See more Expert Answers

See also

  1. Activity trackers — help or hindrance for weight loss?
  2. Aerobic exercise
  3. Barriers to fitness
  4. Exercise for weight loss: Calories burned in 1 hour
  5. Family meals and your weight
  6. Fitness motivation
  7. Fitting in fitness
  8. Hate to exercise? Try these tips
  9. Holiday weight: How to maintain, not gain
  10. Hunger games: Do you know why you eat?
  11. Negative calorie foods
  12. Interval training
  13. Vegetable recipes
  14. Strength training basics
  15. Walking for weight loss
  16. Walking for fitness
  17. Weight management during the holidays
  18. Weight training