Workout or diet, what is more effective? Choosing between the two is like choosing between two loved ones or between the devil and the deep blue sea, depending on your outlook. Both complement each other and any diet programme that doesn’t promote exercise (not just walking) is not going to improve your metabolic parameters or reduce risk to diseases.
An effective diet is one that improves the efficiency of your workout and lets you do more with your body—wake up earlier, run faster, lift stronger, stay longer in asana, work later in the night etc. Being low on energy and needing a coffee/ tea to get through a meeting is the first sign that you will not go to the gym or that yoga class, and that even if you really push yourself to get there, you will break down more than build fitness.
An effective workout is one that promotes sensible eating, not the one that is so ‘effective’ that you can eat anything and still lose weight. A good workout is the one that follows the main principle of exercise—progressive overload, teaches your body to do more and not less with age. Doing more with the body is so uplifting that it motivates you to not eat the pastry, not party till late night and not put the alarm on snooze.
Anyway, I know what you meant by effective, the one that lets you drop weight on the scales. But then, health, wellness and fitness could never be measured by a number. So, if you really want an effective weight-loss plan, get off the scales and worry about how you feel, not whether you fit into that dress.
(Rujuta’s new book, Don’t Lose Out, Workout, is out in stores)
