We all know that the modern take on weight loss includes workout and physical exercise as an important means to lose fat and improve your health. In a world full of fake promises and fad diets, people do not know what to do anymore. Should we solely rely on physical training to tone our bodies and shed some extra pounds? Should we just follow a diet and wait for the fat to vanish? Are there other lifestyle changes we should make in order to lose weight and boost our health? Today, we will learn more about mixing diets with workouts to gain the desired weight and body shapes.

Why is not Workout Enough for Weight Loss?

Many fad diets out there promise spectacular weight loss without people moving a muscle. Of course, such diets are a danger to your health, as they often strip your body from its essential nutrients, leaving you starving and without any energy.

Unfortunately, there are many weight loss programs promoting only exercise without any diet whatsoever. Do they work? They seem to have poor overall effects on your overall weight because the calories you burn while working out go back into the system with your normal diet.

In other words, you entertain a loop that might prove harmful on the long run, as many people get hungry after a workout and tend to compensate in increasing the quantity of foods they eat. Some even treat themselves with a food reward after a full week of successful workouts and eat empty calories such as sweets, sodas, chips, and fried foods.

What is the Relationship between Workout and Diet?

Workout, dieting work together, and you cannot have one without the other if you want to lose weight in a healthy manner. In the last years, the science of food and dieting showed that counting the calories you eat and the ones you burn through workout is a reductive and superficial approach as well.

The best of both worlds is a science-based mix of physical exercise and calories intake in a reliable, realistic program. From this point of view, the Piyo workout and diet plan are the closest ones to truth and reality. The program combines the new scientific evidence regarding calories and food in general with tested workouts that combine Yoga and Pilates training.

Weight Loss starts with the Type of Foods you eat, not their Quantity

If you wonder what the new trends in dieting are, we will explain you as follows. Researchers showed that the number of calories we eat every day is less important than the quality of calories we eat each day. A calorie is not just a calorie, as we have plenty of calories that are bad for us, and many healthy ones we dismiss because of their number.

As a concrete example, rigid and superficial calories counting diets tend to exclude fatty foods as they contain many calories. The problem is that many of these fatty foods are, in fact, extremely beneficial for our health, helping us stay in shape, fight against obesity and other diseases, and give us the necessary energy to function. Such fatty foods include omega 3 fatty acids for instance.

What science does these days is taking a new approach to cooking and eating. It is more important to eat the good foods instead of just counting your calories.

You will find these foods in the Piyo program as well, a sign that modern weight loss programs do not make empty promises, but rely on science. Such foods categories include lean protein, healthy fatty acids, primary and secondary vegetables, healthy carbohydrates, fruits, and herbs, spices, coffee, and tea (sugarless).

According to scientists at Harvard School of Public Health say eating more healthful foods and beverages – focusing on overall dietary quality – is more important than focusing on consuming fewer calories than one expends.

A healthier dietary pattern could influence long-term weight loss in many ways: changing hunger signals in the brain, regulating insulin levels, or satiety, improving healthy eating behaviors, recognizing and fighting cravings, and more.

What Can We Actively Do about Healthy Weight Loss?

If we pay attention to the science, all experts say that we should mix physical exercise with a nutritious (but not “miraculous”) diet plan. From this point of view, the Pyio workout mentioned before seems to offer good results. Researchers like this program because it mixes mindful nutrition with a physical program combining the best Yoga and Pilates have to offer.

Granted, the Piyo program works best for people who are beginners in exercise and fitness, as it is mild for the joint, bones, and muscles. If you want to lose a moderate number of pounds, the program will help. People who are overweight and fight obesity may learn they need more intense workout programs.

In addition, people like this program because Pilates and Yoga training come with their own set of health benefits (physical and psychological), a trait not many weight loss programs share.

You can also look at Shin Ohtake’s Max Workout program. Both the exercise routine and the diet plan have scientific merit and you can choose what is best for you depending on your weight, daily need of calories, and weight loss/fitness goals.

Conclusion

When you put together reliable workouts and healthy diets, you have a lifestyle plan on your hands. You can introduce the principles of science-based training and eating into your everyday schedule not only to lose weight, but to gain mobility, relieve pain and stress, and boost your overall health.

As a piece of advice, if you intend to find balance in between physical training and dieting, do not forget about sleeping as well. In fact, good sleep is just as important as dieting for weight loss, whereas poor sleep can undo the results you achieve through diet and exercise.

Sleep is an extremely important part of a healthy lifestyle. If you want to get better sleep, learn some tips and tricks, and study what the National Sleep Foundation has to say about sleep and rest. Think about it this way: sleep is vital and it influences everything from the way you eat to the way you behave at work.

Make sure you treat yourself with good food, mindful exercise, and blissful sleep and you will enjoy a healthy, slim, fit, and happy life.