How Much Does Inactivity Play a Role in Weight Gain?

It’s an age old question:  What’s more important, exercise or eating well?   

Can one ‘get away’ with eating a poor quality diet if they exercise like a fiend to ‘make up for it’?  Perhaps some think they can, in terms of the number on the scale staying at a relatively consistent and ‘healthy’ one, but what’s going on inside the body if that’s the case?

And  how long can this last?

Yes, there are certainly some people who appear to be slim (or what I prefer to call ‘skinny fat’; in other words, they may not weigh very much, but they’re not necessarily healthy or lean; big difference!) and don’t make particularly healthy food or lifestyle choices.  I recall a friendly woman I’d see at the gym every day; she looked quite fit and I assumed she was healthy, until I saw her outside the gym smoking after a workout.   She laughed it off and explained that exercising and smoking collectively were her way to ‘work off the bad stuff she enjoys eating and then curb her appetite via the nicotene’.

So is she ‘healthy’?

Um….

Or on the flip side, what if someone does no activity, but adheres to a strictly Paleo diet?

If I were to guess at who is healthier, it would be just that… a mere guess.

Let’s just get back to common sense:

Do both.

Eat real (Paleo) food.  Move.

If you approach with a two-pronged method, you’re going to set yourself up for the most successful outcome.

Remember, we are animals by nature…and we’re made to move!