Although we all know deep down that fat burning works best if we combine fitness and exercise with a combination of eating less and paying better attention to what we eat — but being the naturally curious creatures we are, it’s always good for us to know which one works best.

In other words, if I struggle with exercise (for any number of reasons including time or other health issues that make exercise less of an option), can I still accomplish fat burning by focusing just on my diet?   Or similarly, if I struggle to control my diet, how much weight can I lose by increasing the amount of exercise each week? 

Another debate that confuses many of us trying to achieve an optimal fat burning metabolism is do we simply have to “watch what we  eat” or must we reduce the actual calorie intake overall? 

In other words, is it enough to cut back on sweets, potatoe chips and to some extent, carbohydrates in our quest to burn more fat OR do we really have to cut down our portions and perhaps eliminate those snacks before we head off to bed?

I came across this interesting research study “When It Comes To Living Longer, It’s Better To Go Hungry That Go Running…” over at Science News.  The study (albeit performed on mice rather than humans which certainly loads it with uncertainty when compared with people) concludes that in mice less food not only meant less weight but rather substantial gains in overall health. 

In short, the study found that mice lived longer if they achieved fat burning via eating less than if they had exercised the weight off. 

To be clear, the study (and others before it) have found benefits to BOTH exercise and eating less both in terms of fat burning and in terms of overall longevity.  The conclusion of this particular research though was that there was a bigger impact on both weight loss and longevity from eating less versus rigorous exercise.

Does this mean we should hang up our running shoes and simply focus on our diet?  Not necessarily, there is still substantial evidence that exercise is tremendously beneficial to preventing certain types of diseases such as heart disease and diabetes…but one can take some advice from this study…

1. Exercise alone may not be the optimal way to achieve your fat burning goals and should you continue to not focus on the quality and quantity of what you are eating, your longevity may be impacted as well.

2. By balancing portion control, good health diet and moderate exercise you can achieve a great deal more weight loss, prevent disease and possibly live longer all while making your fat burning program more realistic and achievable further improving the liklihood that you will stick with your program over the long-term. 

In the end, weight loss is an ongoing factor in our lives where we must institute a program that we can stick to long term – becoming a way of life – a habit we can live with instead of using techniques that intrude on our lives, that we will not stick with. 

By following the advice of this study, we can offset unrealistic assumptions about exercise with a combined approach of portion and calorie control mixed with moderate exercise and achieve all the health benefits that will improve our lives as we live each day.