What requires more willpower?

[pkafka]

I've always wondered... what requires more will power -adhering to a strict workout plan (intense), and being loose with your diet. Or adhering to a strict diet, and being loose with your workouts?

You can argue convincingly for either side... I still do not know the answer. Obviously, the ideal is how a lot of the primal community happens to be - which is a combination of the two!

-pk

[klcarbaugh]

Obviously it depends on the person. For me it is harder to stick to the diet aspect. However, they go hand in hand because when I eat right, I have more energy to work out.
One could also argue that we should all be "loose" with workouts. I exercise randomly and my physical and mental health is better because of it.

[chadwick]

I think the answer is clear, personally--the diet. Workouts are almost always fun to do (they should be!), so even if there are times to make excuses, the threshold is much lower. Whereas with maintaining a proper diet, especially if it is a new transformation, you might have to think about it every second or minute of the day at first! And even once it has become second-nature, there are still temptations throughout a day or week.

And I think you can look at America for the answer. America is not "fat" or unhealthy because it is does not workout--it is this way largely because of the diet it is on.

[Posy]

Hmm, I separate diet and exercise. Diet for health, exercise for strength. Obviously the two combined efforts compliment each other but if I had to pick from the above, it would be adhere to a strict diet and loose with workouts. I think you have to be healthy first, otherwise the last thing on most minds would be extra activity. So similar to what klcarbaugh said about having energy to work out. Oh and I agree that exercise should be fun…plus generate some energy. If it isn’t/doesn’t, I know I’m not likely to force myself to repeat it. Well I know for a fact I won’t lol! Chadwick I think you’re right on with that last statement. PK, rather than willpower, I like to think of it more like “use the force luke” which I think is more of a commitment to ones self that incorporates the deeper essence long term. My example is kind’a corny but hopefully you get what I mean.

[pkafka]

All nice points, I totally agree with klcar,
One could also argue that we should all be "loose" with workouts. I exercise randomly and my physical and mental health is better because of it.

I also believe that your general health is more related to your diet than to your workout regime. However, I also believe that a lot of people lie to themselves when it comes to working out. They go into the gym, move around a bit, but do not really push themselves. On the other hand, every person knows when they are being true to their diet. Every person knows when they are not 100% devoted to eating healthfully. This is why I posed the question, I think, because it seems as if a lot of people lie to themselves about how hard they are working out.

Make sense?

-pk

[celtia]

Well, I'm still working on the diet part. Will be adding in VERY basic workouts this week. Don't think I could do the lowest scale of the workouts you folks do. I'm not even "out-of-shape" because there was never any shape to begin with!!

Right now I'm thinking that I'll require more willpower to strictly adhere to a workout schedule (notice I only said 'schedule'; I can't imagine 'intense' at the moment!). But now that better nutrition is allowing my body to WANT to move, hopefully I'll find out that I truly enjoy the working out.