If I Can Only Focus On Either Exercise OR Diet, Which Should I Choose?

Hey people, what's up? So today's question has just come in and it is— what? No, it's not what at all. It's, if I can only focus on either exercise or diet, which should I choose? Now this is a great question, um, and it's a question that for a lot of people is quite common, but it's not commonly asked. Um, and I think the reason for that is because most people realize that in reality we need to at least at some level, do both. I'm not going to tell you to do both. I am going to give you my recommendation on it, but generally speaking, of course, if we want best results, we need to focus on diet and exercise as well as anything else that maybe we need to sort out, whether mindset, recovery, maybe detoxification, maybe breathing, blah blah blah. But none of those things really matter until we get some of the basics down. So I say none of them, of course they all matter, but you know what I'm trying to say, to a certain degree. But in the context of this particular question, they don't need to be considered because if we are at this point where we're at full capacity already, I've got so much going on, I'm so busy, and there's only one thing I can focus on right now, should I just do the diet or should I just do the exercise? My answer will always be to focus on your nutrition, your food intake. That is going to be absolute pinnacle in regards to these two. Now, that's not because exercise is not important, it's just because diet will have a more profound effect on your results, particularly over the long term. So quite often what we will see with people is they can use exercise to lose weight and to appear healthier. So we get fit a little bit quicker because obviously you're doing lots of physical activity, you're stimulating the body in various ways, and therefore it's going to have adaptations regardless of what we're eating. The catch is those adaptations are not optimal, and they will only go so far before we tend to plateau. And what we have to remember, from— I'm sure you've heard before— is we cannot out-train a poor diet. So there is a point where our exercise is actually going to potentially become detrimental to us not because exercise is bad, but because we don't have the raw resources on board to continue to recover from it. So if we keep escalating the intensity of our exercise and the volume and, and making it harder and harder, but we're not compensating that or addressing it with our nutrition, then we can reach a point where exercise actually becomes detrimental. And it's not because exercise is bad, it's because we're not supporting it with our nutrition and recovery. So As I say, in the context of these two, if it's a case of which one out of the two, because I can only do one, I would always say lean on nutrition because we can use it for getting healthier, we can use it for, um, burning fat as well, and we are going to get more sustainable and better long-term results using just nutrition versus just using exercise alone. Now, as I mentioned, in reality we want to combine them because when you bring the two together and we've got this stimulus that's created through exercise, plus the raw resources available to rebuild the body and to build the physique that we want through our nutrition, then of course that's where technically the magic happens. Yes, we've got to also consider recovery in that, that equation, but in reality, the two together is where you'll get maximum results. But if it's just one or the other, you're going to get better long-term results with nutrition, and that's partly because We do it 3 times a day minimum for most of us. Should be doing our breakfast, lunch, dinner. I know of course there's all different types of protocols we can use, fasting and this and that, but for the standard or average person, we're going to be eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner as a minimum. And if all 3 of those meals are of a high quality and, uh, good quality whole foods that our body can actually make use of, that don't just make us feel like shit and cause inflammation or cause us to store additional body fat, then the nutrition component is going to be far more beneficial for our overall health and fat loss results than just exercise alone. Because if we continue to eat like shit and then we go and introduce exercise— I'm not saying don't do this, um, because obviously it's good to exercise for, for most of us— but if we just do exercise and focus solely on that, we've still got this inflammation and things going on in the body because we're eating a poor crappy diet and not really recovering well from a nutritional perspective, then we go and add on additional inflammation and additional stress, etc., through physical activity, and we, we aren't really bringing in the resources needed to compensate or to give our body the resources it needs to adapt to that exercise. So yes, we will get some upfront results, but long term, it's not going to, not going to serve us as well as we would like unless we're doing the nutrition thing as well. Whereas if I eat well, that's not going to necessarily be negatively impacted by me now doing exercise and so on because I'm eating well already. Now, there is one nuance to this, and that is whether or not you as an individual need what we call a keystone behavior. Now, exercise, on average, in my experience with myself and with clients, exercise or training tends to be a better keystone behavior than nutrition. Now, what I mean by that is, if you know what a keystone is in the arch of a, of a, of a building, the keystone is obviously the piece that holds it together. Without that keystone there, the arch collapses. Now, what I find for a lot of people is they will find it difficult, or sometimes even almost impossible, to stick to a good nutrition plan if they are not training. And the reason for that is because there's this piece in our mind that says, well, if I'm not training, what's the point in eating well? But if I'm not actually doing exercise to try and lose weight and to get stronger and so on, there's no need for me to eat healthily, which of course isn't true, but that's what we kind of convince ourselves of. So for many of us, particularly as men, we often need exercise as that keystone behavior in order to encourage us to actually eat well because we're like, oh well, because I'm training, I better eat well. Now, if you know that's the case for you and you do operate better from that stand, then of course I'm going to say, well, exercise is the way forward for you. But if that's not the case, you don't need a keystone behavior, you just want to focus on one thing because you don't have the capacity to do both, or the time and resources, then as I've mentioned several times now, just stick with nutrition. Get that nailed down. Once you've gotten it nailed down, what you will likely find is that your energy will be up, you'll feel more vital, more abundant, And obviously with any weight loss results, etc., that you're getting, that added confidence that you'll get from, from those results will give you more capacity that you can then invest into exercise anyway. So from that respect, it could be a keystone behavior to a degree, but it's not going to necessarily operate in the same manner that exercise does for most of us men, because we often have this idea that in order to do more or to be more, I must— sorry, in order to be more or to have more, I must do more. So we think, oh, well, I need to do more exercise and then I will get the results. It feels like, well, eating is just eating. I eat every day anyway. Whereas if I now introduce exercise, it's like I'm doing something new, even though technically you're actually doing something new by changing up the diet. But it doesn't feel the same for most of us as guys. It's less of a masculine activity. So therefore it's not quite as attractive to us most of the time because it falls under the realm of nurture. And care for self. And of course, exercise technically does, if we wanted to break it down, but it's a much more masculine thing. I get to go in the gym, tear it up, throw some weights around, and, and grunt real loud. So therefore, it's more of a masculine energy type thing rather than caring, nurturing for myself in the kitchen. So we tend to be more attracted there, but it won't necessarily get you the same results as doing just nutrition alone. So that's what I'll leave you guys with. If you have any questions on this or you want me to dig into it any deeper, of course, as I always say, drop your comments in the comments box below. And if not, I look forward to chatting with you all in my next video. Take it easy, people, and I shall chat to you soon.