"I always suggest that people chose a diet or work out routine, but not both."
Yikes. That's bad advice in my opinion. People don't actually want to lose weight, they want to be healthier and look better. They would be very happy to gain muscle and lose fat, even if the measurement on the scale goes up because they would look less fat.
Also, it's way easier to lose weight when you are also working out.
Just because it's hard to measure body fat percentage and easy to measure weight doesn't mean you should do something that is actively against your real goal just because it makes the one number that's easy to measure go down.
I agree that starting an intense workout routine and an intense diet at the same time is a horrible idea. But that's why you start it gradually, from every moment moving forward you will be closer to your goal than doing just one or the other.
This is, of course, entirely predicated on the assumption that people can be taught the difference between losing weight and losing fat ... but I have to believe that people are smart enough that this is a simple thing to teach.
I think you're just missing my original point. I did not mean diet for 7 months then start working out. I mean start your diet for a week or two, then begin to work exercise into it.
Yikes. That's bad advice in my opinion. People don't actually want to lose weight, they want to be healthier and look better. They would be very happy to gain muscle and lose fat, even if the measurement on the scale goes up because they would look less fat.
Also, it's way easier to lose weight when you are also working out.
Just because it's hard to measure body fat percentage and easy to measure weight doesn't mean you should do something that is actively against your real goal just because it makes the one number that's easy to measure go down.
I agree that starting an intense workout routine and an intense diet at the same time is a horrible idea. But that's why you start it gradually, from every moment moving forward you will be closer to your goal than doing just one or the other.
This is, of course, entirely predicated on the assumption that people can be taught the difference between losing weight and losing fat ... but I have to believe that people are smart enough that this is a simple thing to teach.