The 80/20 Rule

Well there are lots of 80/20 rules out there, but this is just one I made up!

My personal belief is that effective weight loss is 80% diet, and 20% exercise. I know heaps of people who go to teh gym with me, who say they don't lose any weight, but they have lost cms (and they don't diet), as well as plenty of people who've lost heaps of weight without exercise - but the question is - do they have good shape, or just look thin?

I made a decision at the beginning of my journey that I didn't just want to be thin, I wanted a scultped toned body with good curves. After all, there are plenty of thin people who don't have great figures. And I think exercise is really helping with this. I"ve lost 36 cms around my waist, and only 28 cms from my bust - so I think down with the theories that say you lose weight evenly and can't spot reduce - I can only put down the growing difference in bust/waist ratio to exercise. Without the exercise I might weight the same (or even less if I take into account muscle gain), but I doubt I would have the same shape. I have line definition around my biceps and triceps, the beginnings of a 6 pack around my abs (very beginnings!), deltoid definition, firm thighs and calves, and a narrowing waist - none of which I think would have occured without exercise, but I don't think I would have lost weight without the diet aspect.

One of my key theories has been that I needed the diet to lose weight but the exercise to keep it off. And this was confirmed yesterday with a Weight Watchers article in the science section that said that there were links between maintaining long term weight loss and exercise. I also then read an interesting article that said that the recommended 30 mins exercise /day is great for improving your health, but to improve fitness or prevent re-gain of weight, you needed to exercise for 45 - 60 mins daily at a moderate intensity, or shorter if at a higher intensity. So to all those who give me a hard time for being gym obsessed - I think I am just setting myself up for healthy weight for life!

PS - for my run today I ran intervals of 10 kms/hour with walking (3 mins/2mins ), and this was very encouraging. After a while I got used to the 10 km speed and it didn't feel so fast - I'm thinking now that even if I don't get fit enough to run the whole 12 kms at this speed, I'm very confident that with another 10 weeks of running under my belt, I could run 5 min/1 min run walk intervals for the full 12 kms with no great difficulty. This would take me 78 mins instead of my goal of 72 mins - but hey - thats pretty good for someone who couldn't run for more than 2 mins @ 7.0kms hour in Feb!
PPS -I also ran the last min @ 12km/hr - a new speed record for me (i"m actually surprised I didn't fall off the treadmill!)
PPPS - I'm now going to have to sell my home treadmill and upgrade it - it only goes up to 10 km/hr (in fact I can only get it up to 9.6). I never envisaged when I bought it that I would need it to go any higher than 6 -7 km/hour for walking! Cool huh