Weight loss and fitness. Most people view these as one and the same, but they are actually two different, albeit  connected things. It is possible to be healthy and unfit. It’s also possible to be unhealthy and physically fit. I’ve known people in both groups.

When I was on active duty in the Marine Corps in the 90’s, it was believed that you could eat pretty much anything you want in any quantity as long as you performed enough exercise. “PT will solve your problems” was pretty much common thought when it came to weight control. As a matter of fact, if a Marine was found to exceed the Marine Corp’s weight standards, they were put into the Remedial PT program. Again, the idea was to exercise away the weight. The problem with this approach is that it rarely worked, and it was common to see overweight Marines in the Remedial PT program for months or even years. For my 11 years in the Corps, there was very little (if any) mention of diet’s role in weight control.

We need to view weight loss and fitness as the two separate (yet connected) things they are. To control our weight, lose weight, or maintain a healthy weight, we need to eat right. For me, that’s the Paleo diet, but everyone varies in their approach to this, and as long as you’re eating whole, natural foods, this should be okay. As for fitness, exercise is the key. Whether you do cardio, strength, or a combination of the two, I can’t recommend it enough. Being healthy and unfit is a weird state to be in. I know; I was there.

Many people I know exercise a lot without eating right. These people have a difficult time losing weight or getting to their goal or ideal weight. Why? Because our weight is controlled more by our food intake and not our physical activity. My friend Matt used to tell me this all the time, and he’s a very physically fit and healthy guy. As a fat guy, I scoffed at the notion. Everyone always advocated working out to lose weight, and here was this slim and fit guy telling me the opposite. Turned out, he was right. I lost 110 lbs without running a step.

Diet and exercise. Those are the keys to losing weight and getting fit. Without one of the two, you will never truly be healthy; just slim and unfit, or fit and heavy.