What you eat is more important than how you move.

So you may be wondering- Why is a personal trainer talking so much about food? Glad you asked! Here is the answer:

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but in my opinion what you eat is at least 80% of the weight loss battle.

And I'd say it's about 70% of the battle to stay fit once you've lost weight. Reason? I've never seen a truly physical fit adult over the age of 20 who wasn't very mindful about what he or she puts into their mouth. The occasional (once a week, tops) splurge meal? Sure! Regular, mindless shoving of food into their mouth? Not happening. Not that I've seen.

I'm not saying that exercise isn't important- it is. But if you exercise like a body builder and eat like an overweight person, you're going to look an overweight person. You'll be more fit than most other out overweight people, but you'll still be overweight. I live this truth every day of my life.

And for the record, I'm sure you've heard this before, but you can not turn muscle into fat. Muscle cells are muscle cells, fat cells are fat cells, and ne'er shall the two metamorphis into one another. You must build muscle and lose fat to see the muscle. That's just the way it works.

I've had this exchange more than once:

Other person- "How do I get myself into good physical shape?"

Me- "Well, you have to watch what you eat. Without changing your dietary habits you won't see or feel maximum results."

Other person- "I don't eat that much!"

Me (mentally- if they are overweight)- "Bull doo-doo!" (I cleaned that up!)

If they ask, I share some general guidelines they can follow (I'm not certified to give particulars), and give them help with their exercise regime. Sometimes they tell me they have every intention of watching what they eat, in addition to following our exercise program.

I am sad to say that most of the time they stick with the exercise, but 90% of the time they don't change their eating habits. So the changes in the mirror are minimal, since all of that beautiful muscle is hidden under a layer of fat.

Additionally, all of the muscle you put on can't benefit your body they way that losing fat can. And the strength you give your heart with cardiovascular exercise can be negated by extra fat on the body that the heart must work hard to pump blood through.

Am I saying to abandon your exercise routine until you get the excess weight off? No!!! Good Lord, PLEASE don't do that! If you are exercising, keep it up! First of all, it's raising your metabolism, helping to maximum your dietary weight loss efforts. Second of all, it'll make you more fit in general and help give you a "tighter" appearance, making the general lines of your body more pleasing. And thirdly, once you do lose weight you will have wonderful, sexy muscle to show off instead of tired, loose, skin filled out with minimal muscles development. You'll be ahead of the game and looking enviable when you get closer to goal!

If you already are a low body-fat percentage and exercising but not seeing results the way you think you should, it's time to clean up your eating. I've seen people amazed at the difference a good, sound eating plan adds to their already sound fitness routine.

I'll be the first to admit that changing eating habits is difficult. I struggle with this issue regularly. I love to eat! But until I get the excess weight off of my body I won't see the full extent of the fruits of my efforts from exercise. That, my friends, is a sad, true fact.

So, if I were to have to choose for someone between eating right and exercising, I'd pick eating right. Every time.

BTW, I'm curious. Is anyone reading this?