Why is diet so important?

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- To burn one pound you need to achieve a 3,500 calorie deficit. So if you're following the 80/20 ratio, you'd want to burn approximately 750 calories through exercise and cut an additional 3,000 calories through dieting. That is a total deficit of 3,750 calories for the week.

The reason dieting is so much more effective than exercise is because it takes a ton of activity to create a 500 to 700 calories working out. Essentially, you'd need to run seven to 10 miles a day to lose one pound a week. The average person can't keep this up, especially without increasing their caloric intake.

You don't have to eliminating 500 calories from your diet, you could burn 250 calories at the gym and then cut another 250 calories just by skipping your sugary sweet drink.