For the past two years, I have been very interested in weight loss, dieting, and exercise. When I came to college, I did not have too much time to worry about that, so most of that good information went out of my mind for the first few months at school. The food in the dining halls contains a great amount of unnecessary fats, oils, and preservatives that are unhealthy to consume on a regular basis. Not making enough time for exercise, and not eating the right kinds of foods was not what I was used to. I started to gain the typical "Freshman 15," so I made the decision to get back into taking care of my body and my health. Seeing progress made my interest in diet and exercise increase. When I learned that I had to pick a topic for my English 102 research project, I knew that I wanted it to be something in the realm of health. I am also a nursing major, so I have already learned a few things about health, and about the body that will benefit me in this research process, and help me in my further classes/clinicals. With all of the information that I will learn in the future because of this project, will help me on my journey to a healthy and well-kept body. 

The first article is one that is published by the "New York Times". The author of the article, Aaron E. Carroll, argued that eating less is far more important than exercise. He references a 2011 meta-analysis (a study of a study) that showed the relationship between fat mass in children and activity, and it showed that being active is not the key determinant in the child's obesity. He also makes the point that exercising increases a person's appetite, so the people that were exercising ended up burning less energy (calories) with exercise than predicted. When the appetite increased, the calorie intake also increased because the people were hungrier due to the exercise that they had performed, so they ended up consuming more calories than usual. Carroll states, "What is more likely to succeed is gradual change, made in a much more sustainable way" (Aaron E. Carroll). The article acknowledges that exercise is an important aspect to maintaining a healthy lifestyle, but if one solely relies on exercise, then they need to reevaluate. The author of this article is focused on critiquing exercise rather than stating the pros of dieting or other ways to lose weight.  

The second article was published by CNN, and it argues that exercise can only burn so many calories. Instead of focusing on the surface of why exercise is not the best tactic for weight loss, this article goes deep into the science of calories. The author talks about a study that was performed on a group of people for this purpose. The people were studied for one week to measure the activity and calories that they each burned over that span of time. The researchers noticed that the people in the study who were very active seemed to hit a "plateau" in the calorie burning process. The author states that burning your calories is a less realistic weight loss than most people think. His suggestion is that if one wants to lose weight, he/she should work on his/her diet and how much he/she is consuming. The article ends with this quote from the researcher who conducted the study, Pontzer, "Exercise can help and it is really important [for health in general], but they are two different tools." This source is very reliable because there is a direct link to the study, and it has a published and updated time stamp on it, which indicates that it was recently updated. 

The third article is from JStor, a reliable database that has many scholarly articles. The entire paper is about a study that was conducted on people who dieted for a period of time. While the study was conducted, they tracked the amount that the people had lost weight due to the dieting. The results showed that dieting helped them lose around 8-10 pounds, but they gained the weight back including a few extra pounds. This article is a great source because it refutes the previous article's arguments, which will give leverage to argue back, and make some valid and reliable points. 

My research question is easily arguable because I have witnessed many different perspectives on this particular topic, so I believe that I can join the conversation and state my point with all of the information that I will gather. My stance on this debate is that dieting is the best tactic for weight loss. Exercise is just as important, but it should be joined with continuous dieting. The last article from JStor explains that when a person stops dieting that he/she will gain the weight back. The person trying to lose weight must make a 'lifestyle change' and stick to the diet for as long as he/she wants to maintain his/her weight loss. My first thought on this topic was that dieting and exercise are both equally important, but now I am seeing that diet is the biggest factor in the matter. 


