Band 8 model answer

On the question of shedding weight, opinion cleaves between those who crown exercise as the key and those who insist diet is paramount. Having weighed both cases, I am persuaded that, while exercise is important, diet is the more decisive determinant.

Champions of exercise advance a credible argument. Physical exertion expends calories, builds lean muscle and elevates the resting metabolic rate, so a person who trains consistently will, in principle, burn more energy than a sedentary counterpart. Exercise also reaps rewards far beyond the bathroom scales, fortifying cardiovascular health, lifting mood and improving sleep, all of which make a wholesome lifestyle easier to maintain over time.

Those who privilege diet, however, stand on firmer ground. The inconvenient reality is that calories are vastly easier to ingest than to expend: a single indulgent meal can erase an hour of punishing exercise in a matter of minutes. Because weight loss ultimately hinges on consuming fewer calories than the body burns, regulating what and how much we eat bears far more directly on the result. Many who train strenuously yet pay no heed to their diet are dismayed to find the needle on the scale scarcely moves.

None of this renders exercise dispensable. The optimal strategy plainly marries the two, since activity safeguards health and helps preserve weight once it has been lost. Even so, if a single factor must be singled out as decisive, the logic points unmistakably to diet.

In conclusion, although exercise performs a valuable supporting role and benefits the body in myriad ways, I am convinced that disciplined eating is the weightier element in losing weight.