A very wise man (Covert Bailey) said: "The best exercise is the one you'll do." If you like kung fu, but jogging bores you, do kung fu.
Do not deprive yourself - you won't be able to keep it up forever. But if you like steak, and you like ice cream, buy and eat the steak, and you won't miss the ice cream. Most of the various diet schemes end up restricting calories somewhat and doing some exercise, so of course they work (at least, for as long as you can keep them up). I would suggest living like our ancestors did - and I don't mean nineteenth century farmers; I mean the way people lived for 250,000 years - vigorous exercise, lean meat, lots of fresh fruit and veggies.
If you have energy after your kung fu classes, you might try strength building and endurance work. Building more muscle will not only give you the energy to work out longer (by making it easier to move around), but the muscles burn up the calories. Long slow jogging will get you lean faster, but wind sprints will get you fit faster.
If you cut the calories more than a little bit, you will be fasting. Only lean people can afford to fast - it teaches your body to *conserve calories ("Help! It's a famine! Cut the metabolism!") You want to teach your body to *burn fat, and you do that by using fat to fuel exercise.
Eat better, not less. And don't increase your exercise too much all at once. If you seem to burn out, drop all the extra stuff for a couple of weeks, just do three or so kung fu classes a week, then graduallly raise the amount again.
I had a 5-hour kali seminar yesterday, and just finished a 2-hour class in jujitsu and taiji tonite. I'm 53 and in it for the long run.
The lyfe so short, the craft so long to lerne.
- Chaucer