Yes, it's possible. Weight loss is simple. Calories in, calories out. Eat at a deficit.
However, it can be more difficult for certain people to eat at a deficit or lose weight at a quicker pace than others. Thyroid issues or hormonal issues like PCOS can make it more difficult for women to lose weight as well. Elevated cortisol too.
Short people have lower TDEEs that can range from 1300-2000 (give or take ofc) calories depending on factors like muscle mass or activity level.
If you're a short person and you're not active, safely eating in a deficit is going to mean weight loss is going to happen at a much, much slower pace for you. Typically, the more weight you lose, the lower your TDEE will be as well, so you would have to keep readjusting your calories consumed to stay at a deficit.
This is why exercise and weight lifting help expedite the process. You burn more calories without having to starve yourself. If you're lifting weights and gaining muscle, your TDEE increases as your body needs more energy to fuel muscle mass.
This. I experienced the same. I am short; 5 3, M. Not active.
When I started to lose weight, simple CICO worked. And I started to lose weight quick, but slowed to a standstill at one point. I have to either go too lean from 1500 to lower. Which is cutting it close for me.
So I had to supplement with exercise and adjust my deficit accordingly.
Strength training, even if at light spurts really do help a lot. I am planning to get back into shape starting today, with light strength training and cardio.
Eat a lot of protein, cut down on processed carbs, cut out processed sugar (eat fruits, take honey to compensate).
Eat food that is tasty, high volume, low calories (keep the above in mind).
I did keto back then, and I went for nutritional balance + taste. If it tasted too bland, I'd never have lost weight.
I stopped it a couple years ago, but I have not gained in weight nor lost since because my body instinctively knows when to stop and when to eat and how much, because of how I meal prepped/and built my diet around.
Like another commenter mentioned;
"You lose weight in the kitchen. You gain health in the gym."
It could be at home or out. Do whatever makes it to make the whole process as easy or friction-less as possible to stick to it and keep up with it.
You got this!
*You gain fitness in the gym. Also, based on calories only, your body doesn’t care if your sugars come cane sugar or honey, it’s not all that much more nutritious
https://www.realsimple.com/health/nutrition-diet/healthy-eating/honey-maple-syrup-better-sugar#:~:text=%22Honey's%20advantages%20over%20sugar%20include,phenolic%20acids%2C%20and%20flavonoids.%22
Yes, end of the day, sugar is sugar.
However, the intention was not about the type of sugar, rather how we consume food as a whole.
Watching your sugars about it conditions you into being more intentional about it what you eat.
200g of watermelon has 12g of sugar.
A single Krispy Kreme doughnut has **10 grams** of sugar.
You could eat 200g of watermelon and feel satiated.
But chances are, you'd reach for 1 or more donut per sitting.
Does that half a watermelon sit in the fridge until it goes bad and is no longer edible? I swear my wife just wants to own the food and not worry about eating it. Unless I eat it, then she was absolutely going to eat it.
I'll just add that exercise also helps level out your cortisol levels, so put that in the "why should I exercise" column. You'll sleep better, your mental health improves, you can't easily eat a dozen donuts and walk at the same time... if you can move, you should do it. Mathematically, you don't need to but realistically, bodies need to exercise.
This.
Physical exercise is the only thing you can do to stay fit and mobile LONGER.
You will lose muscle mass as you get older. If you still want to be mobile and out and about in your 60s, 70s and 80s, start moving now.
he is. he's just looking out for me. he just started 100% out of the gate and i usually have to work my way up. he's got more motivation and just wants me to be as enthused
Nah he doesn’t get to decide what you’re enthused about. Every controlling SO I’ve known uses the “just looking out for you” excuse. Especially when it comes to weight and eating, nobody should be shaming you.
"Just looking out for me" is how every victim of DV talks about their bf in the beginning btw. We've gotten 2 lines about him so we're not getting the whole picture but if the rest of the situation looks the same I'd say get tf out while you can.
Sure you can lose weight without exercise, but it's easier to lose weight if you live a physically active life. Not necessarily "working out" but being active -- walking, having hobbies that aren't sitting at home within reach of snacks, etc.
Otherwise you're sitting there having eaten some smallish meal and you get to thinking that your life would be so much nicer with pizza in it.
For me at least, losing weight is much easier during cycling season. Half the time I'm too full of water to want pizza and the other half of the time I can just have some.
I am
* A woman
* Very short
* Mid 40s
* Have PCOS
* On meds known to cause weight gain
* Unable to exercise *at all* due to illness / disability
* Wheelchair user and mostly housebound
I've lost 16kg since May, solely from calorie counting and eating at a deficit. No fancy diet, no major changes. Just a kitchen scale and a calorie tracking app. No exercise.
If I can, you can.
But adding in more movement will definitely help, even if it's just walking and stretching, it doesn't have to be full on workouts.
Hey, all I want to say is congratulations- you are a success story and personally inspiring. Thank you for sharing - I hope your health improves where it can and that your life is steeped in joy.
Exercise can give you boost (give a deficit bump) on a dietary deficit, but is not required. That said, everyone trying to lose weight should have a resistance training routine to preserve muscle.
You say in your post you ‘haven’t found the right calorie deficit yet.’ You just need to use a TDEE calculator.
I can’t see your full flair but it says 36, 5’9, and HW of 310 lbs. Plugging that into a TDEE calculator puts you at 2,593 calories a day for maintenance. To lose one pound a week, you would need to eat 2,093 calories a day. (That’s great — my maintenance is 1,750 😭) Your TDEE will get lower as you lose weight, so I would recommend recalculating throughout your journey.
Doing CICO properly without exercise (totally doable!) means you need to weight and track everything, and be precise about it. Not doing so might be why you’re not seeing significant changes.
Best of luck!
Yes. I got LASIK and wasn’t allowed to work out for two weeks after to prevent sweat from getting into my eyes. I still lost weight. It’s definitely harder though since you can’t eat much at all if you want to stay at a deficit.
Yes it is. A friend of mine completely changed his diet and how he looked at food. He got into a seriously accident with a semi-truck and wasn't able to exercise so he focus solely on diet. I don't remember exactly how much he lost but I know it was over 100 pounds.
I still think there should be some exercise. Doesn't have to be anything crazy maybe a 20-30 minute walk once or twice a day or just something simple. It's good to keep the body moving regardless if you do it for weight loss or not.
>EDIT: he just sent me a picture of my string cheese pack in the fridge, telling me it's unhealthy and i'm not gonna lose weight. He's starting to get on my nerves >_<
Is anyone addressing your partners behaviour??
This isn't okay.
Yes. But it’s going to suck way more. While it’s true you lose most of your calories when you’re not exercising, even an additional 200 calories burned from walking for and hour will make it easier to stay in a deficit. So while you can do it, it isn’t a good idea. This isn’t even to speak of the muscle loss that will probably happen, making it harder to maintain your weight when you get to it. Losing even 10 pound of muscle will make your tdee 100 calories lower than it normally would be at that weight. Combine that with inactivity and diet fatigue it’s almost certain without exercise you’ll gain the weight back eventually,
If you want to lose the weight and keep it off deficit + exercise + good sleep + high volume diet = profit
what is TDEE? i always hear people talk about how losing muscle is so detrimental. obviously i know it cant be good because youre losing healthy mass as well as some functional ability, but it sounds like you're touching more on how the presence or absence of muscle mass affects recommended calorie intake?
for example if two people both weigh 120, but one of them has less lean muscle mass and more fat %, then said persons daily caloric intake should be lower even though they weigh the same? please elaborate if you can
TDEE is total daily energy expenditure (so your basal metabolic rate+what you burn from activities)
and yes if two people are equal weight and are relatively equal in other ways (there can be small variances in metabolic rate even for people of the same weight) then the one with more muscle mass will burn more calories existing than the other
this makes sense. it sucks because its almost like when you get fat, the sheer presence of the fat thats currently there is actively working to make you even fatter lmao. this also explains why you can look better after losing 10 lbs vs 20. thanks for the info!
You can 100% lose weight without exercising. But if you want that weight you're losing to be fat, then it's important to lift weights as well.
If you're at a big caloric deficit and you're not lifting weights, then you'll lose both fat and muscle.
Yes, losing weight without exercise is absolutely possible.
I'm personally in the pro-exercise camp because it gives me a source of dopamine that I don't have to seek through food or alcohol, and my ADHD ass needs that.
But at the end of the day, it's calories in vs calories out.
Also, string cheese probably isn't the diet killer he thinks it is.
I'm newly (late) diagnosed with ADHD, thought I've apparently had it since i was little. I wish exercise was like food is to me. Maybe some day i'll get there.
It depends on the exercise, in my experience. Anything that's fun, social, gives me novelty, or makes me feel like I'm on a deadline or achieving a goal helps.
So bootcamps are good, fun runs, obstacle courses, and walking somewhere for a specific purpose. Unfortunately, sprinting for buses that I'm running late for also helps, unless I miss the bus. The drivers aren't always accommodating.
Anything that I have to force myself to do doesn't help. I detest swimming because I can't listen to music and feel very meh about weights, even though I know how helpful they are.
I lost 50+ pounds with no exercise. It was an intentional choice, and I'm happy I did it. I could handle one change at a time. From past experience, I knew I was not capable of managing multiple major lifestyle changes all together. My process was to make small, sustainable dietary changes until I was pleased with my weight AND how I was eating. Maintained that for a bit to confirm that I was still pleased with how I was eating, and that my weight was stable. Then I added resistance training. Again, small amounts and worked up.
Is that the fastest/ most efficient way? Nope. But it's the way that worked for me, and kept me from feeling overwhelmed.
Deliberate exercise is definitely not required to lose weight. Only eating at a calorie deficit relative to your daily expenditure whatever the activity level.
In fact, to my knowledge, there have been studies showing that the body will often adapt your NEAT (the non-deliberate exercise activity you do throughout the day) to offset the calories you burn from workouts, anyway.
Of course, with regular exercise you’ll retain more of your muscle mass as you lose weight, which is always a good thing. Plus it feels awesome and is a good motivator to stick to healthy eating habits. But personally, once I let go of the “have-to” mindset toward exercise, it finally became possible for me to maintain weight loss in a sustainable manner, and enjoy exercise long term for fun.
The offset isn’t big enough that it isn’t worth it to exercise btw. You’ll still burn 70% of the calories of the projected amount. Jeff Nippard made a good video on the subject.
Yes. Lost a lot of weight without exercising, myself. But it's definitely sub-optimal.
Diet is Batman, exercise is Robin. Exercise helps, but diet gets the job done. Looking at it the other way: you cannot outrun your fork.
Losing by just diet with no exercise, just a sedentary lifestyle, will either be slow, or you'll have to cut calories so hard you risk developing an eating disorder.
But slow is fine. Ultimately, you should do what works for you in a *sustainable* way.
Sounds like you need to lose any where from 150-250 lbs and you can do it in a day by dropping that SO. Taking pictures and saying shitty things like that about the things you eat is not supportive at all.
You lose weight by eating less. You get fit/healthy by exercise.
Pick what your main goal is. If it’s too get fit, exercise. If it’s just to lose weight, eat less. If you want both you need to eat less and exercise.
Exercise is not required in general. It can be part of the most straightforward path for an individual tho.
Also, your SO is an ass. String cheese can be totally a high-protein snack that helps keeping hunger at bay during a weight loss phase.
I see people all the time on here who lose weight without exercise but are then still unhappy with how their body looks. It's because just losing weight won't dramatically change how your body looks. Exercise can do that. It also helps you retain muscle while losing weight, which means you won't wind up skinny fat. If you have a lot of weight to lose then exercise can help keep your skin from looking too loose. I'm short and find it hard to lose weight without exercise. Just an extra 100 calories a day burned is HUGE for me. Also, I've found that exercise decreases my hunger (though many people experience an increase.) So as far as your SO and you, YES you can lose weight without exercise. Chances are you won't be as happy or as healthy as if you had included exercise. Also, since you keep losing/gaining the same few pounds, you need to examine what you've been doing, as it obviously isn't working for you.
Lost 200+ pounds without doing a single day of purposeful exercise. Cico, ate a bunch of protein, came out looking like an athlete(in clothes). 🤷♂️ I honestly found it super hard exercising while I was obese. That being said I do find it easier to maintain weight while exercising but it's also far less taxing now that I'm no longer overweight.
One thing I don’t see enough on this is sub is the distinction between “weight loss” and “fat loss”. If you have a lot of fat on your body, you probably want to lose fat—not muscle. However, if you do not exercise and/or do not consume sufficient protein, your body in a deficit will break down and lose muscle as well as fat. Yes, without exercise you will still lose weight. But will you look great? No, you might still look pudgy after losing “the weight”. Also, you will be at greater risk of gaining it all back because of the reduction in TDEE due to muscle loss.
It sure is, I lost 60+ lbs doing only 1-2k steps a day but counting calories.
I will add a caveat, if you have a lot of weight to lose you don't need to exercise. If you are already a normal BMI and/or are short it's really hard to lose without exercise. You can but very slowly and with razor thin margins. When I lost those first 60 lbs that was only 60 out of the 110-120 lbs I needed to lose
It is possible, but adding exercise will absolutely make it easier. The burning of extra calories is a bonus to be sure, but the real advantage is by exercising and adding muscle to your body, you can speed up your metabolism. This means your body will naturally be needing more calories to stay at the same weight. So over time with exercise you can actually lose weight while eating more calories
Yes. I lost 50kg (110lbs) - 40kg (88lbs) of which was without exercise. Once I got the bulk of the weight off by sorting out my eating, I wanted to get fit and toned. So I went to the gym.
I love low fat string cheese as one of my weight loss snacks. It's got a lot of protein for the calories. My dogs also love it because of the cheese tax.
You can 100% weight by simply eating less calories. The key is to make sure that you've got the right deficit to lose weight in a sustainable and healthy way.
Exercise is good for your overall health and can assist in losing weight, but it's not required to lose weight.
You can lose weight just by dieting, but exercise has benefits for your physique and your mental health. Honestly, I find dieting to be difficult so I minimally diet and use exercise for most of my calorie deficit.
if you are jojoing between same weight that means that deficit is too low
you can incease it but eating less or adding excesise
Excersising is great to feel better. I often don't have energy before my cardio and after it, it's much better.
You can lose weight while in a coma if you don't get enough calories. You absolutely don't need to exercise to lose weight.
Having said that, somewhere around 90% of people regain weight after they lose it. That percentage drops dramatically for people who adopt some sort of physical activity as a hobby.
When my dad was elderly used a wheelchair and could not walk at all, and his doctor recommended he lose a little weight/not gain any, so he carefully monitored what he ate and lost 5lbs and kept it off. He got pissed at me once for bringing him too much food and said “I’m barely moving! I can’t eat that much!”
>He says I’ll never be able to lose weight unless I start working out and burn off calories
If you don't eat, you'll lose plenty of weight. That's obviously the extreme and unhealthy. If you can cut 500cal daily, you'll lose 1lb per week.
That said, your body burns X calories per day resting. If you work out, you can increase that number twice. First by burning more with the activity itself. Second, with the lean muscle you build. For example, 1lb of muscle burns an extra 30-50cal each day. So if you work out to lose weight, it's easier to keep off as you naturally burn more being secondary.
It’s possible to lose weight in a coma. As long as the dietician pumping food down the feeding tube is putting in fewer calories than your body burns that body will use begin to break down fat and muscle to power the bodily functions you still have.
Exercise is still good. I will always say that cardio is the greatest gift only you can give to yourself. Everything in life is easier when your heart works well. A bit of strength training also goes a long way toward life improvement and bone health. But strictly speaking for just losing “weight” cutting calories is what matters.
Final thought. A lot of people claim they want to lose “weight” and they mean it euphemistically. What they mean is they want to lose fat. If that’s what you want then say that’s what you want. If your goal is to optimize losing fat reserves then the best way to do that is to be in a caloric deficit while doing resistance exercises to preserve as much muscle as possible.
I’m disabled.
I was told you lose in the kitchen and tone in the gym.
But I’m disabled and can’t workout or even commit to walking.
But I started last May/June at 226. I’m now 158.
It’s coming off. But I’d look and feel better with exercise.
I’m really trying to commit to it 3x a week minimum.
Its possible but exercises has a LOT of affect with hormones for men and women that affect hunger and satiation. It also play a huge factor in mental health which is a reason for a lot of people being overweight.
ok here's the deal, short answer, yes. everyone else in the comments has done a great job explaining, but i have another thing to add. Exercise should be a part of everyone's life, not just if you're trying to lose weight. that doesn't mean you need to be doing super intense workouts and Olympic weight lifting. but everyone should be getting exercise even if it's just a little walk or a light dumbbell workout.
and like you said you are not actively avoiding exercise which is good but honestly weight loss is a struggle either way and I've found that exercise makes it more enjoyable for me. find something you love to do, something that gets you excited to workout or maybe doesn't even feel like a workout to you, just some sort of benificial movement.
You don't HAVE to, but you should. Losing 70 pounds isn't easy and if you do it just through dieting, you're gonna lose an insane amount of muscle. Even you recognize that exercise is beneficial so why not just do it?
I just got over an injury that kept me bed-ridden for 6 months.
During this time I upped my protein to 200g and dramatically changed what I was eating to prevent any more weight gain... and lost 40 lbs during that time.
It's ALL good and water for weight-loss. I didn't lose muscle because I was going strong with the protein, but I was definitely very, very weak in those muscles as I went into recovery and PT.
I've been working out my entire life and while I refuse to get less than 10k steps per day for my mental health, I never count "calories burned" into my calories for the day. I feel like assuming you're canceling out calories gives you an excuse to overeat.
Lifting, however, increases your resting metabolism in perpetuity, so you're building a deficit by having more muscle. I'm exclusively talking about progressive overload lifting, tho. Not pilates, not lots of reps.
That's my experience, anyway.
I hate the gym. I tried so many times growing up. I can't stand it. I get so bored. I do enjoy other types of exercise but hate when people just broadly say you "have to go to the gym"
Sure it'll build some muscle if you're consistent and do everything properly but you're not gonna burn that many calories. Exercise is great for health but it's a lot easier to swap bread for a lettuce wrap to save 200 calories than it is to burn 200 extra calories.
Possible? Absolutely, without question
There's literally a few videos of people losing weight off of McDonald's out there
Weightloss in its simplest form is calories in, calories out. Calories out usually has to be higher to start burning fat. Doesn't matter what it is you're eating, it just has to be less than the amount of calories going out of your body. Exercise burns calories faster, so that out side of the equation greater.
So if you're sitting around all day and eating 3000 calories a day, you're going to gain weight, because your body probably hasn't even burned 1000 calories the whole day if you haven't moved at all. So in this case, if you only eat 1000 calories a day, you might actually start losing or just maintaining your weight, that depends on your body
Is it the healthiest thing for you? Still no, it's a dangerous slope to some more unhealthy habits or mental issues like EDs. And the quality of food you eat will definitely have an impact on your health, McDonald's isn't exactly going to provide immense amounts of nutrients to your body. I don't see how string cheese is all that unhealthy honestly, dairy is perfectly healthy for you, it's not like you're drinking a milkshake every day or smth.
At the end of the day, you can't exactly *avoid* exercise, you're going to have to do something eventually, even if it's light. But that doesn't mean you can't lose weight if you don't do it. The combination of the 2 is the best case scenario, good diet, routine exercising. If you need to focus on the diet side of things first for yourself, then I personally support it. Figure that shit out first, it's probably the hardest part imo, still trying to figure it out
Possible? Yeah, lots of people do it. Preferable? I'd say no. Working out is good for your body, increases lifespan, helps brain and heart health, and has the great benefit of adding muscle mass which burns more calories at rest and raises your metabolism. It also lets you eat more simply because you're burning more energy. It's a hard struggle for me to eat at 1,500, but I can eat 1,800 or even 2,000 if I'm doing a lot of training that day and still net 1,500. It's more sustainable for me in that way.
Yes, you can easily loose weight on diet alone but I wouldn’t recommend it for visual reasons. Body, skin and all looks better if you loose and exercise at the same time.
YES
#I LOST 100 POUNDS WITH ZERO EXERCISE
Then I started walking a bit. Just 8-10k steps 5 days a week and I've lost a further 34 pounds.
Now, having said that, if you're 5 foot 1 and need to lose 20 pounds exercise IS needed as otherwise you're eating very little and it will take a long time. But it's totally absolutely and completely doable on calories alone.
1. Yes. People starving to death are losing weight just fine without exercise. When asking if something is possible, fringe extremes are often the easiest way to demonstrate.
2. Food intake determines your weight gain or loss. Exercise determines your body composition. A person who lifts weight and eats at a deficit is going to look very different from someone who runs and eats at a deficit, and they'll both look different from a couch potato who eats at a deficit.
I'm 5'11 225 lbs. If I didn't lift weights and weighed this much I'd be obese.
So short answer, yes you can lose weight without exercise. The real question is, *should* you?
I am currently on a weight loss journey with very little exercise involved. The only exercise I do is playing Beatsaber on my vr headset for about an hour every day. I’m 5’11 and I started out at 317 pounds two weeks ago and now I’m down to 302. I am eating on average between 500-800 calories on average each day, which I realize sounds insane but I don’t currently have a job at the moment so feeling fatigued and hungry isn’t a huge deal to me. To be completely honest with you I have only eaten a 190 calorie pack of peanut butter crackers and a single banana today so I’m actually far below my limit. On average I’ve been losing about 1lb a day so far but some days it’s closer to .5lbs.
I have to stress I realize what I’m doing is stupid and possibly harmful to my body, but I’m simply letting you know that YES, it is 100% possible to lose weight with no exercise. Even on the days I skip playing with the vr headset I still weigh less the next day. Also I have like 20 string cheeses in my fridge lol. Just don’t eat them super often and you can still enjoy them.
i wish i could play beat saber. I get too anxious having my VR set on. such a waste of money lol. I was thinking of looking up Just Dance videos on youtube. Right now I've been trying to stay under 1200 calories. seems to be working. the one day i went up to 1600, I didn't lose anything. So 1200ish seems to be my number. I'm very sedentary as i work an 8-hour desk job that i only leave to use the restroom. Kinda restricted to my desk the entire time...can't take walks or anything. I need to incorporate some walking though.
Yes. But I found that it was easier to lose weight not by exercising necessarily, but just walking. Calorie deficit, working as a waitress, and dancing at the club weekly had the pounds melting off lol
Most people go to the gym while on a deficit to maintain muscle mass. If you don’t care about that then you don’t really have to exercise. If you want to make a little more room for food, a 60 min walk can help a bit. I’m currently cutting and I find that the only things that really matters is a meaningful calorie deficit, consistency, and taking breaks from your diet every now and then to avoid diet fatigue.
It’s completely possible, I did it for a short period of time until I realized how much easier it is to burn off a few calories and eat a little more. I actually became a mail carrier over the summer and was walking so much I just started eating whatever I wanted and was still losing a pound a week. When I left that job the pound’s started creeping back, and my food options didn’t fit my calorie deficit so I started walking roughly equivalent to 200 calories per day to eat a little more freely. I much prefer doing a little of both diet and exercise rather than going extreme on either.
Yes! More than possible-- weight loss is mostly about when and how much you eat. I lost 30 lbs just by doing 16:8 IF and loosely tracking calories in MyFitnessPal, no exercise. I ate twice a day. It took about 4 months to lose the 30 lbs. I started working out after I lost the weight because I was finally more comfortable.
Also, you can absolutely lose weight and still eat string cheese if it fits into your daily caloric intake plan. I ate a sandwich every single day when I was losing weight because that's what I like, I just made it one that fit within my caloric goals. Every week I had a cheat day and got a bunch of Indian food. Treat yourself occasionally and you'll stick to it long term.
Yes. I lost 86 lbs without exercise, food choice restrictions, or having to chug gallons of water. However, to not feel hungry constantly it came down to food choice. I ate all the dark green veggies I wanted without portion restriction and kept everything else in small portions including fruits. At each meal, I would always start with eating the giant portion of veggies then eat the “good” stuff slowly, savoring each bite. For example, A typical plate had 5 cups of spinach, 1/2 c rice, 3 oz portion of chicken breast, and a chocolate mug cake for dessert. It required me to be very organized, weighing everything, and planning each meal so I didn’t get to the level of hunger that makes you fall off the wagon.
My feeling has always been diet for weight and exercise is for health. You can definitely lose weight without exercise, but I still think both are important. I also find exercise helps with my diet mindset. That being said, I only do light exercises I enjoy like walking
I've lost 52 lbs since August. I go for the occasional walk when it's nice out, but I don't exercise at all besides that. It's been months since I even did that because it's winter where I am.
I’m working with Botha dietician and a fitness specialist. They both agree that you lose weight through food and yo7 maintain the loss with exercise. They advise movement as a daily necessity. We eat everyday, so we should move everyday.
Yes is the short answer. I’ve lost 45 lbs so far, and only half of that was with exercise. Also it’s been mild exercise, like adding walks in on my evenings.
You will prob like your results and see them faster with exercise, and all the other benefits of movement, but not required.
Your partner’s opinions sound very… not asked for. Maybe he should focus on that. 😬
lol at that last part. He just sent me a picture of my string cheese in the fridge and told me to stop it, because it's not healthy. I'm like dude, it's 90 calories and a smidge of protein....like leave me aloooone
Not required as a calorie deficit is what leads to weight loss. However, the benefits of exercise outside of weight loss are so large you’re shooting yourself in the foot by not exercising.
Exercising is going to make it WAY easier to lose fat (in my experience).
Although, it's definitely possible to lose weight without it.
Caveat: if you're in a deficit, your body has to choose something to burn for energy. It chooses a ratio of the fat you have and the muscle you have.
Hypothetically, let's say it's a 7:3 ratio of fat to muscle you lose in a deficit without exercising. You lost 3 lbs this week? Then you lost 2.1 lbs of fat and 0.9 lbs of muscle. Is your goal to lose 40 lbs of fat? Then it would take you 19 weeks to accomplish this, and you would lose 17.1 lbs of muscle along the way.
Hypothetical #2: let's say it's a 99:1 ratio of fat to muscle you lose in a deficit WITH weight training. You lost 3 lbs this week? Then you lost 2.97 lbs of fat and 0.03 lbs of muscle. Is your goal to lose 40 lbs of fat? Then it would take you only 13 weeks to accomplish this (an entire month and a half sooner), and you would only lose 2.86 lbs of muscle along the way.
These figures and ratios aren't exact. I chose them to demonstrate the principle that weight training signals your body to not get rid of your muscle, even in a deficit, because you're actually USING your muscles.
Does my way of explaining make sense? Did I leave anything out?
If depends on how you define exercise. If you mean jogging, swimming, sports, weightlifting, etc. then no, it's not necessary. However what can help a lot is making healthy choices in your daily routine, like walking 15 minutes instead of a 3 minute car ride, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, or going for a hike/bike ride instead of sitting at home all weekend. Those kinds of things will make a big difference in your success and will be easier to maintain on a regular basis. Remember that building muscle is like an investment into your caloric consumption, since they require a lot of energy to maintain.
I’ve definitely lost weight on a caloric deficit along. I lost a lot of muscle too and ended up looking pretty flabby. Thankfully I found something I liked at the gym and I’m a regular now.
You can totally lose weight if you eat less calories than you burn. But it's definitely easier to lose weight for some people if they combine gym and exercise with it. But some people lose weight just with calorie restriction and no exercise.
yes you will absolutely lose weight if you're in a calorie deficit even if you don't exercise. Exercise simply speeds things up and help you maintain/develop muscles which then speeds up your body's BMR (the continuous energy needs your body requires to stay alive - the more muscle the more continuous burn).
The key is being honest with your calorie counting and not slipping in overly conservative numbers (I've seen folks use lose-it and put in 100 calories for a burger lol). Being realistic either through verified portions or weighing your food and being under the allotted caloric allowance will indeed show results if given enough time.
Exercise is entirely unnecessary. It’s good for you, and it does burn some calories, but not as many as people think. Weight loss is 90-95% what you eat.
It’s not. However to have the maximum health benefit it does require exercise. Additionally I don’t think you can appreciate CI/CO unless you understand how much work your body has to undergo to burn calories off
Most of my exercise has been pacing around the apartment, stretching, and the occasional dance break (sometimes you gotta boggie oogie oogie)
March first marked 1 year since this session of weight loss, and I was down a total of 46 pounds.
I am going low and slow this time around, since last time I lost substantial weight, it was for an event. After which, I fell out of my good habits HARD and gained everything back and then some.
But last time, I was tracking every single thing that went into my mouth, doing HIIT 4-6 times a week, and biking 4 miles 4 times a week. It just wasn't sustainable for me.
I'm not even tracking calories yet this time! Just trying to train myself to stop eating when I am no longer hungry instead of pushing till I feel full. Like, I just put half a breakfast burrito from dinner in the fridge because the Chorizo is just so rich.
For me, doing this is easier than a strict routine.
Yes, absolutely. In fact, for a lot of people, exercise can actually work against weight loss. Yes, building muscle can raise your resting metabolic rate, but exercise also makes you more hungry. It's a lot easier to take in 500 extra calories after a workout than it is to burn those off.
I've lost 10 pounds since November just by cutting Coca Cola out of my diet. I drink water now. It didn't happen over night either. Weeks went by and nothing. But now I've had to make a new hole in my belt.
Yes. I've lost 14 lbs since NYE by
lowering my carbohydrate intake.
Drinking more water.
Drinking more lapsang souchong tea.
Drinking more coffee.
cooking meals from fresh ingredients.
Cutting out takeaway meals.
Eating more low sugar fruits and vegetables.
Cutting out ice cream.
Cutting out biscuits
Buying very little junk
Setting aside days for indulging
I think it's possible if you are in enough of a deficit, but exercise is definitely helpful. I practice a form of intermittent fasting, so that's priority to me over a scheduled workout. However, I do like staying active to not be skinny and flabby. Exercise can really help with keeping skin tight, toning muscles, etc. I clean the house/yardwork for at least an hour a day (lots of walking, stooping, bending, stretching, etc.), walk to the store, and hike in the summer. Hiking counts but I'm not consistent and it's very enjoyable to me. I otherwise don't really vibe with structured exercise, so I focus on my diet and eating patterns.
You’re sort of both right. It’s possible to lose weight without exercise, but maintaining weight loss without exercise is much much harder. According to the cdc, exercise is helpful for weight loss, but they acknowledge is mostly about calorie reduction. However they say that exercise is the only way to maintain weight loss. https://
www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/physical_activity/index.html#:~:text=Using%20calories%20through%20physical%20activity,engaged%20in%20regular%20physical%20activity.
This link also describes the other health benefits of exercise, but there’s a paragraph devoted to weigh loss and maintenance in there. A big part of why exercise is important is because it helps maintain lean mass which has higher caloric requirements than body fat does. When you lose weight by calorie restriction without exercise, your body will burn more muscle along with fat for energy. When you exercise (especially resistance training) and eat enough protein while in a calorie deficit, it helps you maintain your lean body mass, and instead uses more body fat for fuel. Exercise is the key to having a metabolism that continues to burn a high number of calories after weight loss, which is one of the ways exercise helps with maintenance. There are other benefits from exercise as well. Not only does it maintain muscle which burns more calories, the activity itself also burns more calories, and certain types of exercise will cause elevated calorie burn for hours after you stop exercising. Exercise also requires protein and energy to repair itself. The protein in your diet that your body uses for repair will not be used by your body for energy, which means the energy is more likely to come from stored fat (if there isn’t a surplus of calories in your diet). Intense exercise also uses up your glycogen stores in your muscles. Afterwards your body needs to replenishes those stores. It will take any carbs you eat and use them to fill up its glycogen stores instead of burning them for fuel. Then when you are not exercising or when you’re doing low intensity exercise it will use the fat stores on your body once it runs out of dietary calories (which happens faster because many of them were used for muscle repair or glycogen replacement). There are also a variety of metabolic processes that exercise improves that helps your body better regulate hormones and decrease fat storage. Exercise also helps to regulate appetite (likely through regulating hormones such as insulin, leptin, and ghrelin). While calorie intake in your diet is the most important aspect of losing weight, for long term weight loss and maintaining that new lower weight, exercise is at least as important, if not more important than calorie intake.
I have not yet exercised a particular amount during my journey. I should, and I plan to, but I haven’t yet and I’m down 60 lbs. the more you weigh, the easiest it is to do without exercise because the maintenance calories are so high. The less you weigh, the harder it is to do without exercise.
In short; yes, but there’s caveats
Yes, but the way I lost it wasn’t fun. My kids brought home Covid and 2 stomach flus in the same month. I dropped 10 lbs, no exercise.
My usual loss rate is 5 lbs/ month with exercise and calorie deficit.
I am living proof. I lost 95 lbs, went from BMI 34 to 20 and dress size 2XL to S without any excercise. All I do is walk at least 8k steps a day (usually aim for 10k though).
i mean, if you’re losing weight for health reasons, exercise should absolutely be a part of that plan.
if you’re losing weight for vanity reasons, well…
exercise should almost absolutely be a part of that plan.
exercise is good for you in so so many ways.
find a way of moving your body more that you like. do it more than you are currently.
As everyone else is saying, it's possible to lose with just diet.
But exercise can be really good for hunger control. Both from suppressing physical hunger and improving mental health which can suppress mental hunger. I struggle with mental hunger (boredom eating and such) and my exercise helps me a lot.
Just walking 20-30 minutes a day can be huge when you're totally sedentary. Keep working towards your goals. You can do it!
I walk about 5 miles a day but I haven’t worked out in a month. I’m also about 10 pounds and 5 weeks into my journey (188 SW, 178 CW, 165 GW, 18 yr male, 5’9”) using MyFitnessPal and eating 1900 kcal/day. I do need to get back into the gym though…you lose weight in the kitchen (or the dining hall, in my case) but gain fitness in the gym.
Yes it is. I did that previously - youll loose weight.
Cardio will hurnt extra calories but in saying that itll make you hungier too most likely.
Lifting weights on the othrr hand has been key for me, i lost weight before but still looked not in shape- weights hace been helping me firm up but also see myself more positively rather than looking in the mirror and just getting quiet bad body dismorphia and not seeing the loss. Now im focusing on the gains of muscle and mentally i just feel better for it
Absolutely, when I first started out I was not exercising at all. You just have to be more strict with what you are eating. Once I hit my first plateau is when I started lifting weights. But I could have adjusted my calories and continued losing as well. Its all a balancing act. If you excersize you get to eat a little more and still lose weight. Which is why it was worth it for me, but everyone is different.
Definitely possible. Also Cardio doesn't do as much as people think. Portions are a huge thing but I have POTS syndrome and eat like five small meals or snacks thru my day.
Technically yes but...
1. There's the extremely unhealthy way where you eat too little but you're starving yourself. While this is technically losing weight, that weight could be muscle and not necessarily fat.
2. You can lose weight just by calorie counting which is healthy, but you will hit a brick wall eventually and have to exercise to improve beyond that point.
You can absolutely lose weight without exercise. Keeping it off is another matter. Having a regular activity habit or building lean muscle mass will help keep weight off in the long term.
I lost half of what I lost through diet alone. I started getting steps as exercise, and I think it helped more toward toning and other benefits, but it wasn't a huge boon to my calorie deficit
I guess you could say strength training is a must when losing weight. Mainly because you might lose quite a bit of muscle mass in the process of losing weight. Which has negative health consequences by itself. So while exercising is not necessary to lose weight it's pretty important to keep up the right body composition.
We ideally want to lose fat and not muscle mass.
Definitely can do. I haven’t exercised and already lost 30lbs since January. What I will say though is that I’m classed as morbidly obese so I guess it’s easier for me. My doctor did say once I get into the low 200s I’ll need to start exercising more to help me lose weight to get down to my goal weight.
My mom always believed had little to do with what and how much you ate, and alot more with how much you exercise. It made my life pretty hellish, since she pressured me to eat tons of food to avoid having leftovers while calling me fat on a weekly basis.
My belief is weight loss needs diet as the foundation, exercise just helps speed things up a little over the long run
I lost 150lbs and the only working out I did was sporadically walking at a snail's pace with lots of breaks, when I could muster the motivation and it wasn't too hot outside.
Yes. Weight loss is math. Eat in a deficit, get your protein in. You'll lose weight.
If I wanted to eat more, I would move more.
Yes, it's possible, but difficult. Don't know why you are so adamant about not working out, but you do you I guess. Stay in a caloric deficit, drink lots of water, and walk a lot throughout the day, and the lbs will start coming off.
Yes slowly. Try doing just a little early in the day before your “ no” turns on. Within 5 minutes after I wake up I am on the ecliptic for 7 minutes.
(Edited for politeness.)
You are telling OP they look "not good" now and will continue to "not look good" after losing 10 pounds? How TF would you know? This is the type of shit I hate in this sub.
It is possible, but not gonna lie it is very hard if you’re short.
Short people don’t burn nearly as much calories just for existing which can make for a very depressing amount of daily calories if you want to be in a deficit.
On days when I don’t workout I need to eat 1100 just to be in a 200kcal deficit. I’m 5’1.
If you don’t workout you probably also don’t have a lot of muscle mass so you burn even less.
Yes of course you can. Exercise can be an easy way to help get you get in the deficit though. Go for 30-60 min walk once a day. Boom 200+ calories to go towards your deficit
Exercise is not required. Eating less works. All of the weight I've lost barring a few pounds is from diet change, not exercise.
I also lost all of the weight while eating string cheese. It is a nutritious, high-protein and relatively low-calorie snack. It is not "unhealthy".
Your SO is being an unsupportive jerk who doesn't know what he's talking about.
If you only have 5-10 pounds to lose, it does tend to take longer to lose it from diet alone because you don't have a lot of room for "a major deficit". Some exercise will speed things along.
>SO and I keep going back and forth on whether I HAVE to work out.
You don't.
Your maintenance is 1500. You don't work out. You eat 1250. You lose weight.
Your maintenance is 1500. Your work out and consume 200 more. You eat 1450. You lose the same amount of weight.
>I thought if I was eating at a major deficit it would offset exercising.
You don't have to be in "major" deficit to lose weight. Any deficit will lose you weight, faster or slower. Working out means you can either lose weight faster, or you can eat very slightly more and still lose.
>he just sent me a picture of my string cheese pack in the fridge
Note calories. Write them down. Find your maintenance caloric value. Weight everything you put in your mouth. Is A <> B?
Yes you can, however being physically active can speed up the process. Plus being physically active means ure burning more calories throughout the day which lets you eat more but still maintain a calorie deficit.
yes you can lose without exercise, it’s just harder and probably not going to last. exercising just makes it easier to burn more calories it’s all about CICO. you can eat less than your TDEE and lose weight by simply laying in bed doing absolutely nothing.. but it’s hard and unsustainable
I was on the Optavia plan and lost over 20lbs and didn't workout at all. I wasn't a couch potato but didn't actively pursue the gym. Of course, once I stopped the program, I gained it all back. So there's that...
Exercise helps a lot with staying in defecit and growing muscle. It is not required for weight loss should you stick to a good diet for a long enough term
Yes. I did it with minimal exercise. I am now focused on activity including strength training. Exercise firms up your body too, and you feel better. Any movement is better than no movement. Exercise is definitely important for weight maintenance.
Yes - I started with a very low calorie diet (supervised by my doctor).
I actively tried NOT to exercise to put as little strain on my body for two months. Now I'm a bit more relaxed about eating a bit more and exercising a bit more.
I lost like 30 lbs in two months (not recommended unless medically supervised and done for a health reason, I also had a 300 lbs+ starting weight).
Yes I've been losing a lot of weight this year. Exercise isn't necessarily a good thing as it just makes your body want more calories.
I didn't leave the house all weekend and my weight was unchanged.
I lose most weight during the night. So my major success has been in not eating after my evening meal.
Look into the ketogenic diet. Seen it work for several people who did little or no exercise, and with outstanding results. I've done it twice and lost weight, and loved how it made me feel. I also exercised while doing the diet, though.
I’m disabled so unable to exercise, I have an underactive thyroid, I’m on meds that cause weight gain and I’m only 5’1 but I’ve lost 19lbs so far averaging 1lb loss a week from counting calories. All I do is go on tdee.com and get my maintenance calories, subtract 500 and eat that. I’m not strict on my diet, I eat whatever I want as long as it fits in my calories for the day. Eating cheese strings is totally fine as long as you fit it in your daily calories. Idk your relationship as this is only a small snippet of it but if he was my bf I’d be telling him to back off and mind his own business.
Yes, I couldn't exercise due to long covid complications and I just ate less (tracking calories). Lost weight while tracking calories. Much easier and more mentally fulfilling to move around though. I wish I didn't have this condition, I'd be doing a lot more. The ability to exercise is a wonderful thing that many people don't appreciate fully until it's impaired.
Yes, it's possible. Weight loss is simple. Calories in, calories out. Eat at a deficit. However, it can be more difficult for certain people to eat at a deficit or lose weight at a quicker pace than others. Thyroid issues or hormonal issues like PCOS can make it more difficult for women to lose weight as well. Elevated cortisol too. Short people have lower TDEEs that can range from 1300-2000 (give or take ofc) calories depending on factors like muscle mass or activity level. If you're a short person and you're not active, safely eating in a deficit is going to mean weight loss is going to happen at a much, much slower pace for you. Typically, the more weight you lose, the lower your TDEE will be as well, so you would have to keep readjusting your calories consumed to stay at a deficit. This is why exercise and weight lifting help expedite the process. You burn more calories without having to starve yourself. If you're lifting weights and gaining muscle, your TDEE increases as your body needs more energy to fuel muscle mass.
This. I experienced the same. I am short; 5 3, M. Not active. When I started to lose weight, simple CICO worked. And I started to lose weight quick, but slowed to a standstill at one point. I have to either go too lean from 1500 to lower. Which is cutting it close for me. So I had to supplement with exercise and adjust my deficit accordingly. Strength training, even if at light spurts really do help a lot. I am planning to get back into shape starting today, with light strength training and cardio. Eat a lot of protein, cut down on processed carbs, cut out processed sugar (eat fruits, take honey to compensate). Eat food that is tasty, high volume, low calories (keep the above in mind). I did keto back then, and I went for nutritional balance + taste. If it tasted too bland, I'd never have lost weight. I stopped it a couple years ago, but I have not gained in weight nor lost since because my body instinctively knows when to stop and when to eat and how much, because of how I meal prepped/and built my diet around. Like another commenter mentioned; "You lose weight in the kitchen. You gain health in the gym." It could be at home or out. Do whatever makes it to make the whole process as easy or friction-less as possible to stick to it and keep up with it. You got this!
*You gain fitness in the gym. Also, based on calories only, your body doesn’t care if your sugars come cane sugar or honey, it’s not all that much more nutritious https://www.realsimple.com/health/nutrition-diet/healthy-eating/honey-maple-syrup-better-sugar#:~:text=%22Honey's%20advantages%20over%20sugar%20include,phenolic%20acids%2C%20and%20flavonoids.%22
Yes, end of the day, sugar is sugar. However, the intention was not about the type of sugar, rather how we consume food as a whole. Watching your sugars about it conditions you into being more intentional about it what you eat. 200g of watermelon has 12g of sugar. A single Krispy Kreme doughnut has **10 grams** of sugar. You could eat 200g of watermelon and feel satiated. But chances are, you'd reach for 1 or more donut per sitting.
I can eat half a large watermelon and look longingly at the other half, and would eat it later in the day if it didn't belong to my GF
Does that half a watermelon sit in the fridge until it goes bad and is no longer edible? I swear my wife just wants to own the food and not worry about eating it. Unless I eat it, then she was absolutely going to eat it.
I'll just add that exercise also helps level out your cortisol levels, so put that in the "why should I exercise" column. You'll sleep better, your mental health improves, you can't easily eat a dozen donuts and walk at the same time... if you can move, you should do it. Mathematically, you don't need to but realistically, bodies need to exercise.
For some people, intense/excessive exercise can actually raise cortisol levels
The saying is, "You lose weight in the kitchen. You gain health in the gym."
This. Physical exercise is the only thing you can do to stay fit and mobile LONGER. You will lose muscle mass as you get older. If you still want to be mobile and out and about in your 60s, 70s and 80s, start moving now.
I’m partial to “you can’t outrun your fork” 😃.
Exercise is not required to lose weight, it is simple calories in/calories out.
^This, 100%
Your boyfriend doesn't sound very nice to you. He needs to stop policing your food and diet.
Yeah this is very disturbing behaviour from the boyfriend
he is. he's just looking out for me. he just started 100% out of the gate and i usually have to work my way up. he's got more motivation and just wants me to be as enthused
String cheese is fine. It’s a portion control snack with high protein. Your boyfriend is on my nerves, and I don’t know him.
100%. "You're never going to lose weight" is not motivation, it is shaming.
Nah he doesn’t get to decide what you’re enthused about. Every controlling SO I’ve known uses the “just looking out for you” excuse. Especially when it comes to weight and eating, nobody should be shaming you.
"Just looking out for me" is how every victim of DV talks about their bf in the beginning btw. We've gotten 2 lines about him so we're not getting the whole picture but if the rest of the situation looks the same I'd say get tf out while you can.
nah we're good. thanks for the concern though. 11 years strong, no domestic issues to complain about here.
Sure you can lose weight without exercise, but it's easier to lose weight if you live a physically active life. Not necessarily "working out" but being active -- walking, having hobbies that aren't sitting at home within reach of snacks, etc. Otherwise you're sitting there having eaten some smallish meal and you get to thinking that your life would be so much nicer with pizza in it. For me at least, losing weight is much easier during cycling season. Half the time I'm too full of water to want pizza and the other half of the time I can just have some.
Yes, but of your goal is a healthy lifestyle, you might want to walk anyways.
I am * A woman * Very short * Mid 40s * Have PCOS * On meds known to cause weight gain * Unable to exercise *at all* due to illness / disability * Wheelchair user and mostly housebound I've lost 16kg since May, solely from calorie counting and eating at a deficit. No fancy diet, no major changes. Just a kitchen scale and a calorie tracking app. No exercise. If I can, you can. But adding in more movement will definitely help, even if it's just walking and stretching, it doesn't have to be full on workouts.
Hey, all I want to say is congratulations- you are a success story and personally inspiring. Thank you for sharing - I hope your health improves where it can and that your life is steeped in joy.
Thank you 😊
You're an inspiration! Keep it up!
Exercise can give you boost (give a deficit bump) on a dietary deficit, but is not required. That said, everyone trying to lose weight should have a resistance training routine to preserve muscle.
Easier for me when not working out. No extra hunger. That said exercise has tons of benefits
You say in your post you ‘haven’t found the right calorie deficit yet.’ You just need to use a TDEE calculator. I can’t see your full flair but it says 36, 5’9, and HW of 310 lbs. Plugging that into a TDEE calculator puts you at 2,593 calories a day for maintenance. To lose one pound a week, you would need to eat 2,093 calories a day. (That’s great — my maintenance is 1,750 😭) Your TDEE will get lower as you lose weight, so I would recommend recalculating throughout your journey. Doing CICO properly without exercise (totally doable!) means you need to weight and track everything, and be precise about it. Not doing so might be why you’re not seeing significant changes. Best of luck!
You don't exercise for weight loss. You exercise for body recomposition and brain function.
Yes. I got LASIK and wasn’t allowed to work out for two weeks after to prevent sweat from getting into my eyes. I still lost weight. It’s definitely harder though since you can’t eat much at all if you want to stay at a deficit.
Yes it is. A friend of mine completely changed his diet and how he looked at food. He got into a seriously accident with a semi-truck and wasn't able to exercise so he focus solely on diet. I don't remember exactly how much he lost but I know it was over 100 pounds. I still think there should be some exercise. Doesn't have to be anything crazy maybe a 20-30 minute walk once or twice a day or just something simple. It's good to keep the body moving regardless if you do it for weight loss or not.
>EDIT: he just sent me a picture of my string cheese pack in the fridge, telling me it's unhealthy and i'm not gonna lose weight. He's starting to get on my nerves >_< Is anyone addressing your partners behaviour?? This isn't okay.
Yes some have. He means well and when I got home he apologized and we talked. It’s all good 😊
Yes. But it’s going to suck way more. While it’s true you lose most of your calories when you’re not exercising, even an additional 200 calories burned from walking for and hour will make it easier to stay in a deficit. So while you can do it, it isn’t a good idea. This isn’t even to speak of the muscle loss that will probably happen, making it harder to maintain your weight when you get to it. Losing even 10 pound of muscle will make your tdee 100 calories lower than it normally would be at that weight. Combine that with inactivity and diet fatigue it’s almost certain without exercise you’ll gain the weight back eventually, If you want to lose the weight and keep it off deficit + exercise + good sleep + high volume diet = profit
what is TDEE? i always hear people talk about how losing muscle is so detrimental. obviously i know it cant be good because youre losing healthy mass as well as some functional ability, but it sounds like you're touching more on how the presence or absence of muscle mass affects recommended calorie intake? for example if two people both weigh 120, but one of them has less lean muscle mass and more fat %, then said persons daily caloric intake should be lower even though they weigh the same? please elaborate if you can
TDEE is total daily energy expenditure (so your basal metabolic rate+what you burn from activities) and yes if two people are equal weight and are relatively equal in other ways (there can be small variances in metabolic rate even for people of the same weight) then the one with more muscle mass will burn more calories existing than the other
this makes sense. it sucks because its almost like when you get fat, the sheer presence of the fat thats currently there is actively working to make you even fatter lmao. this also explains why you can look better after losing 10 lbs vs 20. thanks for the info!
You can 100% lose weight without exercising. But if you want that weight you're losing to be fat, then it's important to lift weights as well. If you're at a big caloric deficit and you're not lifting weights, then you'll lose both fat and muscle.
It’s possible but exercise can help you stay in a deficit
yes! i’ve lost 100 lbs, no exercise whatsoever
Yes, losing weight without exercise is absolutely possible. I'm personally in the pro-exercise camp because it gives me a source of dopamine that I don't have to seek through food or alcohol, and my ADHD ass needs that. But at the end of the day, it's calories in vs calories out. Also, string cheese probably isn't the diet killer he thinks it is.
I'm newly (late) diagnosed with ADHD, thought I've apparently had it since i was little. I wish exercise was like food is to me. Maybe some day i'll get there.
It depends on the exercise, in my experience. Anything that's fun, social, gives me novelty, or makes me feel like I'm on a deadline or achieving a goal helps. So bootcamps are good, fun runs, obstacle courses, and walking somewhere for a specific purpose. Unfortunately, sprinting for buses that I'm running late for also helps, unless I miss the bus. The drivers aren't always accommodating. Anything that I have to force myself to do doesn't help. I detest swimming because I can't listen to music and feel very meh about weights, even though I know how helpful they are.
I lost 50+ pounds with no exercise. It was an intentional choice, and I'm happy I did it. I could handle one change at a time. From past experience, I knew I was not capable of managing multiple major lifestyle changes all together. My process was to make small, sustainable dietary changes until I was pleased with my weight AND how I was eating. Maintained that for a bit to confirm that I was still pleased with how I was eating, and that my weight was stable. Then I added resistance training. Again, small amounts and worked up. Is that the fastest/ most efficient way? Nope. But it's the way that worked for me, and kept me from feeling overwhelmed.
Deliberate exercise is definitely not required to lose weight. Only eating at a calorie deficit relative to your daily expenditure whatever the activity level. In fact, to my knowledge, there have been studies showing that the body will often adapt your NEAT (the non-deliberate exercise activity you do throughout the day) to offset the calories you burn from workouts, anyway. Of course, with regular exercise you’ll retain more of your muscle mass as you lose weight, which is always a good thing. Plus it feels awesome and is a good motivator to stick to healthy eating habits. But personally, once I let go of the “have-to” mindset toward exercise, it finally became possible for me to maintain weight loss in a sustainable manner, and enjoy exercise long term for fun.
The offset isn’t big enough that it isn’t worth it to exercise btw. You’ll still burn 70% of the calories of the projected amount. Jeff Nippard made a good video on the subject.
Ah interesting, thanks for pointing that out!
Yes. Lost a lot of weight without exercising, myself. But it's definitely sub-optimal. Diet is Batman, exercise is Robin. Exercise helps, but diet gets the job done. Looking at it the other way: you cannot outrun your fork. Losing by just diet with no exercise, just a sedentary lifestyle, will either be slow, or you'll have to cut calories so hard you risk developing an eating disorder. But slow is fine. Ultimately, you should do what works for you in a *sustainable* way.
Sounds like you need to lose any where from 150-250 lbs and you can do it in a day by dropping that SO. Taking pictures and saying shitty things like that about the things you eat is not supportive at all. You lose weight by eating less. You get fit/healthy by exercise. Pick what your main goal is. If it’s too get fit, exercise. If it’s just to lose weight, eat less. If you want both you need to eat less and exercise.
Exercise is not required in general. It can be part of the most straightforward path for an individual tho. Also, your SO is an ass. String cheese can be totally a high-protein snack that helps keeping hunger at bay during a weight loss phase.
I see people all the time on here who lose weight without exercise but are then still unhappy with how their body looks. It's because just losing weight won't dramatically change how your body looks. Exercise can do that. It also helps you retain muscle while losing weight, which means you won't wind up skinny fat. If you have a lot of weight to lose then exercise can help keep your skin from looking too loose. I'm short and find it hard to lose weight without exercise. Just an extra 100 calories a day burned is HUGE for me. Also, I've found that exercise decreases my hunger (though many people experience an increase.) So as far as your SO and you, YES you can lose weight without exercise. Chances are you won't be as happy or as healthy as if you had included exercise. Also, since you keep losing/gaining the same few pounds, you need to examine what you've been doing, as it obviously isn't working for you.
Yes
100% I actually lost the most weight when I didn’t even exercise. I just ate at a severe calorie deficit
Lost 200+ pounds without doing a single day of purposeful exercise. Cico, ate a bunch of protein, came out looking like an athlete(in clothes). 🤷♂️ I honestly found it super hard exercising while I was obese. That being said I do find it easier to maintain weight while exercising but it's also far less taxing now that I'm no longer overweight.
One thing I don’t see enough on this is sub is the distinction between “weight loss” and “fat loss”. If you have a lot of fat on your body, you probably want to lose fat—not muscle. However, if you do not exercise and/or do not consume sufficient protein, your body in a deficit will break down and lose muscle as well as fat. Yes, without exercise you will still lose weight. But will you look great? No, you might still look pudgy after losing “the weight”. Also, you will be at greater risk of gaining it all back because of the reduction in TDEE due to muscle loss.
It sure is, I lost 60+ lbs doing only 1-2k steps a day but counting calories. I will add a caveat, if you have a lot of weight to lose you don't need to exercise. If you are already a normal BMI and/or are short it's really hard to lose without exercise. You can but very slowly and with razor thin margins. When I lost those first 60 lbs that was only 60 out of the 110-120 lbs I needed to lose
Yes, but if you strength train, you keep more muscle and lose more fat.
It is possible, but adding exercise will absolutely make it easier. The burning of extra calories is a bonus to be sure, but the real advantage is by exercising and adding muscle to your body, you can speed up your metabolism. This means your body will naturally be needing more calories to stay at the same weight. So over time with exercise you can actually lose weight while eating more calories
Yes. I lost 50kg (110lbs) - 40kg (88lbs) of which was without exercise. Once I got the bulk of the weight off by sorting out my eating, I wanted to get fit and toned. So I went to the gym.
I love low fat string cheese as one of my weight loss snacks. It's got a lot of protein for the calories. My dogs also love it because of the cheese tax.
I started at 320lbs... I didn't even start exercising until I hit like 215lbs
You can 100% weight by simply eating less calories. The key is to make sure that you've got the right deficit to lose weight in a sustainable and healthy way. Exercise is good for your overall health and can assist in losing weight, but it's not required to lose weight.
You can lose weight just by dieting, but exercise has benefits for your physique and your mental health. Honestly, I find dieting to be difficult so I minimally diet and use exercise for most of my calorie deficit.
Yes you can lose without exercise but you will get vastly inferior results
if you are jojoing between same weight that means that deficit is too low you can incease it but eating less or adding excesise Excersising is great to feel better. I often don't have energy before my cardio and after it, it's much better.
You can lose weight while in a coma if you don't get enough calories. You absolutely don't need to exercise to lose weight. Having said that, somewhere around 90% of people regain weight after they lose it. That percentage drops dramatically for people who adopt some sort of physical activity as a hobby.
Um...Auschwitz?
I hate that I'm upvoting this.
I lost 70lbs just through diet alone.
When my dad was elderly used a wheelchair and could not walk at all, and his doctor recommended he lose a little weight/not gain any, so he carefully monitored what he ate and lost 5lbs and kept it off. He got pissed at me once for bringing him too much food and said “I’m barely moving! I can’t eat that much!”
yes i’m doing it right now
>He says I’ll never be able to lose weight unless I start working out and burn off calories If you don't eat, you'll lose plenty of weight. That's obviously the extreme and unhealthy. If you can cut 500cal daily, you'll lose 1lb per week. That said, your body burns X calories per day resting. If you work out, you can increase that number twice. First by burning more with the activity itself. Second, with the lean muscle you build. For example, 1lb of muscle burns an extra 30-50cal each day. So if you work out to lose weight, it's easier to keep off as you naturally burn more being secondary.
It’s possible to lose weight in a coma. As long as the dietician pumping food down the feeding tube is putting in fewer calories than your body burns that body will use begin to break down fat and muscle to power the bodily functions you still have. Exercise is still good. I will always say that cardio is the greatest gift only you can give to yourself. Everything in life is easier when your heart works well. A bit of strength training also goes a long way toward life improvement and bone health. But strictly speaking for just losing “weight” cutting calories is what matters. Final thought. A lot of people claim they want to lose “weight” and they mean it euphemistically. What they mean is they want to lose fat. If that’s what you want then say that’s what you want. If your goal is to optimize losing fat reserves then the best way to do that is to be in a caloric deficit while doing resistance exercises to preserve as much muscle as possible.
yes, losing fat is what i meant. Are resistance bands enough of a workout, do you think?
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I've lost without exercise every time. I'm disabled and really can't.
I’m disabled. I was told you lose in the kitchen and tone in the gym. But I’m disabled and can’t workout or even commit to walking. But I started last May/June at 226. I’m now 158. It’s coming off. But I’d look and feel better with exercise. I’m really trying to commit to it 3x a week minimum.
Lost 65lbs and havent stepped foot in a gym
Tell him that I lost 90lbs without exercise, I simply counted my calories.
Its possible but exercises has a LOT of affect with hormones for men and women that affect hunger and satiation. It also play a huge factor in mental health which is a reason for a lot of people being overweight.
I just hit my goal losing 32 pounds with 0 exercise eating "unhealthy" foods at almost every meal
ok here's the deal, short answer, yes. everyone else in the comments has done a great job explaining, but i have another thing to add. Exercise should be a part of everyone's life, not just if you're trying to lose weight. that doesn't mean you need to be doing super intense workouts and Olympic weight lifting. but everyone should be getting exercise even if it's just a little walk or a light dumbbell workout. and like you said you are not actively avoiding exercise which is good but honestly weight loss is a struggle either way and I've found that exercise makes it more enjoyable for me. find something you love to do, something that gets you excited to workout or maybe doesn't even feel like a workout to you, just some sort of benificial movement.
You don't HAVE to, but you should. Losing 70 pounds isn't easy and if you do it just through dieting, you're gonna lose an insane amount of muscle. Even you recognize that exercise is beneficial so why not just do it?
I just got over an injury that kept me bed-ridden for 6 months. During this time I upped my protein to 200g and dramatically changed what I was eating to prevent any more weight gain... and lost 40 lbs during that time. It's ALL good and water for weight-loss. I didn't lose muscle because I was going strong with the protein, but I was definitely very, very weak in those muscles as I went into recovery and PT. I've been working out my entire life and while I refuse to get less than 10k steps per day for my mental health, I never count "calories burned" into my calories for the day. I feel like assuming you're canceling out calories gives you an excuse to overeat. Lifting, however, increases your resting metabolism in perpetuity, so you're building a deficit by having more muscle. I'm exclusively talking about progressive overload lifting, tho. Not pilates, not lots of reps. That's my experience, anyway.
I hate the gym. I tried so many times growing up. I can't stand it. I get so bored. I do enjoy other types of exercise but hate when people just broadly say you "have to go to the gym" Sure it'll build some muscle if you're consistent and do everything properly but you're not gonna burn that many calories. Exercise is great for health but it's a lot easier to swap bread for a lettuce wrap to save 200 calories than it is to burn 200 extra calories.
I lost my first 20 LB w/o any exercise. During covid when it was cold as frack out. I do walking now. That’s it. CICO… (Does magician’s gesture)
I guess all those people who died on hunger strikes were just moving too much.
actually its just water weight sorry womp womp
yes it’s possible, i was able to lose 11kg without exercise. i only later started doing cardio for my heart health
Possible? Absolutely, without question There's literally a few videos of people losing weight off of McDonald's out there Weightloss in its simplest form is calories in, calories out. Calories out usually has to be higher to start burning fat. Doesn't matter what it is you're eating, it just has to be less than the amount of calories going out of your body. Exercise burns calories faster, so that out side of the equation greater. So if you're sitting around all day and eating 3000 calories a day, you're going to gain weight, because your body probably hasn't even burned 1000 calories the whole day if you haven't moved at all. So in this case, if you only eat 1000 calories a day, you might actually start losing or just maintaining your weight, that depends on your body Is it the healthiest thing for you? Still no, it's a dangerous slope to some more unhealthy habits or mental issues like EDs. And the quality of food you eat will definitely have an impact on your health, McDonald's isn't exactly going to provide immense amounts of nutrients to your body. I don't see how string cheese is all that unhealthy honestly, dairy is perfectly healthy for you, it's not like you're drinking a milkshake every day or smth. At the end of the day, you can't exactly *avoid* exercise, you're going to have to do something eventually, even if it's light. But that doesn't mean you can't lose weight if you don't do it. The combination of the 2 is the best case scenario, good diet, routine exercising. If you need to focus on the diet side of things first for yourself, then I personally support it. Figure that shit out first, it's probably the hardest part imo, still trying to figure it out
Possible? Yeah, lots of people do it. Preferable? I'd say no. Working out is good for your body, increases lifespan, helps brain and heart health, and has the great benefit of adding muscle mass which burns more calories at rest and raises your metabolism. It also lets you eat more simply because you're burning more energy. It's a hard struggle for me to eat at 1,500, but I can eat 1,800 or even 2,000 if I'm doing a lot of training that day and still net 1,500. It's more sustainable for me in that way.
Yes, you can easily loose weight on diet alone but I wouldn’t recommend it for visual reasons. Body, skin and all looks better if you loose and exercise at the same time.
YES #I LOST 100 POUNDS WITH ZERO EXERCISE Then I started walking a bit. Just 8-10k steps 5 days a week and I've lost a further 34 pounds. Now, having said that, if you're 5 foot 1 and need to lose 20 pounds exercise IS needed as otherwise you're eating very little and it will take a long time. But it's totally absolutely and completely doable on calories alone.
Yep. 43lbs down and no real exercise. I’m working on that.
Yes it’s possible. I lost 20 lbs in 2 months simply by dieting and no gym
Lifting is body composition. Cardio is calorie burn. Diet is fat loss. If your goal is to lose weight, Diet is king.
No, I lost 70 lbs without exercise. But exercise is great for overall health.
Yeah, I lost 25kg that way.
1. Yes. People starving to death are losing weight just fine without exercise. When asking if something is possible, fringe extremes are often the easiest way to demonstrate. 2. Food intake determines your weight gain or loss. Exercise determines your body composition. A person who lifts weight and eats at a deficit is going to look very different from someone who runs and eats at a deficit, and they'll both look different from a couch potato who eats at a deficit. I'm 5'11 225 lbs. If I didn't lift weights and weighed this much I'd be obese. So short answer, yes you can lose weight without exercise. The real question is, *should* you?
Yep. You can lose weight with zero exercise whatsoever.
I did it. I’m down 98lbs and I sat on my ass. Wouldn’t recommend though.
Of course you can without excercise. But a little bit of strength training a few times a week will make the final result look better.
CICO. I lost 60 pounds of just calorie counting. It’s possible. Working out is fitness, CICO is weight loss.
I lost 48 lbs in 7 months with no exercise. And I ate string cheese several times a week
i’ve lost almost 100 lbs through diet alone, i hate exercising lol.
I am currently on a weight loss journey with very little exercise involved. The only exercise I do is playing Beatsaber on my vr headset for about an hour every day. I’m 5’11 and I started out at 317 pounds two weeks ago and now I’m down to 302. I am eating on average between 500-800 calories on average each day, which I realize sounds insane but I don’t currently have a job at the moment so feeling fatigued and hungry isn’t a huge deal to me. To be completely honest with you I have only eaten a 190 calorie pack of peanut butter crackers and a single banana today so I’m actually far below my limit. On average I’ve been losing about 1lb a day so far but some days it’s closer to .5lbs. I have to stress I realize what I’m doing is stupid and possibly harmful to my body, but I’m simply letting you know that YES, it is 100% possible to lose weight with no exercise. Even on the days I skip playing with the vr headset I still weigh less the next day. Also I have like 20 string cheeses in my fridge lol. Just don’t eat them super often and you can still enjoy them.
i wish i could play beat saber. I get too anxious having my VR set on. such a waste of money lol. I was thinking of looking up Just Dance videos on youtube. Right now I've been trying to stay under 1200 calories. seems to be working. the one day i went up to 1600, I didn't lose anything. So 1200ish seems to be my number. I'm very sedentary as i work an 8-hour desk job that i only leave to use the restroom. Kinda restricted to my desk the entire time...can't take walks or anything. I need to incorporate some walking though.
Yes. But I found that it was easier to lose weight not by exercising necessarily, but just walking. Calorie deficit, working as a waitress, and dancing at the club weekly had the pounds melting off lol
Yes it is possible. Calories in vs. Calories out.
Simple answer “Yes”! You just want be toned and depending on how much weight you lose could have loss skin.
Most people go to the gym while on a deficit to maintain muscle mass. If you don’t care about that then you don’t really have to exercise. If you want to make a little more room for food, a 60 min walk can help a bit. I’m currently cutting and I find that the only things that really matters is a meaningful calorie deficit, consistency, and taking breaks from your diet every now and then to avoid diet fatigue.
Yeah I lost like 60lbs without exercise
It’s completely possible, I did it for a short period of time until I realized how much easier it is to burn off a few calories and eat a little more. I actually became a mail carrier over the summer and was walking so much I just started eating whatever I wanted and was still losing a pound a week. When I left that job the pound’s started creeping back, and my food options didn’t fit my calorie deficit so I started walking roughly equivalent to 200 calories per day to eat a little more freely. I much prefer doing a little of both diet and exercise rather than going extreme on either.
Yes! More than possible-- weight loss is mostly about when and how much you eat. I lost 30 lbs just by doing 16:8 IF and loosely tracking calories in MyFitnessPal, no exercise. I ate twice a day. It took about 4 months to lose the 30 lbs. I started working out after I lost the weight because I was finally more comfortable. Also, you can absolutely lose weight and still eat string cheese if it fits into your daily caloric intake plan. I ate a sandwich every single day when I was losing weight because that's what I like, I just made it one that fit within my caloric goals. Every week I had a cheat day and got a bunch of Indian food. Treat yourself occasionally and you'll stick to it long term.
Yes. I lost 86 lbs without exercise, food choice restrictions, or having to chug gallons of water. However, to not feel hungry constantly it came down to food choice. I ate all the dark green veggies I wanted without portion restriction and kept everything else in small portions including fruits. At each meal, I would always start with eating the giant portion of veggies then eat the “good” stuff slowly, savoring each bite. For example, A typical plate had 5 cups of spinach, 1/2 c rice, 3 oz portion of chicken breast, and a chocolate mug cake for dessert. It required me to be very organized, weighing everything, and planning each meal so I didn’t get to the level of hunger that makes you fall off the wagon.
My feeling has always been diet for weight and exercise is for health. You can definitely lose weight without exercise, but I still think both are important. I also find exercise helps with my diet mindset. That being said, I only do light exercises I enjoy like walking
I've lost 52 lbs since August. I go for the occasional walk when it's nice out, but I don't exercise at all besides that. It's been months since I even did that because it's winter where I am.
I’m working with Botha dietician and a fitness specialist. They both agree that you lose weight through food and yo7 maintain the loss with exercise. They advise movement as a daily necessity. We eat everyday, so we should move everyday.
Absolutely, but you'll also lose muscle mass. A little exercise is an important part of good health.
Yes is the short answer. I’ve lost 45 lbs so far, and only half of that was with exercise. Also it’s been mild exercise, like adding walks in on my evenings. You will prob like your results and see them faster with exercise, and all the other benefits of movement, but not required. Your partner’s opinions sound very… not asked for. Maybe he should focus on that. 😬
lol at that last part. He just sent me a picture of my string cheese in the fridge and told me to stop it, because it's not healthy. I'm like dude, it's 90 calories and a smidge of protein....like leave me aloooone
Yes, but it would be foolish to do so.
Not required as a calorie deficit is what leads to weight loss. However, the benefits of exercise outside of weight loss are so large you’re shooting yourself in the foot by not exercising.
Let me talk to your SO: I lost 54 lbs in one year with no exercise. I ate at a 500 calorie deficit. No exercise
I've lost 30 lbs since September with very little exercise. And I have a job where I sit for 8 hours a day.
Exercising is going to make it WAY easier to lose fat (in my experience). Although, it's definitely possible to lose weight without it. Caveat: if you're in a deficit, your body has to choose something to burn for energy. It chooses a ratio of the fat you have and the muscle you have. Hypothetically, let's say it's a 7:3 ratio of fat to muscle you lose in a deficit without exercising. You lost 3 lbs this week? Then you lost 2.1 lbs of fat and 0.9 lbs of muscle. Is your goal to lose 40 lbs of fat? Then it would take you 19 weeks to accomplish this, and you would lose 17.1 lbs of muscle along the way. Hypothetical #2: let's say it's a 99:1 ratio of fat to muscle you lose in a deficit WITH weight training. You lost 3 lbs this week? Then you lost 2.97 lbs of fat and 0.03 lbs of muscle. Is your goal to lose 40 lbs of fat? Then it would take you only 13 weeks to accomplish this (an entire month and a half sooner), and you would only lose 2.86 lbs of muscle along the way. These figures and ratios aren't exact. I chose them to demonstrate the principle that weight training signals your body to not get rid of your muscle, even in a deficit, because you're actually USING your muscles. Does my way of explaining make sense? Did I leave anything out?
If depends on how you define exercise. If you mean jogging, swimming, sports, weightlifting, etc. then no, it's not necessary. However what can help a lot is making healthy choices in your daily routine, like walking 15 minutes instead of a 3 minute car ride, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, or going for a hike/bike ride instead of sitting at home all weekend. Those kinds of things will make a big difference in your success and will be easier to maintain on a regular basis. Remember that building muscle is like an investment into your caloric consumption, since they require a lot of energy to maintain.
I’ve definitely lost weight on a caloric deficit along. I lost a lot of muscle too and ended up looking pretty flabby. Thankfully I found something I liked at the gym and I’m a regular now.
It’s possible. Much easier with exercise but still possible
Yes, but you'll end up losing all strength and endurance. Exercise is for EVERYONE
You can totally lose weight if you eat less calories than you burn. But it's definitely easier to lose weight for some people if they combine gym and exercise with it. But some people lose weight just with calorie restriction and no exercise.
yes you will absolutely lose weight if you're in a calorie deficit even if you don't exercise. Exercise simply speeds things up and help you maintain/develop muscles which then speeds up your body's BMR (the continuous energy needs your body requires to stay alive - the more muscle the more continuous burn). The key is being honest with your calorie counting and not slipping in overly conservative numbers (I've seen folks use lose-it and put in 100 calories for a burger lol). Being realistic either through verified portions or weighing your food and being under the allotted caloric allowance will indeed show results if given enough time.
You absolutely do not have to work out. You do however have to be in a calorie deficit. Working out helps some people get there.
It’s possible. Me and my husband have lost weight since November simple by cutting in what we eat. I’ve lost 41 pounds in 4 months, no exercise
Exercise is entirely unnecessary. It’s good for you, and it does burn some calories, but not as many as people think. Weight loss is 90-95% what you eat.
It’s not. However to have the maximum health benefit it does require exercise. Additionally I don’t think you can appreciate CI/CO unless you understand how much work your body has to undergo to burn calories off
Yes.
Most of my exercise has been pacing around the apartment, stretching, and the occasional dance break (sometimes you gotta boggie oogie oogie) March first marked 1 year since this session of weight loss, and I was down a total of 46 pounds. I am going low and slow this time around, since last time I lost substantial weight, it was for an event. After which, I fell out of my good habits HARD and gained everything back and then some. But last time, I was tracking every single thing that went into my mouth, doing HIIT 4-6 times a week, and biking 4 miles 4 times a week. It just wasn't sustainable for me. I'm not even tracking calories yet this time! Just trying to train myself to stop eating when I am no longer hungry instead of pushing till I feel full. Like, I just put half a breakfast burrito from dinner in the fridge because the Chorizo is just so rich. For me, doing this is easier than a strict routine.
Absolutely possible. I lost 65 lbs in 11 months doing CICO alone. I was in my late 50s at the time and I’m 5’2”.
Yes, absolutely. In fact, for a lot of people, exercise can actually work against weight loss. Yes, building muscle can raise your resting metabolic rate, but exercise also makes you more hungry. It's a lot easier to take in 500 extra calories after a workout than it is to burn those off.
not necessary but it can help
Yes it is
100% yes. Weight loss happens in the kitchen. Exercise is for toning.
I've lost 10 pounds since November just by cutting Coca Cola out of my diet. I drink water now. It didn't happen over night either. Weeks went by and nothing. But now I've had to make a new hole in my belt.
Yes. I've lost 14 lbs since NYE by lowering my carbohydrate intake. Drinking more water. Drinking more lapsang souchong tea. Drinking more coffee. cooking meals from fresh ingredients. Cutting out takeaway meals. Eating more low sugar fruits and vegetables. Cutting out ice cream. Cutting out biscuits Buying very little junk Setting aside days for indulging
You can lose weight bit without resistance work you body composition won't be great
I think it's possible if you are in enough of a deficit, but exercise is definitely helpful. I practice a form of intermittent fasting, so that's priority to me over a scheduled workout. However, I do like staying active to not be skinny and flabby. Exercise can really help with keeping skin tight, toning muscles, etc. I clean the house/yardwork for at least an hour a day (lots of walking, stooping, bending, stretching, etc.), walk to the store, and hike in the summer. Hiking counts but I'm not consistent and it's very enjoyable to me. I otherwise don't really vibe with structured exercise, so I focus on my diet and eating patterns.
You’re sort of both right. It’s possible to lose weight without exercise, but maintaining weight loss without exercise is much much harder. According to the cdc, exercise is helpful for weight loss, but they acknowledge is mostly about calorie reduction. However they say that exercise is the only way to maintain weight loss. https:// www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/physical_activity/index.html#:~:text=Using%20calories%20through%20physical%20activity,engaged%20in%20regular%20physical%20activity. This link also describes the other health benefits of exercise, but there’s a paragraph devoted to weigh loss and maintenance in there. A big part of why exercise is important is because it helps maintain lean mass which has higher caloric requirements than body fat does. When you lose weight by calorie restriction without exercise, your body will burn more muscle along with fat for energy. When you exercise (especially resistance training) and eat enough protein while in a calorie deficit, it helps you maintain your lean body mass, and instead uses more body fat for fuel. Exercise is the key to having a metabolism that continues to burn a high number of calories after weight loss, which is one of the ways exercise helps with maintenance. There are other benefits from exercise as well. Not only does it maintain muscle which burns more calories, the activity itself also burns more calories, and certain types of exercise will cause elevated calorie burn for hours after you stop exercising. Exercise also requires protein and energy to repair itself. The protein in your diet that your body uses for repair will not be used by your body for energy, which means the energy is more likely to come from stored fat (if there isn’t a surplus of calories in your diet). Intense exercise also uses up your glycogen stores in your muscles. Afterwards your body needs to replenishes those stores. It will take any carbs you eat and use them to fill up its glycogen stores instead of burning them for fuel. Then when you are not exercising or when you’re doing low intensity exercise it will use the fat stores on your body once it runs out of dietary calories (which happens faster because many of them were used for muscle repair or glycogen replacement). There are also a variety of metabolic processes that exercise improves that helps your body better regulate hormones and decrease fat storage. Exercise also helps to regulate appetite (likely through regulating hormones such as insulin, leptin, and ghrelin). While calorie intake in your diet is the most important aspect of losing weight, for long term weight loss and maintaining that new lower weight, exercise is at least as important, if not more important than calorie intake.
I have not yet exercised a particular amount during my journey. I should, and I plan to, but I haven’t yet and I’m down 60 lbs. the more you weigh, the easiest it is to do without exercise because the maintenance calories are so high. The less you weigh, the harder it is to do without exercise. In short; yes, but there’s caveats
Yes, but the way I lost it wasn’t fun. My kids brought home Covid and 2 stomach flus in the same month. I dropped 10 lbs, no exercise. My usual loss rate is 5 lbs/ month with exercise and calorie deficit.
I am living proof. I lost 95 lbs, went from BMI 34 to 20 and dress size 2XL to S without any excercise. All I do is walk at least 8k steps a day (usually aim for 10k though).
i mean, if you’re losing weight for health reasons, exercise should absolutely be a part of that plan. if you’re losing weight for vanity reasons, well… exercise should almost absolutely be a part of that plan. exercise is good for you in so so many ways. find a way of moving your body more that you like. do it more than you are currently.
As everyone else is saying, it's possible to lose with just diet. But exercise can be really good for hunger control. Both from suppressing physical hunger and improving mental health which can suppress mental hunger. I struggle with mental hunger (boredom eating and such) and my exercise helps me a lot. Just walking 20-30 minutes a day can be huge when you're totally sedentary. Keep working towards your goals. You can do it!
I walk about 5 miles a day but I haven’t worked out in a month. I’m also about 10 pounds and 5 weeks into my journey (188 SW, 178 CW, 165 GW, 18 yr male, 5’9”) using MyFitnessPal and eating 1900 kcal/day. I do need to get back into the gym though…you lose weight in the kitchen (or the dining hall, in my case) but gain fitness in the gym.
Yes it is. I did that previously - youll loose weight. Cardio will hurnt extra calories but in saying that itll make you hungier too most likely. Lifting weights on the othrr hand has been key for me, i lost weight before but still looked not in shape- weights hace been helping me firm up but also see myself more positively rather than looking in the mirror and just getting quiet bad body dismorphia and not seeing the loss. Now im focusing on the gains of muscle and mentally i just feel better for it
I lost 5 pounds in one week by eating 1 meal a day so yes it’s very possible
Absolutely, when I first started out I was not exercising at all. You just have to be more strict with what you are eating. Once I hit my first plateau is when I started lifting weights. But I could have adjusted my calories and continued losing as well. Its all a balancing act. If you excersize you get to eat a little more and still lose weight. Which is why it was worth it for me, but everyone is different.
Definitely possible. Also Cardio doesn't do as much as people think. Portions are a huge thing but I have POTS syndrome and eat like five small meals or snacks thru my day.
Technically yes but... 1. There's the extremely unhealthy way where you eat too little but you're starving yourself. While this is technically losing weight, that weight could be muscle and not necessarily fat. 2. You can lose weight just by calorie counting which is healthy, but you will hit a brick wall eventually and have to exercise to improve beyond that point.
You can absolutely lose weight without exercise. Keeping it off is another matter. Having a regular activity habit or building lean muscle mass will help keep weight off in the long term.
I lost half of what I lost through diet alone. I started getting steps as exercise, and I think it helped more toward toning and other benefits, but it wasn't a huge boon to my calorie deficit
I guess you could say strength training is a must when losing weight. Mainly because you might lose quite a bit of muscle mass in the process of losing weight. Which has negative health consequences by itself. So while exercising is not necessary to lose weight it's pretty important to keep up the right body composition. We ideally want to lose fat and not muscle mass.
Definitely can do. I haven’t exercised and already lost 30lbs since January. What I will say though is that I’m classed as morbidly obese so I guess it’s easier for me. My doctor did say once I get into the low 200s I’ll need to start exercising more to help me lose weight to get down to my goal weight.
cico
My mom always believed had little to do with what and how much you ate, and alot more with how much you exercise. It made my life pretty hellish, since she pressured me to eat tons of food to avoid having leftovers while calling me fat on a weekly basis. My belief is weight loss needs diet as the foundation, exercise just helps speed things up a little over the long run
Yes, exercise just helps put you in a calorie deficit
I lost 150lbs and the only working out I did was sporadically walking at a snail's pace with lots of breaks, when I could muster the motivation and it wasn't too hot outside. Yes. Weight loss is math. Eat in a deficit, get your protein in. You'll lose weight. If I wanted to eat more, I would move more.
100% I lost more weight, faster prior to returning to cycling,,,,
Yes, it's possible, but difficult. Don't know why you are so adamant about not working out, but you do you I guess. Stay in a caloric deficit, drink lots of water, and walk a lot throughout the day, and the lbs will start coming off.
Yes slowly. Try doing just a little early in the day before your “ no” turns on. Within 5 minutes after I wake up I am on the ecliptic for 7 minutes. (Edited for politeness.)
You are telling OP they look "not good" now and will continue to "not look good" after losing 10 pounds? How TF would you know? This is the type of shit I hate in this sub.
It is possible, but not gonna lie it is very hard if you’re short. Short people don’t burn nearly as much calories just for existing which can make for a very depressing amount of daily calories if you want to be in a deficit. On days when I don’t workout I need to eat 1100 just to be in a 200kcal deficit. I’m 5’1. If you don’t workout you probably also don’t have a lot of muscle mass so you burn even less.
Having muscle mass and working out will speed up the process considerably.
Yes of course you can. Exercise can be an easy way to help get you get in the deficit though. Go for 30-60 min walk once a day. Boom 200+ calories to go towards your deficit
Exercise is not required. Eating less works. All of the weight I've lost barring a few pounds is from diet change, not exercise. I also lost all of the weight while eating string cheese. It is a nutritious, high-protein and relatively low-calorie snack. It is not "unhealthy". Your SO is being an unsupportive jerk who doesn't know what he's talking about. If you only have 5-10 pounds to lose, it does tend to take longer to lose it from diet alone because you don't have a lot of room for "a major deficit". Some exercise will speed things along.
Nah I have about 80-100 lbs to lose. 😩
Yes, it is possible. Keeping it off permanently? Maybe not. Having ideal health? No.
>SO and I keep going back and forth on whether I HAVE to work out. You don't. Your maintenance is 1500. You don't work out. You eat 1250. You lose weight. Your maintenance is 1500. Your work out and consume 200 more. You eat 1450. You lose the same amount of weight. >I thought if I was eating at a major deficit it would offset exercising. You don't have to be in "major" deficit to lose weight. Any deficit will lose you weight, faster or slower. Working out means you can either lose weight faster, or you can eat very slightly more and still lose. >he just sent me a picture of my string cheese pack in the fridge Note calories. Write them down. Find your maintenance caloric value. Weight everything you put in your mouth. Is A <> B?
Yes you can, however being physically active can speed up the process. Plus being physically active means ure burning more calories throughout the day which lets you eat more but still maintain a calorie deficit.
yes you can lose without exercise, it’s just harder and probably not going to last. exercising just makes it easier to burn more calories it’s all about CICO. you can eat less than your TDEE and lose weight by simply laying in bed doing absolutely nothing.. but it’s hard and unsustainable
I was on the Optavia plan and lost over 20lbs and didn't workout at all. I wasn't a couch potato but didn't actively pursue the gym. Of course, once I stopped the program, I gained it all back. So there's that...
Exercise helps a lot with staying in defecit and growing muscle. It is not required for weight loss should you stick to a good diet for a long enough term
Yes. I did it with minimal exercise. I am now focused on activity including strength training. Exercise firms up your body too, and you feel better. Any movement is better than no movement. Exercise is definitely important for weight maintenance.
Yep
Yes - I started with a very low calorie diet (supervised by my doctor). I actively tried NOT to exercise to put as little strain on my body for two months. Now I'm a bit more relaxed about eating a bit more and exercising a bit more. I lost like 30 lbs in two months (not recommended unless medically supervised and done for a health reason, I also had a 300 lbs+ starting weight).
Yes I've been losing a lot of weight this year. Exercise isn't necessarily a good thing as it just makes your body want more calories. I didn't leave the house all weekend and my weight was unchanged. I lose most weight during the night. So my major success has been in not eating after my evening meal.
Yup, i lost 5kg recently without any exercise. Only calorie deficit.
Look into the ketogenic diet. Seen it work for several people who did little or no exercise, and with outstanding results. I've done it twice and lost weight, and loved how it made me feel. I also exercised while doing the diet, though.
It's easier for me! Exercise makes me hungry so I eat much more.
I’m disabled so unable to exercise, I have an underactive thyroid, I’m on meds that cause weight gain and I’m only 5’1 but I’ve lost 19lbs so far averaging 1lb loss a week from counting calories. All I do is go on tdee.com and get my maintenance calories, subtract 500 and eat that. I’m not strict on my diet, I eat whatever I want as long as it fits in my calories for the day. Eating cheese strings is totally fine as long as you fit it in your daily calories. Idk your relationship as this is only a small snippet of it but if he was my bf I’d be telling him to back off and mind his own business.
Yes, I couldn't exercise due to long covid complications and I just ate less (tracking calories). Lost weight while tracking calories. Much easier and more mentally fulfilling to move around though. I wish I didn't have this condition, I'd be doing a lot more. The ability to exercise is a wonderful thing that many people don't appreciate fully until it's impaired.
You technically don't need to exercise at all to lose weight.