Is it safe to lose weight without exercise?

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TimothyFish
TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
We all know that it is possible to lose weight with very little physical activity. But I wonder if we haven't been so zealous of driving that point home that we've lost sight of the bigger picture. The US Government gave the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion to do a study that resulted in the Physical Activity Guidelines (http://www.health.gov/paguidelines/guidelines/#pag). Surprise, surprise, the guidelines say that exercise is good for us. The most of the benefits are seen with as little as three and a half hours of exercise per week. But the benefits continue to increase with the more activity. Rather than the bare minimum, seven hours of exercise is recommended for a person who is maintaining their weight and ten and half hours is recommended for a person trying to lose weight.

While I expect the health problems associated with obesity outweigh the potential risks, what are your thoughts on the possibility that losing weight while not exercising could be unsafe or could create health problems?

Replies

  • xcalygrl
    xcalygrl Posts: 1,897 Member
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    Losing weight without exercise didn't kill me.

    I workout now, but I have different goals than I did when I started losing weight.

    Working out is good for your health, no question about that, but I don't think the numbers they provide are the end-all-be-all of working out. I know I'm healthier than I've ever been and don't workout like they say I should (60-90 mins per day; I average around 45 mins a day). All of my health markers are in the normal/healthy range.
  • SergeantSausage
    SergeantSausage Posts: 1,673 Member
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    "safe" is relative

    Losing weight, sitting on the couch, without exercise certainly is "safe" for a 600-ish pounder ... as opposed to remaining on the couch, continuing on to quickly become a 700 pounder, right?

    There's no way it can't be considered "safe" in that circumstance.

    The rest is just degrees of relativity, relative to your own specific start and end points.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 9,925 Member
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    Maybe look at the centenarians of Okinawa and their basic workout schedule....... that has to trump what the gov't has to say, right? Just throwing this out there.
  • joolsmd
    joolsmd Posts: 375 Member
    edited January 2015
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    Fitness augments my weight loss. I would be fidgety if I didn't walk every day or do my classes, but I doubt it would kill me.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    edited January 2015
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    xcalygrl wrote: »
    Losing weight without exercise didn't kill me.

    I workout now, but I have different goals than I did when I started losing weight.

    Working out is good for your health, no question about that, but I don't think the numbers they provide are the end-all-be-all of working out. I know I'm healthier than I've ever been and don't workout like they say I should (60-90 mins per day; I average around 45 mins a day). All of my health markers are in the normal/healthy range.

    Yeah, I agree that the numbers aren't end-all-be-all. They're are guidelines and guidelines are intended to be very general. I really don't expect someone would die from not exercising while losing weight, but it does occur to me that there are potential problems like loss of bone and muscle mass.

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