Anybody else not exercise?

All_The_Bacon

So this is a topic I thought about posting a few times and stopped myself. Diet and exercise are so inextricably linked in the way we talk about losing weight and gaining health. But I've finally been successful achieving my weight goals, and I did it by giving up on the idea that scheduled exercise had to be a part of my approach. I am just sharing this out of curiosity whether anyone else has had a similar experience.

Over the years, I have tried nearly every type of physical exercise imaginable, from rock climbing to yoga, personal trainer to dance class. I hate all of it. And I do mean hate. I would do almost anything to avoid going to the gym. The only thing I enjoy is walking and - by extension - hiking. I live in the city and don't own a car, so I have 4-5 miles of daily walking already built into my life, and that's fine. Occasionally, on the weekends, I go for a hike. But forcing myself to go to the gym or to turn on the pilates video in the evening was always the thing I hated most about dieting, and the first thing to go when my motivation flagged after a month or so.

Also, it takes so much TIME. Finding time for the gym between work, class, and more work was always a struggle, and after all that I would end up eating cold salads or unappealing ready meals. So I changed my focus. I decided to use my limited time not on exercising, but on cooking. Cooking is something I genuinely enjoy. I started going to the grocery store on my way home from work and experimenting with fresh, healthy recipes. I started packaging up extra servings and bringing my leftovers for lunch rather than spending $10-15 per day on expensive sandwiches and salads.

I'm saving a ton of money, eating really well, AND I finally lost the weight. As a bonus, I feel like I have made a sustainable lifestyle change that will be a big help for the maintenance phase of this journey that I'm now entering. I love that my knees don't hurt anymore climbing the stairs and that I have more stamina now. I love feeling light and at ease in my body. But I didn't need any special exercise or gym time to accomplish this. And that, for me, was finally the key to success.

Just my own personal experience.

MegaMooseEsq

Walking 4-5 miles a day sounds like great exercise to me! But yeah, I've read a lot that says that exercise is probably significantly overvalued when it comes to weight loss (curious that soda companies love sponsoring "fitness" campaigns, hmmm?). When I started off tracking calories over a year ago I didn't change up my physical activity at all, and have had no trouble losing weight once I got myself into a deficit. Like you, I started eating more home cooked meals and packing lunches, although unlike you, I dislike cooking, so my spouse took on that part.

I have recently started walking more and playing around with jogging a little, but I consider that incidental to the weight loss, not vital. Or maybe supplemental is a better word? I have toyed with the idea of looking for a class or two come winter if I can't keep up my current level of walking, but I don't love the idea. If I didn't live in the coldest metro area in the country I wouldn't even consider it.

And hey, congratulations!

PAV8888

Walking can be exercise.

toxikon

I'm similar to you, I enjoy walking but not much else.

It's entirely possible to reach your goal weight without intentional exercise.

For me, it's proving to be a big challenge though. My Sedentary TDEE is only 1800, so to lose a pound a week, I'm eating only 1300 calories... which is leaving me very hungry. So I think I will need to bite the bullet and get out of my Sedentary lifestyle and find some tolerable activities I can do every day.

SephiraAllen

I don't currently exercise, though I was swimming 3-4 times a week for a while. It wasn't really making any sort of a difference, and actually seemed to being slowing my weight loss rate down. Once I stopped going to the gym, it got better.

californiagirl2012

Fat loss is all about the calorie deficit. Exercise only gives a slight edge. It's one of the valuable lessons us cardio queens have learned over the years. I recently had hernia surgery and can't lift weights - which I now LOVE - but knowing that it's all about the food ENERGY and portions will keep me from falling back to the old days. And I can do a little light cardio while I heal. It's an awesome lesson.

PAV8888

toxikon wrote: »

I'm similar to you, I enjoy walking but not much else.

It's entirely possible to reach your goal weight without intentional exercise.

For me, it's proving to be a big challenge though. My Sedentary TDEE is only 1800, so to lose a pound a week, I'm eating only 1300 calories... which is leaving me very hungry. So I think I will need to bite the bullet and get out of my Sedentary lifestyle and find some tolerable activities I can do every day.

Sedentary is defined as someone who walks approximately 3500 steps a day. Once you go above 5,000 you're no longer sedentary!

Most people are actually lightly active. The lightly active setting tops out at around 7,500 steps a day.

My first goal before I even started losing weight was to manage a full month of no less than 5000 steps *each and every* day.

californiagirl2012

toxikon wrote: »

I'm similar to you, I enjoy walking but not much else.

It's entirely possible to reach your goal weight without intentional exercise.

For me, it's proving to be a big challenge though. My Sedentary TDEE is only 1800, so to lose a pound a week, I'm eating only 1300 calories... which is leaving me very hungry. So I think I will need to bite the bullet and get out of my Sedentary lifestyle and find some tolerable activities I can do every day.

@toxikon You can eat anything under 1800 and it's a deficit. Every day does not have to be the same. You are not stuck with 1300 every single day to achieve your goal. And 1800 at least one day a week will help keep your hormones stable. I like to call those 1800 days maintenance days, not cheat days, because it's actually eating NORMAL. Fit in workouts you enjoy when you can! Good luck!

jasummers76

I started very obese. I worked in my office 10 hours a day came home and did nothing. In the beginning I just did simple things like help with the house work. It not only burned some kcals but improved my relationship with the wife. I then cancelled the lawn service and started doing it myself. I was using a different app at the time but if I did 30 minutes of housework or lawn care or anything physically active I would record only half the time I actually did. So I did not get that feeling I could eat more cause I did x yz. I slowly built up some stamina to join my family on walks in the forest preserve. Which was a huge NSV as I was doing something with my young son other then spending meals with him and watching television. Some people told me you have to do this and that, but I was not in the shape to do it. Specially cardio since I was a heavy smoker, which I still am but far less. The thing for me was to just move more and more at my pace. Not some trainers

OliveGirl128

Lost the extra weight with no exercise factored in. Maintaining now for over 4 years, with no exercise factored in. I do enjoy some summer walking, but nothing structured and it has a very minimal impact on my calories.

toxikon

californiagirl2012 wrote: »

toxikon wrote: »

I'm similar to you, I enjoy walking but not much else.

It's entirely possible to reach your goal weight without intentional exercise.

For me, it's proving to be a big challenge though. My Sedentary TDEE is only 1800, so to lose a pound a week, I'm eating only 1300 calories... which is leaving me very hungry. So I think I will need to bite the bullet and get out of my Sedentary lifestyle and find some tolerable activities I can do every day.

@toxikon You can eat anything under 1800 and it's a deficit. Every day does not have to be the same. You are not stuck with 1300 every single day to achieve your goal. And 1800 at least one day a week will help keep your hormones stable. I like to call those 1800 days maintenance days, not cheat days, because it's actually eating NORMAL. Fit in workouts you enjoy when you can! Good luck!

Oh don't worry, I don't stick to 1300 nearly as often as I'd like to. At least one or two days are at maintenance, which is my struggle. Weight loss has been very slow (like 1lbs a month) because I'm having trouble sticking to a reasonable deficit due to how low it has to be!

amandacalories

I do not exercise. I work two jobs and go to school so it doesn't leave much time to go to the gym or work out. I do some of my physical therapy weights/exercises for my knee and back a couple times a week but it's nothing intense. I try to do things I enjoy like hike to the beach for the day which doesn't seem like exercise but I suppose it is.

The only thing I really enjoyed doing was dancing but I injured my knee so I can't do that right now. Even if I could it probably wouldn't fit into my life financially or logistically at this point.

I've lost almost 15 pounds in a little over two months so far.

Sophsmother

As you get older, weight training/toning is going to become so much more valuable than the walking. Try to add that in if you can if you're looking to keep your body in shape. Just a few times a week is needed but it's really important.

Congrats for logging all those miles every week. Your heart will thank you.

kristen8000

I decided to take 1 month and just concentrate on my eating. My second month starts soon and I've decided that I have the eating habit down, and I can add some strength work into my schedule 3-4 times a week. During this past month, my BF and I would take walks, but nothing else. I lost 7.5lbs this month alone.

MelanieCN77

At first I did a lot of cardio to build my CO as fear of hunger was my main obstacle in weight loss. As I got further along and realised I had lost a lot of lean muscle I added a lot more resistance training in and I now keep that up for the aesthetic. I really enjoy the way my body looks these days. My main hobby is a full contact sport, though, so I am generally happy to be active. I will say the weight training makes me way hungrier than cardio so I do have to be mindful and allow myself to go over cals sometimes to allow my body to build the muscle. That's a tricky switch.

All_The_Bacon

Thanks for the great replies! I guess the common thread I see is that everyone has to find something that works for them and that they can maintain consistently over a long time.

Wish I had somehow figured this out sooner instead of berating myself for my failures of willpower when I inevitably gave up on my overly ambitious exercise plans. For years.

cwolfman13

I'm pretty sure walking 4-5 miles per day is exercise...

I exercise for my general health and well being...I ride 3-4 days per week at the moment and do some rock climbing every couple of weeks or so and lift a couple days per week. I've found it very beneficial for stress relief as well as keeping my blood pressure under control...when I start neglecting my exercise, my blood pressure always starts to climb...

I've never really intertwined weight loss with exercise...as a once upon a time competitive athlete, exercise and training has been a part of my life for most of my life...

SCoil123

I actually love working out and love the changes I've seen in my body with weight training. I want to preserve muscle and strengthen my bones as I lose weight and age.

krael65

In years past, I thought I had to "exercise" to lose weight. By that, I mean do intense cardio at least 45-60 minutes, 6 days a week. This time around, I ditched the intense cardio and just walk for activity/exercise. I used to like the feeling of intense cardio, but there was more of a dread factor when I would think about scheduling it in. It became like a chore I had to complete. I used to jog, but now my knees can't handle it.

Now I enjoy walking -- I can binge watch Netflix or Amazon shows on the treadmill, or just get up and move. I work a desk job, but my FitBit reminds me to move as much as I can at work, taking the stairs, going to the next building for restroom breaks, etc. And -bonus- it raises my TDEE, so I can EAT more!

Turns out, I lost (and am maintaining) 20+ pounds just fine without the intense exercise. I'm also the lowest weight I've been since I was a teenager. I have incorporated strength training -- but I lost the weight without.

Lillymoo01

Other than walking, which definitely is exercise, I do very little. I am like you and have always hated all kinds of sport. I did a bit of resistance training a while back because I know it is important but really don't enjoy it.

I have decided that being a healthy weight and walking at least 10,000 steps a day is enough to keep me healthy, even though I won't have the toned body that most desire.

Christine_72

Walking is the only exercise i do, roughly 10kms a day, on a good day.

I'm not going to pay to join a gym and then lie to myself that i'll actually go...

fiddletime

I really don't like walking. I'll doing anything but walking. I bike and row and jogged for 40 years before I developed foot issues. I've been overweight, and normal weight, irregardless of my exercising. I do it because I like it, and like how I feel during and afterwards. Good thread OP!

NorthCascades

When you say you tried rock climbing, was it indoors in a gym, or outdoors in nature?

seltzermint555

I am similar too. Walking and hiking are my main forms of exercise.

I have literally never gone to a gym -- unless you count a half dozen trips just to swim and one mandatory racquetball class in college (I do not count those).

I've kept off my ~130 lb weight loss mainly through CICO, and although there are times in the year that I walk 20 miles a week and hike 10 mile trails, there are also weeks that I barely even walk around the neighborhood if it's over 100 F or icy/snowy.

Hungry_Shopgirl

I love working out at home (yay fitness blender!) but I actually intentionally stop doing it when I'm eating at a deficit. It just leaves me too tired and hungry. So while I'm losing these darned last 20 lb I will be only walking and not lifting/ doing HITT. For me it just makes me look forward to being at maintenance even more!

JustRobby1

I would still count walking as exercise. Though exercise is certianly not required to achieve weight loss. I have met lots of people in my tenure in this game who do not exercise. Being in a deficit is what it's all about, and for most people all their exercise routine does is provide a slight buffer zone. People have the tendency to far overestimate calorie burn from most activities on here, and then act surprised later when they aren't losing weight.

I did not exercise at all for the first couple of months and I still lost plenty of weight. These days I am a distance runner. I am typically well over 25 miles per week, though my routine is a tad screwy of late as I am training for a half marathon in a few weeks. Even if I play it safe and give myself only half of the burn calories my tracker says I earn it's still a pretty staggeringly high number. I still never depend upon exercise to "save me". I eat heavy into exercise calories very rarely on certain weekends or for special occassions.

TimothyFish

Walking 4-5 miles is far from no exercise. If not for safety concerns I would ride my bicycle the 15 miles to work because that would mean I wouldn't have to spend time exercising when I get home in the evenings.

Mccloud74

Walking is definitely my preferred form of exercise - although I have recently started jogging and been bitten by the bug. Just love being outdoors :-)

scarlett_k

Walking is exercise! I can't even do that daily at the moment due to plantar fasciitis but I'm still losing weight by managing my diet alone. I'm not into going to the gym and will only ride my bike once in a blue moon. That's about it.