Can I loose weight only focusing on nutrition?
fatty2sixpack
Posts: 67 Member
I'm 490 pounds and I want to lose weight by eating 2000 calories and not exercising. Is it going to work?
11
Replies
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yes10
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Yes. If you are eating less calories than your body burns. Simple, right? Not easy though.
Exercise is great for overall health and any extra movement will help, but you need to eat less calories than your body burns to lose weight. That’s it. It’s not necessary to exercise to lose weight.
Best of luck to you!7 -
yes. I did it for the first 40 pounds8
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You and lose weight just with a calorie deficit. However, you will get substantial health benefits if you add some activity. Is a medical professional telling you not to exercise? If not, it would be great to add some, starting slowing.
Best of luck.9 -
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I started on 170 kg, 375 pounds, had difficulties walking and didn't fit into / onto most gym machines. Realized, that it is not about some "wonder diet" but about slowly changing to a healthier life style. MFP helped me a lot and to this day I record everything I eat. After 8 months I have lost about 25 kg, 55 pounds. I started to walk about 6 months ago, by now I can walk about 2 hours - not that fast, but I can walk again. I needed to learn much more about daily macros within the allotted calories to make sure that my long - term weight loss effort is sustainable. On average I am leaning towards 30 % carbs, 35 % fats, 35 % protein - but every person is different and needs to find his or her own ideal macro balance. Mt trigger food has always been bread - I have found substitutes, which suit me very well. I do not worry too much about me long term goals but concentrate on my meal plan for the next day. I take it meal by meal, day by day and I do have little treats - as long as they fit into my macros and my daily calories. Stick to MFP and their very supportive members - good results will follow.11
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Yes, you will lose weight in a caloric deficit, regardless of exercise. But as the posters before have mentioned, exercising is highly beneficial for overall health. It assists your weightloss from numerous standpoints - including minimizing the loose (sic) skin problem.5
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I hope you reconsider not exercising, for health reasons.
But if you do - please start slowly, as you are at greater risk for injury. Walking is a great way to start. I have bad knees and have to work around that all the time.7 -
Yes, by eating less then you burn off ,will have you loose weight , and exercise will build muscles and tighten up your body AND improve your mood by releasing endorphins... just a walk is all you need to start 🌸2
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You absolutely can, however, I too am in agreement with the posters above, that to inculcate some physical activity will greatly benefit your overall health & resulting aesthetics. If you're not opposed to massages, a minimum of a once weekly full body massage, like a lymphatic drainage massage to start, will do you wonders and as rote as this sounds, being mindful of your hydration is a friendly you'll never regret prioritising. Alternatively, intensive exfoliation and what should feel like excessive skin hydrating & moisturising follow-ups after any physical activity at this point is a gift that'll regift you by the end of all your efforts, if you just stick to it.7
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I'm not going to say yes or no, but here's my experience. I Started seeing a nutritionist in mid July. I weighed 414 at the time. Today I am at 368 (in 2011 I weighed 350). My Cholesterol, Glucose, A1c are all close to or within normal levels. It's primarily from focusing on nutrition, and changing some long standing bad eating habits. The nutritionist wanted me to keep a food diary so I started using the Myfitnesspal app. When I set it up, I put my weight in and said how much I wanted to lose and how long to loose it, and it gave me something like 2800 kcal per day. That whole 2000 cal standard diet is bogus, everyone has different needs, and not getting enough calories can also cause you to gain weight. It's weird, not eating enough calories causes your body to hoard calories and store them, rather than burn them. The nutritionist was surprised, she said I should be at around 4000 cal/ day! I don't strictly stick to the allotment the app gives me but use it as a guide. Most days i'm actually coming in a few hundred calories under, and feel pretty good, I rarely feel like i'm starving myself. I also drastically increased my intake of water and reduced my intake of Coffee (i drink it black, no sugar) and Tea (also black, no sugar). I've all but eliminated the black tea, an only drink a couple cups of coffee in the morning and on my two overnight shifts. I had major issues with heat (I was ALWAYS hot and sweaty, and couldn't cool down), that is practically eliminated now. Gastrointestinal issues are about 90% better than they were, and my peripheral neuropathy has improved about 75%. . I'm wearing clothes that I haven't been able to wear in a couple years. Soon i'll be dropping down to the next size.
It's not strictly a matter of calories in . It's a matter of changing your eating habits. Eating clean food and reducing your carb and sugar intake. I try to be somewhere around half of what the app tells me I should have in a day, and it's usually not that hard. The carbs are actually the hardest thing for me to cut back on. I used to eat big meals twice a day, now I eat smaller, balanced meals three times a day. For breakfast I try to have a high protein breakfast (10 - 20 mgs) , either eggs, a protein shake or protein bars (I like the thinkthin high protein bars) I keep a stash of 100 packs of plain cashews or plan almonds in my drawer at work. if I get a little hungry, i will eat one of those. It's a way of tricking your body so it doesn't go back into hoarding (survival) mode, and by only eating plain nuts, it reduces the likelihood of creating cravings. .
I hope this helps you! Good luck!25 -
Completely untrue, but "starvation mode" is a popular myth which refuses to die:...not getting enough calories can also cause you to gain weight. It's weird, not eating enough calories causes your body to hoard calories and store them, rather than burn them...
https://bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/another-look-at-metabolic-damage.html/
https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/starvation-mode/
It absolutely is strictly a matter of calories in vs. calories out....It's not strictly a matter of calories in...
A reasonably balanced nutritious diet is certainly a good idea, but "clean food" and reducing carb intake has absolutely nothing to do with weight loss unless it's being used as a strategy to reduce calorie intake. Because calories are what matter for weight loss....It's a matter of changing your eating habits. Eating clean food and reducing your carb and sugar intake...
Nothing wrong with that if it works for you in terms of satiety and adherence, but meal timing is otherwise completely irrelevant to weight loss. One meal per day or ten meals per day, it still comes down to calories in vs. calories out....I used to eat big meals twice a day, now I eat smaller, balanced meals three times a day...23 -
To add to what AnvilHead said, if one has very bad eating habits, of course changing eating habits can be a way of reducing calories -- I think people should definitely write down or think through how they were eating and understand where the extra calories were coming from. But weight loss is due to eating fewer calories than you burn, period.
Many people find that two big meals works well for them and lose weight on that schedule.
I generally focus on eating a nutrient-rich diet (not hard for me, those are the foods I like most anyway) and not snacking (I tend to overeat and eat when I'm not really hungry if I snack), but that doesn't mean you have to do that to lose. (Never been sure what "clean food" is supposed to mean, I find it an irritating term. Is other food dirty? Are my Thanksgiving brussels sprouts going to get dirty when I cook them with pancetta? Does my turkey get dirty because I like to combine it with mashed potatoes when eating?)
Cutting carbs is also not something anyone has to do to lose weight. I naturally tend to eat lower carb than MFP's default macros and so do, but lots of people lose with higher carbs, and when I lost most of my weight (I went from around 215 to 125), I didn't think about carbs at all, just protein and eating a generally healthy diet.
I did find exercise helpful -- I enjoy it and tend to naturally eat better when I am active, but if you find it easier to just focus on calories, I think that's fine. Exercise of some sort (you can work on just being more active in daily life at first, and it need not mean going to the gym) is important for health but certainly not necessary for weight loss.8 -
Yes you can. You will also lose muscle along with. The largest muscle is your heart. Start with seated exercises and progress to more as you lose.7
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It's calories in, calories out to lose weight. I lost 42 lbs. with just diet, then added exercise later because I felt more able to with my knees. I, personally, feel more in control of my eating and my cravings diminish when I exercise. It's just personal. I've heard others say they get hungrier. Start slow and slowly increase. Some days are easier than others but they all end in 24 hours. I tried to think only one hour at a time in the beginning.4
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fatty2sixpack wrote: »I'm 490 pounds and I want to lose weight by eating 2000 calories and not exercising. Is it going to work?
Yes, absolutely. While exercising is important for long-term health (and muscle retention as you get closer to a healthy weight), I think that at your starting point, just losing some weight is the healthiest thing you can do for yourself.5 -
Exercise takes many forms, doing a bit of extra walking will help it doesn't need to be a full on gym program, so if you're finding the thought of it daunting just start with an eating plan. As others have said you will see results by creating a calorie deficit, once you start losing you may start to feel like you want to do something.
Good luck!0 -
Who the heck is Woo'ing all the sensible advice?
@TavistockToad Had to laugh at the word yes getting a Woo5 -
manderson27 wrote: »Who the heck is Woo'ing all the sensible advice?
@TavistockToad Had to laugh at the word yes getting a Woo
I have a stalker, most of my posts get wooed, regardless of what I actually say... good old MFP!9 -
Yes!0
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TavistockToad wrote: »manderson27 wrote: »Who the heck is Woo'ing all the sensible advice?
@TavistockToad Had to laugh at the word yes getting a Woo
I have a stalker, most of my posts get wooed, regardless of what I actually say... good old MFP!
3 -
manderson27 wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »manderson27 wrote: »Who the heck is Woo'ing all the sensible advice?
@TavistockToad Had to laugh at the word yes getting a Woo
I have a stalker, most of my posts get wooed, regardless of what I actually say... good old MFP!
I know right!!! :laugh:3 -
our bodies don't have any calorie receptors so there's know way for our body to care how many we take in so the old myth of calories in vs calories out is stupid and if it were true, we'd all be able to achieve the weight we want. I highly recommend looking up Dr. Fung on YouTube or in book stores. He's done tons and tons of work in diabetes and weight loss and his program works and is logical. Our bodies run on hormones so you need to eat in a way that gets your hormones to do what you want them to. It's different for everyone depending on if your insulin resistant etc. Please check out Dr. Fung's book The Obesity Code and also check out Dr. Becky Gillaspy on YouTube. I've lost 26 lbs since August without changing my calorie intake or my exercise.35
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^ Ignore this. Fung is a money-grubbing quack and his theories have been objectively and scientifically disproven. Calories are what matter for weight loss, period. You have to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight, regardless of how one chooses to accomplish that.our bodies don't have any calorie receptors so there's know way for our body to care how many we take in so the old myth of calories in vs calories out is stupid and if it were true, we'd all be able to achieve the weight we want. I highly recommend looking up Dr. Fung on YouTube or in book stores. He's done tons and tons of work in diabetes and weight loss and his program works and is logical. Our bodies run on hormones so you need to eat in a way that gets your hormones to do what you want them to. It's different for everyone depending on if your insulin resistant etc. Please check out Dr. Fung's book The Obesity Code and also check out Dr. Becky Gillaspy on YouTube. I've lost 26 lbs since August without changing my calorie intake or my exercise.19 -
our bodies don't have any calorie receptors so there's know way for our body to care how many we take in so the old myth of calories in vs calories out is stupid and if it were true, we'd all be able to achieve the weight we want. I highly recommend looking up Dr. Fung on YouTube or in book stores. He's done tons and tons of work in diabetes and weight loss and his program works and is logical. Our bodies run on hormones so you need to eat in a way that gets your hormones to do what you want them to. It's different for everyone depending on if your insulin resistant etc. Please check out Dr. Fung's book The Obesity Code and also check out Dr. Becky Gillaspy on YouTube. I've lost 26 lbs since August without changing my calorie intake or my exercise.
OP, ignore all of this. Fung, as stated, is a quack.
You can most definitely lose weight simply by creating a calorie deficit.
As for exercise? You know what? Moving more doesn't have to be exercise exactly, and it can be easy to incorporate small ways of burning more calories into your day to sort of gently ramp your body up for the time to come when exercise isn't such a daunting prospect for you.
Park a little further away when you go to the grocery. Make extra trips when putting things away around the house. Stand and pace when you're on the phone. Stand when you're folding laundry. Get up during commercials on tv and wave your arms around.11 -
our bodies don't have any calorie receptors so there's know way for our body to care how many we take in so the old myth of calories in vs calories out is stupid and if it were true, we'd all be able to achieve the weight we want. I highly recommend looking up Dr. Fung on YouTube or in book stores. He's done tons and tons of work in diabetes and weight loss and his program works and is logical. Our bodies run on hormones so you need to eat in a way that gets your hormones to do what you want them to. It's different for everyone depending on if your insulin resistant etc. Please check out Dr. Fung's book The Obesity Code and also check out Dr. Becky Gillaspy on YouTube. I've lost 26 lbs since August without changing my calorie intake or my exercise.
If you have lost 26 pounds since August, you have someone who has figured out the calories you are to consume, and told you what and how much to eat, which will put you at a calorie consumption deficit.
It’s not possible to lose weight if you do not eat less calories than your body burns. Fact.9 -
our bodies don't have any calorie receptors so there's know way for our body to care how many we take in so the old myth of calories in vs calories out is stupid and if it were true, we'd all be able to achieve the weight we want. I highly recommend looking up Dr. Fung on YouTube or in book stores. He's done tons and tons of work in diabetes and weight loss and his program works and is logical. Our bodies run on hormones so you need to eat in a way that gets your hormones to do what you want them to. It's different for everyone depending on if your insulin resistant etc. Please check out Dr. Fung's book The Obesity Code and also check out Dr. Becky Gillaspy on YouTube. I've lost 26 lbs since August without changing my calorie intake or my exercise.
Calories are units of energy. Of course our bodies keep track of calorie needs otherwise people wouldn't get hungry and we'd just randomly keel over dead when our bodies ran out of energy. What a bizarre assertion.
OP, you can lose weight just focusing on diet. Log your food, hit your calorie goal. Many people find eating more whole or home prepared foods, lowering carbs, and getting more protein and fiber can help them hit their calorie goal, as well as possibly improve their health.
Having said that, exercise has a lot of benefits. Just taking a short walk or dancing around to music in your living room is worth the effort if you can.
Congrats on getting started and good luck!11 -
Of course you will loose weight dude but if you do just a tiny bit of even just walking each day or even twice a week to start with it will improve your health a lot. Eventually as you loose weight it will become easier to move and exercise so things will start to get better but don’t ever give up.1
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our bodies don't have any calorie receptors so there's know way for our body to care how many we take in so the old myth of calories in vs calories out is stupid and if it were true, we'd all be able to achieve the weight we want. I highly recommend looking up Dr. Fung on YouTube or in book stores. He's done tons and tons of work in diabetes and weight loss and his program works and is logical. Our bodies run on hormones so you need to eat in a way that gets your hormones to do what you want them to. It's different for everyone depending on if your insulin resistant etc. Please check out Dr. Fung's book The Obesity Code and also check out Dr. Becky Gillaspy on YouTube. I've lost 26 lbs since August without changing my calorie intake or my exercise.
No to this. Just no.
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TavistockToad wrote: »manderson27 wrote: »Who the heck is Woo'ing all the sensible advice?
@TavistockToad Had to laugh at the word yes getting a Woo
I have a stalker, most of my posts get wooed, regardless of what I actually say... good old MFP!
My stalker hasn't been around in months, but I still get some baffling woo's sometimes. Quite amusing really.0
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