Do I really need exercise

clayfield0813

Hello, I am eating healthier, but not exercising too much. Do I really need to exercise to lose weight? I don’t have much time, and I absolutely hate it.

pandacsek

Diet/Workout ration is about 75/25 if not 80/20. Meaning the most of your results will come from maintaining a healthy diet versus eating *kitten* but working out all the time.

The way I look at it.. I added working out to make sure I don't struggle and sweat at the gym for an hour for nothing. Once I am done with the gym I don't want to eat back the calories I burned.

So I believe exercise is not essential but it will give you motivation not to F* it up!



Good luck girlie!

Chieflrg

No, you don't need to exercise to lose weight.

It may be a helpful tool though.

Then there is the physical activity guidelines. There is well established evidence when performing at least the minimum of resistance training and cardio suggested, one would lower health risk and increase quality of life.

If you don't tend to care about preventing death or being able to live more comfortably, it may not be on your radar right now.

kimny72

clayfield0813 wrote: »

Hello, I am eating healthier, but not exercising too much. Do I really need to exercise to lose weight? I don’t have much time, and I absolutely hate it.

No, plenty of people lose weight without purposeful exercise. You just need a calorie deficit.

Having said that, being more active is really good for your health. So if you don't like "exercise" maybe try to just generally be more active during the day. This thread might help with that:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss/p1

But regardless, if you hit your MFP calorie goal and you are logging accurately and consistently, you'll lose weight.

NorthCascades

No you don't need exercise to lose weight. You don't need to eat "healthy" to lose weight either. In fact you can gain weight doing either or both. To lose weight, you need to be in a calorie deficit.

apullum

pandacsek wrote: »

Diet/Workout ration is about 75/25 if not 80/20. Meaning the most of your results will come from maintaining a healthy diet versus eating *kitten* but working out all the time.

The way I look at it.. I added working out to make sure I don't struggle and sweat at the gym for an hour for nothing. Once I am done with the gym I don't want to eat back the calories I burned.

So I believe exercise is not essential but it will give you motivation not to F* it up!



Good luck girlie!

This is your personal preference, not what is required for weight loss. For weight loss, all that is required is consistently being in a calorie deficit. If one is using MFP as intended and following MFP’s calorie goal, then a reasonable estimate of exercise calories should be eaten back.

naomi8888

It depends on what sort of body composition you are seeking. If you don't exercise you may be slim but soft (AKA skinny fat). If you want a firm body then you will need to incorporate exercise.

cupcakesandproteinshakes

Nope you don’t. Just a calorie deficit. If exercise really isn’t your thing then try and get some walking in.

snowflake954

naomi8888 wrote: »

It depends on what sort of body composition you are seeking. If you don't exercise you may be slim but soft (AKA skinny fat). If you want a firm body then you will need to incorporate exercise.

Exactly this. I've been on here 5 yrs and there are people who lose the weight and then are unhappy with their body and are asking what to do. You can avoid this if you can manage to work in some movement. It can be dancing, a video workout, yard work, ....there are endless ideas. However, if you want a great body try to start lifting a bit. It will help save what muscle mass you've got(when you lose weight part of that is muscle). In the future when you pick up those groceries, or a child, or move a sofa, you'll thank yourself. Best of luck whatever you decide.

MarcyMavin

No one “needs” exercise to lose. However, I WANT to exercise because my body looks so differently when I do. I look fitter , feel fitter, can do so much more activity at this weight “ exercising “ than I did at the same weight not exercising. Plus I want to be strong enough to kick someone’s butt if the need arise.

spiriteagle99

Exercise is mostly for health. Do you want to spend your old age sitting in a wheelchair with an oxygen tank? I don't. I want to be travelling, exploring the world, enjoying life to the fullest. That means I need to stay active.

TeaBea

clayfield0813 wrote: »

Hello, I am eating healthier, but not exercising too much. Do I really need to exercise to lose weight? I don’t have much time, and I absolutely hate it.

In the meantime, keep trying to find some activity you don't hate. Hula-hooping, pole dancing, active video games, yoga, or hiking. The possibilities are endless.

corinasue1143

Fact is, you don’t need to exercise a bit.
My opinion is, depends on how much you like to eat.
When I first started losing weight, my dietician said you have 3 choices to lose 2 pounds a week. She said you can
1. Eat 1000 calories less per day.
2. Eat the usual way and exercise to burn 1000 calories/day.
3. Eat 500 calories less per day + exercise to burn 500 calories/day.
When I thought that over, all of a sudden, exercise seemed like a good idea. I chose #3.

riffraff2112

There are many components to living a healthy lifestyle and having the body you want. The main three things are eating, exercising heart (cardio), exercising muscles (weight / resistance training). It is possible to lose weight by focusing on one of these areas, and absolutely crushing it, or a balance of two or all three. I find my best results, when I am happiest, strongest, fittest is when I do all three but everyone has their own goals and motivation levels, as well as threshold and desire to partake in certain forms of fitness.

john44111

No, you can restrict calories and lose weight. However I dont think you are asking the real question. Do you want your weighloss to look like mine in 7 years?

This is my past 7 years all recorded here.



The first time I Joined a local TV show "Biggest Loser" competition. I didnt exercise once. I hated it too. They did all kinds of stupid things I didnt want to do. Well I won the TV show and won a 500 dollar prize. I white knuckled it and wanted to win against 35 people and I SMASHED it using every diet trick I could.

As you can see two years later I put MOST of the weight right back on. but I reset my "weight" to 265. How did I do that? I went low carb. It works great. I limited my calories to 1200 or less Low carb was easy to lose weight. I also could eat lowcarb but eat a ton of calories and still put on weight. Anyhow. Did it again. No exercise, did low carb.. but introduced intermittent fasting. I went 3 days without eating, would get nasty stomach aches and then would start eating again. As you can see.. went RIGHT back to my set weight of 265.

Well mentally damaged by defeat I finally said "enough" last year and set out in September to find an exercise I liked. Turns out Cycling was JUST that exercise I loved it.. I cleaned up an old mountain bike and started joining groups and going on social rides. I said "I am going to try doing 10 miles a week!" When I hit 200 miles I am going to buy a cycling computer to track data. On the graph you can see initially I actually put on 5 lbs. However weirdly enough. I could stick my hands in the pockets of my pants. My shirts were looser. I was loosing mass but gaining weight (muscle that was LONG dormant)

Flash forward about a year. My desire to eat crappy food is way lower. Im eating better not.. I am averaging 80-120 miles on my bike a week now. I am down 25 lbs and the weight is now peeling off.

as a NSV. I took a CPR class and while I am still one of the fattest people in the class. Guess who was the ONLY one not getting winded doing chest compressions? Yea, this guy.

So I think you are asking a different question.. No.. you dont have to exercise at all to lose weight.

HOWEVER, losing weight AND keeping it off is a whole different ball game. I flipped the script and I am on a certain trajectory. 99% of people fail at sustained weight loss because it is VERY hard.

Find an exercise you like and get active. For me the rest seems to be falling into place.

You cannot outrun a bad diet. My weight loss didnt really start until recently where I started resticting calories more in addition to already being an avid cyclist. Now the whole system supports itself and seems effortless rather than feeling that starving pain from diets.

Diets blow and they are doomed to fail. Find an exercise you like and if you are outgoing. Find a group to do it with. I LOVE this new life.. and being able to breathe and not being tired and exhausted all the time is great.

bathsheba_c

There’s a YouTube series hosted by a physician/public health researcher called Healthcare Triage. They addressed this question in one of the episodes. The short version is that exercise isn’t good for weight loss (people eat more when they exercise regularly), but it is important for overall health. The question is what is your goal - to be skinny or to be healthy?

amandarawr06

As everyone else has said.. you do not need to exercise to lose weight but it does help. Maybe start with walking or biking or zumba. Maybe there is something you like that you haven't found yet. But until then, all you need is a calorie deficit.