Losing Weight without Exercise

jadedone

This "net" calorie stuff is hogwash. Keep it below 1000 calories TOTAL. How? Easy. Three meals a day. Something around 300 calories for breakfast (McDonalds is fine once you've verified the numbers), then a Lean Cuisine for lunch, and another for dinner. Add a multivitamin and a few glasses of water, and you're good to go. And if anyone thinks you "need" to eat more than that per day, PATHETIC.

Wow, judge people much? I don't even want to see what your sodium is a day. Hope that works out well for you.

If I eat like this, I spend the whole day nauseated and starving at the same time.

sekdar

I lost my first hundred pounds without doing a single exercise - I stopped eating enough food for three people and just ate a whole lot less. I didn't know about MFP back then.

If you've used MFP's food or exercise tracker for any decent amount of time, you will likely have realized by now that it's incredibly easy to out-eat all of the calories you burn through exercise in a day. The point I'm trying to make is that your diet is the central foundation for determining your weight. You can't out-run a bad diet.

Losing weight is simple: take in less calories than you expend. It's a basic law of physics (google "conservation of energy" or "laws of thermodynamics"). Of course, just because it is simple doesn't mean it's easy, and millions of people have come up with all sorts of scientifically unsound tricks and gimmicks and products and diets that promise you weight loss while magically sidestepping this basic law of energy.

Try to eat roughly the same number of calories for three weeks and measure your weight before and after.
If you went up, reduce your calorie target.
If you stayed the same, reduce your calorie target a little.
If you went down but are feeling incredibly tired every day, increase your calorie target a little.
If you went down and are feeling good, keep doing what you're doing!

That is all there is to it. Exercise and all-around health is important enough that it's been mentioned plenty of times in this thread, but to answer your question: there is nothing that can stop a person from losing weight (with or without exercise) except his or her own lack of determination.

Making a lifestyle change to eat less food was extremely difficult for me. I was hungry constantly; it was agonizing. After a few weeks, it got noticeably easier. After two months, my body was completely conditioned to handle the lower quantity of food it was getting and hunger was relegated to the hour before mealtimes. If you can push through the initial shock of the change, you can do it. For me, every time I've ever "plateaued" or saw my weight loss stall out, it was because I was in denial about just how much I was overeating.

Please note that if you are severely undereating you will experience two negative side effects: loss of energy, and loss of muscle mass. Your body will break down muscle (in addition to fat!) to get the energy it needs if you aren't providing the needed calorie/protein intake.

For more information, check out the section on "Cutting" in this post: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?p=401681611#post401681611

harryzrw

I have lost 20+ pounds in a short time. I have a bad heart and arthritis in one knee and my spine. Exercise is not an option. All I do is walk the dog slowly 3 or 4 times a day. AND>>>>stay below the calories that I should consume everyday. The hardest part is staying under 2 grams a day of Sodium, which is important for me because of my heart. Hope this helps and gl to all in your weight loss.
Last year in June was 410......now about 375.

penrbrown

The sad part is hypothyroidism is only part of my problem. Haha. I have a heart issue as well...

BUT lots of great advice guys. I never really considered that the hypothyroidism might be effecting my weight loss (I know it made me gain the weight but for some reason it didn't register that it was impeding the weight loss as well).

Right! So I just have to buckle down and not over eat! I can do that... really... AGH! If only I didn't love food so much. Haha.

Thanks for all the success stories! It's great to hear and very motivating.

jenifer7teen

If you don't want to answer i understand... but i am curious... what is your heart issue?

LIke i said in my previous response, strengthening your HEART and lengthening your life is a key reason to exercise! If you are avoiding it, you are probably contributing to your heart problem... *Unless a DOCTOR has told you it is unsafe to do any exercise, there is no reason not to but lousy excuses.

I know that sounds harsh, but there are a lot of lazy people who will justify other people's laziness in order to justify their own. I am trying to be nice and tell you the truth; being active will add years and quality to your life...

jenifer7teen

I have zero energy...

yet another reason to exercise... just saying

http://longevity.about.com/od/lifelongfitness/a/exercise_energy.htm

chaniray

i lost weight about 10 years ago without working out. for me it is easier to lose weight without working out. the reason i work out is for toning and endurance but working out seems to make me want to eat more which is where i begin to struggle.

so anyways, yes you can lose weight by just watching what you eat and not working out.

penrbrown

If you don't want to answer i understand... but i am curious... what is your heart issue?

LIke i said in my previous response, strengthening your HEART and lengthening your life is a key reason to exercise! If you are avoiding it, you are probably contributing to your heart problem... *Unless a DOCTOR has told you it is unsafe to do any exercise, there is no reason not to but lousy excuses.

I know that sounds harsh, but there are a lot of lazy people who will justify other people's laziness in order to justify their own. I am trying to be nice and tell you the truth; being active will add years and quality to your life...

Physical activity doesn't give me energy. Working out (even small workouts) makes me so tired I have to go to sleep after - it's why I stopped. My reason for not exercising? It makes me feel like **** and I can't get through my day at work feeling like it makes me feel. When I try to exercise after work I end up having fainting spells and/or severe heart palpitations...

It's easy to say it's excuses when you have a healthy body. I'm sure many people have excuses but I don't think everyone does.

quartzyyy

I lost 13 pounds in like 37 days by just staying near my calorie goal which is 1400. Anyone know why am i losing weight so fast ? I''m 15 years old 5 feet 6 inches 125 pounds.