Is it possible to lose weight without much exercise?

Yes. Diet is the major part of your success.

/endthread

lol I think I've lost more weight without much exercising than with exercising and maybe at a faster rate?

But better body composition is achieved with exercise. So I plan to incorporate more lifting in December to help out with that.

I'll try to elaborate a bit for ya. It will work for a while and you will lose weight. However, you may reach the point diet alone is not leading to more weight loss or you aren't losing as fast as you would like. Combining a good diet and exercise will get the best results the fastest. It's your call whether you want to or not, but to me exercising is something that takes time. You'll hate it for about the first month, then start craving it. Remember, it takes at least 21 days to form a habit. It won't happen overnight.

P.S: You don't have to put yourself through hard workouts. Taking walks or bike rides will benefit even if you don't work up a major sweat.

^^Exactly! Do what you enjoy!

Exercise has lots of benefits (important ones to boot) but is not a requirement in weight loss. Weight loss is 75-100% diet. You can lose tons of weight without every stepping into a gym. You might not get the body composition or fitness results you want, but that all depends on your goals. Some people just want to be a smaller version of their current selves.

You can lose weight without exercise. However, exercise makes the weight loss more achievable and more sustainable.

I, personally, need exercise to lose weight at the 1 pound per week rate. Doing exercise enables me to to eat as much as I want, which is more than what MFP recommends. If I just follow the MFP guideline and do not exercise, I will always be hungry, and thus, will not be able to follow MFP for long :-)

40 lbs off here without any real exercise...

You can definitely lose weight! But with 1200 calories a day and that small amount of exercise, you will probably plateau. When that happens, try tweaking your diet and upping the intensity of your exercise. Like instead of 1200 calories and walking an hour a week, up to 1400 and try the elliptical for an hour a week. Make sure you eat at regular intervals to help boost your metabolism. Good luck!

I've lost 52 pounds by diet alone in the last 7 months(and I'm at a healthy bmi). The first 6 weeks, I was under activity restriction because I had just given birth, then with 4 children 5 and under and a husband who is away 14 hours per day, exercise isn't happening for me right now.

That being said, exercise is important for so much more than weight loss. Also, I think it does make it easier to stick to your calories when you earn extra by exercising (leaves room for treats so you don't feel deprived). I do try to do extra walking when I'm out and about (pushing the stroller do all my errands rather than driving, etc), but I don't have structured exercise routines. I know to tone up some of my flab, I'll have to exercise, and I want to be strong and flexible as I age, but it's going to have to wait till my babies are a little older.

So yes, you can lose weight, but to really be healthy, we do need exercise.

I lost a good 30lbs just by working out on the weekends. Now, I probably workout 4-6 days a week. So, yes it's possible. Do as much as you can.

I know a general rule is that you need to exercise to lose weight and tone. I've noticed from a lot of blogs and success post pictures that a lot of the stories I see the user goes from average clothing to wearing exercise gear in the follow up photos. I guess what I am trying to figure out is if I can be successful without having to incorporate a whole lot of exercise into the equation?

Right now I work out at home with EA Sports Active. The work out I do monitors heart rate and movement. The game states I burn around 200 calories in a 30 minute period, which concludes my workout. I only have time/energy to actually do the work outs on my days off, which is usually only 2 days a week. I'm also a bit on the heavy side right now, as I am just starting my journey. 213lbs/5'2. I don't like to exercise at all and have psoriasis which tends to get worse the more often I sweat.

Is this going to be enough to see results? I have my calorie goal set at 1200 cal a day to hopefully burn 2 lbs a week. I've "tried" to diet so much on and off that I'm worried just the calorie cut plus what little I do exercise is not going to yield as high of results that I hope for. Any advice would be helpful. Has anyone else had successful results with just the calorie cut or do you HAVE to force yourself to exercise more than just the amount I'm putting in now? Also, if I do have to start more exercise about how far along should I start adding it to my routine. Should I try to lose a set amount of weight comfortably before putting my body though the push and exhaustion of working out? Thanks guys!

Yep losing fat is all about calories pretty much. Exercise is to make your lean body mass pretty for when a lot of the fat is gone. You want to do what you can now, an all body women's weight lifting weight lifting in which you mostly use dumbbells would be good. I exercised when I was obese, and I know a lot of women who are, and who are having success with the calorie deficit and building strength with the weights.

You can't out exercise too many calories, I learned this the hard way running marathon after marathon and working my butt off at the gym while I got more and more fat.

You will lose fat faster than you can build muscle. If you start now you can have a pretty good shape when the fat is gone. Cardio is good for you but it won't do much for your shape.

Lifting weights is KEY. I recently had my DXA scan done and at 51.5 years of age I have the bone density of a super athletic 30 year old. That is a direct result of lifting for over 30 years. Now if that is not scientific proof that lifting weights keeps you younger I don't know what is! Also I believe it is why most people think I look much younger than I really am.

Start lifting now, lift heavy and change it up often, find a lot of weight routines with free weights, make it fun, embrace it, make it part of your life. Only 3 days a week is all it would take. Crank up your tunes and learn to love it, because your body will love it and it will make your quality of life better in many ways, especially when you get older like me.

Because of this I don't have to worry about osteoporosis. If you wait until you are older and your bones start to deteriorate it's a bit too late, you can't get back what you lost, and you can only start a resistance routine that will prevent further damage.

If you are female you don't have the hormones to get big naturally. I lift heavy and I'm still really tiny. My lean body mass is only 104 lbs and that is fairly heavy for a 5'1" female, and quite a bit of this is due to my having very dense bones from 30 years of lifting, not all muscle, and I'm still quite tiny.

My muscles really are not that big, but they show a lot of definition because I'm quite lean. If I gained some fat then I would have a softer more toned look (which is OKAY too!). Then if I gained more fat I would look bulky and hefty like I did most of my life until last year. YOU CAN HAVE WHATEVER YOU WANT. Lean and ripped, soft and toned, or hefty, it all depends on how much fat you leave on your body. Calories are the only thing that changes fat. Exercise is for changing or maintaining your lean body mass only. Lifting weights will give you the best bang for your buck for shaping your body. I finally changed my shape by putting lifting first and cardio 2nd. You cannot out exercise too many calories.

If you don't believe me than ask just about any doctor.

I believe the quote that weight loss is 80% diet, 20% exercise. Exercise does nothing if you aren't controlling what goes into your body, and I don't know about you, but exercising just makes me think I can eat more than I otherwise would.

I try to walk my dog or go to yoga but right now - in the first month or two of using MFP - I'm only focusing on getting my calorie intake under consistent control. I've been losing weight from that, but once it stops I'll probably increase my exercising.

I think the key is to find a type of workout you really like - otherwise you're not going to give it your all anyway.

I started out just focusing on calories, sodium, fats, cholesterol, carbs etc and since mid August I have lost over 40 pounds. I did it this way for a reason, I too have psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis so before I got serious about exercise my doctor and I wanted to lose some weight first then start slow and build from there.

This week I started on the treadmill, (I am lucky enough to have access to a gym in my condo complex with lots of equipment) but first I went down late at night to scope out the machines to check out how to work them, so I wouldn't look foolish when I got down there to start my workout lol!!

I understand that you are reluctant to bare too much skin (psoriasis plaques don't look nice and they always brings lots of comments, some concerned, some rude (. ) but I found that a 3/4 sleeve shirt and a pair of yoga pants worked for me and covered my most affected areas so I could just get on with working out and not worry about what the other people in the gym might say. I feel good when I work out and it helps me sleep etc so I am going to continue no matter what.

I have sent you a friend request, I have just started some new meds for the psoriasis I am hopeful it will help now that summer is over!

lol I think I've lost more weight without much exercising than with exercising and maybe at a faster rate?

But better body composition is achieved with exercise. So I plan to incorporate more lifting in December to help out with that.

I agree with this! Diet is 80%, exercise 20%.