Can you lose weight without regular exercise?

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justlely
justlely Posts: 2
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone,
I just started using MyFitnessPal in August, and since then (about 2.5 months) I've lost 10 lbs! Most of the weight I lost was from running Cross Country. We have rigorous practices everyday with meets on some weekends, so overall I'm a very active person.

My goal is to lose 10 more pounds, but with the Cross Country season ending in about 2 weeks, I'm worried on how I will continue to lose weight. I'm going to do Rugby in December, but for the next month of November I'm not going to be able to exercise as much. Also, in Oregon the weather is really cold, so I don't really want to run on my own and I have a lot of midterms that month to worry about too.

Overall, if I were to continue my normal, calorie-restricted diet, would I still "technically" lose weight? The only difference from what I'm doing now is that I won't be eating back my exercise calories from Cross Country practice. Can you lose weight just by going on a daily calorie deficit, without any workouts?

Thanks everyone!
btw my stats are: 5'2, 120 lbs, daily intake (net) at 1400 calories

Replies

  • rockstar2b66
    rockstar2b66 Posts: 54
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    If you stay within your daily calories you might be able to maintain it. Without working out you'd lose muscle tone though. I had a period of time where I was eating healthy but not exercising and I would lose a pound or two here and there, but you couldn't really tell a difference because I had no muscle tone, it was just soft. Since you can't run outside, how about a cardio dvd or lifting weights?
  • joshualandin
    joshualandin Posts: 20
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    You can lose weight without exercise. Eating whole foods and watching your glycemic index can be helpful. Exercise offers a lot toward how efficient your body becomes in metabolizing food. Exercise helps maintain muscle tone, strength training can help minimize muscle loss during weight loss. The more muscle you keep, the more calories you burn.

    Some studies are finding that exercise helps conserve fat free mass and that aerobic exercise can lead to weight loss even without changing your diet. (Meta-analysis: effect of exercise, with or without dieting, on the body composition of overweight subjects.
    JS Garrow, CD Summerbell - European Journal of Clinical …, 1995)

    Ideally, try to fit 3-5 days of at least 20 minutes of exercise into your lifestyle. If you absolutely cannot exercise, eat better and be contentious about your caloric intake.
  • astronomicals
    astronomicals Posts: 1,537 Member
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    Short answer: absolutely
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
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    You can lose weight without exercise. Eating whole foods and watching your glycemic index can be helpful.
    that has nothing to do with if the OP losses weight or not as long as she eats at a visitor defect no matter the foods she will lose weight.
  • littleburgy
    littleburgy Posts: 570 Member
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    You can still lose weight. Though if you are itching to stay active, the cardio DVD is a good suggestion. When I was in the middle of moving I followed YouTube videos in my aunt's living room. :)
  • sunsetzen
    sunsetzen Posts: 268 Member
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    Yes, you can. But just because cross country is ending doesnt mean you have to stop exercising. Is it possible to get outside everyday and walk or run for at least 30 mins? Its easy and free.
  • cafeaulait7
    cafeaulait7 Posts: 2,459 Member
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    You'll be fine :) But I do suggest getting a 15-20 minute yoga DVD to help out and really help during your exams. Stretching, blood flow, and a bit of mind-body zen will chill you out and refresh. Truly! If you are usually so active and do nothing, your body will start to feel weird in my experience, lol. It must be the blood flow, imho.
  • Caerful
    Caerful Posts: 12
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    I started to put together a regular 35 min morning routine of doing Zumba Gold sourcing videos from Youtube which I could do at home. I put together a warm up, cardio and warm down session using create playlist on Youtube. Then I made a 1 hr playlist for weekends. Later I went to class and now I teach it. Maybe you could make a programme for yourself using your favoured activity in the same kind of way?

    I'm sure you'll find a way. KimG
  • GemmaRowlands
    GemmaRowlands Posts: 360 Member
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    I lost the majority of my weight without exercising all that much. So yes, you can, but it's much healthier and more effective to use a mixture of a healthy diet and exercise.. which I'm now learning now that I'm trying to sort my body composition out! BUT, being 137lbs lighter has to be better, whether I lost a bit of muscle mass or not! (Although I was a total couch potato when I started, so even the little exercise I did do must have improved that situation).
  • padams2359
    padams2359 Posts: 1,093 Member
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    Yes, but it takes longer. I was going to the gym, and doing well. About 3 weeks ago, they started changing the carpeting in my office building. I have not been exposed to new carpet, much less carpet treated for commercial use in years. Broke out in hives, but did not realize what had changed in my environment to cause the sudden problems until last week. Working out when all you want to do it "Go Sratch", LOL, is not fun.

    Find something to do. I felt better when I could, and hope this will pass soon.
  • justlely
    justlely Posts: 2
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    Thanks everyone for the advice! I'll try to get a 30 minute run or some other form of cardio every day. Youtube sounds like a great source! :smile:

    Justine
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    You definitely can but you're trying to lose those last vanity pounds so it may be slow going.
  • MissHoney26
    MissHoney26 Posts: 43 Member
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    I feel like its mostly only people who go from eating way too much calories to eating a much more normal amount of calories that are most likely to lose weight without exercise.. If you already eat normal and exercise high its kinda like going backwards

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