Experiences of people losing weight without exercising

I started off with walking about 5km per day in the first 2 weeks and lost 5KG.. Since then I have not had as much time to do so and found the weight is still coming off.. I am down 16KG now after 10 weeks and doing little more than eating 1500 calories ish per day and a few pushups and squats in the mornings...

A few changes I have made.
Probiotics daily seem to help.. Especially Kimchi
3-4 coffees per day
Lots of fruit
Plenty of Spice and Chilli's

Seems to be working well so far

I think you will find a lot of people here lose weight independent of their exercise habits: they eat at a calorie deficit determined by their daily activity level. That is why you hear phrases like "eat your exercise calories back" and "the weight battle is won in the kitchen" so often.

If you like to exercise, you should exercise. It is good for you. You will feel better. Gyms are fun places to hang out. And so on.

But you shouldn't count on exercise as a weight loss or maintenance method. It is too easy to overwhelm the calories you burn exercising with a single five minute indulgence (a single Panera oatmeal raisin cookie clocks in at approximately 400 calories, which is forty-five minutes to an hour of cardio for most people). Worse yet, if you have to miss a day or a week of cardio, you are suddenly eating at maintenance or worse.

The hard truth of weight loss and maintenance is this: you can't eat whatever you want whenever you want and you do have to actively and intelligently control portions and make conscious choices about what and when you eat.

The exercise that I do (and I log, since I chose the sedentary setting) is not what folks would consider to be formal exercise, you might be able to count me in.

I clean stalls twice a day, I walk around my office building a few times a day (inside if it's too hot or raining), take the stairs, park further from the door, and stand for at least two hours per day at my desk while I work. I do some exercise at home, usually a few sets of something while watching TV, or things like leg lifts while washing dishes, washing my hands, brushing my teeth.

So it is possible to increase your activity, without going to the gym. And it works for me.

Weight loss begins in the kitchen. You will lose weight if you are at a deficit. Exercise is great to help retain muscle mass while losing, and its great for your health, but it is not necessary to weight loss.

When I started on this path in April 2011, I was 376 pounds. I thought I'd never be able to lose weight without surgery so I went to see a lap-band surgeon. He told me he wanted me to lose 90 pounds before he'd do the surgery. I about passed out. I started doing what they said to do - logging on MFP, went to see a therapist, going to the support group meetings. One of the things he said when first starting out that it's more important to get the logging down and get some weight off because it would relieve some of the stress on the back and joints. So, I thought, "okay - that just means I have to exercise at some point, but not today."

I lost 115 pounds in two years, went in for surgery to remove excess skin from the belly, had a hard time recovering....not because of anything the doctor did or didn't do - but he took off 26 pounds of mostly fat. Fat has hormones. I went into a depression and menopause. It can happen - may not always happen, and it said so in the materials they gave me. I still would have done it though.

Anyway - from April 2013 to about a month ago, I fell off the wagon hard. It's been a real BUTT to get back on track, but I feel like I finally am. I still haven't really exercised.

I did get a Fitbit One. When I got it, I was lucky to be getting in 500-800 steps a day. Now I'm averaging somewhere between 2000-3000. Not looking to set any records, just to do something in the right direction.

You can certainly lose weight without exercise. But you'll just be a smaller version of yourself. If you want to be fit and strong and change your body composition, you need to work out.

I'm shorter (almost 5'1") and weighed more than you (256 lbs.) when I joined MFP. Thank God I finally changed the way I was eating! For MFP activity, I chose the "sedentary" level, and I eat under 1200 cals per day. Under the fat, I'm a very small person. For me, this is the correct amount to consume. I've lost over 80 lbs since Jan. 1st of this year. I do not exercise. I know that some women work out a lot, and as someone said earlier, can change their body composition. But that's not me. I know that I'll never have the kind of dedication it takes to do that. However, now I can take the stairs instead of an elevator, and when I go shopping, I look forward to parking at the far end of the parking lot so I can do some extra walking. I feel so much stronger than I did when I weighed more, and I'm able to do so many more things. My doctor told me that any kind of increase in physical activity is good, even if it's not a formal exercise routine. So, the better I feel (the lighter I get), the more I can move!

Love all these posts as i have been wondering the same...i have had succcessful weight loss in the past, without exercise, which i have now regained for different reasons. I have now started again in good circumstances with more determination then ever to reach and keep my goal weight and wondered if at some point this time i should include exercise.
I agree with the posts re calorie deficit.
I'm a busy working mum, so I'm fairly active with walks to school, busy at work, walks around the park etc, i share a horse so that gives abit more activity a couple times of week., but that's it. For now I am just going to carry on not exceeding my kcal limit on my fitness pal and see how it goes. Usually doing that I can lose an average of 2lbs a week.
Evening is the only free time i have and by that point i just don't feel like working out, i would rather just relax and eat nothing after 7pm which seems to be working. I also find that when i execrise i have a larger appetitie and as a result can end up eating more overall than if i hadn't.
I have a long way to my main goal yet, later down the line if my body looks like i need to tone it up depsite losing weight then i think that is when i will think about exercise, but only then. At the minute taking it fairly easy in the evening, only eating when necessary, making sure it's healthy when i do, loads of water & findning little ways to be a little more 'active' each day seems to to be working okay without any specific planned excercise
i would be interested if anyone had got to the point in their weight loss journey where they Had to execrise to continue weight loss to reaxh their goal, what a difference it then made to their weight loss and body, and how they added it into their routine etc and managed their kcal intake accordingly?

Also wanted to add... For those struggling with finding time to exercise...this was my biggest problem at first. My schedule varies so there's no "set time" to workout. I also have a toddler, so when I'm not working, I'm cooking, shopping, cleaning, all while taking care of a crazy toddler. I had to accept that I was never going to have a normal workout schedule and needing to fit it in wherever I could. I told myself that I would wake up at 4:30am and sneak one in. ((sound the obnoxious buzzer)) WRONG. I never woke up. Snooze button until I really needed to get up. So that wouldn't work for me. So now, some days if I'm able to leave the little one with the sitter after work I sneak in 15 minutes. Literally go right from work (change into workout clothes at work) and go to a hill by my house. I run up and down the damn hill for 15 minutes. Do I wish that I could so something more "structured" for an hour? Sometimes. But I've gotten creative and make myself work harder cuz it's sometimes a short amount of time I have. Other days I do a workout video at home with the little one involved. I don't love the inconsistency, but I've learned that ANY form of physical activity is helpful, and sometimes we gotta make due. It's been a great learning experience for me and now I know that I can find time.

I hate going to the gym, however I do love going for walks. I was eating back about half of my 'walking' calories (I usually do 10,000 - 20,000 recreational steps a day) but at 35lbs down I hit a stall. Got some advice to separate workout from food, so now I'm eating about 1100 - 1400 calories per day no matter what and still doing my walking. Seems to be doing well - 36lbs down, 34lbs to go!