Losing weight with little or no exercise?

MFP sets you up so you can, the only issue is you will lose muscle if you don't workout, and you once you get to your goal weight you would be skinny fat (this with a high BF%)

I lost 15 lbs without exercise the first 3 wks. I had 70 lbs to loose. But after the fist 3 wks i stopped loosing for 2 wks. SO i switched to a low calorie diet and joined this. And started exercising jsut 20 mins a day to start- but now I try and do an hour- maybe not all at once but a total of 60 mins a day. Ive lost 17.6 lbs total.

I did not exercise until I lost my first 40---but I was just so heavy and had no desire---but after 40 pounds came off, my body was screaming to exercise - imagine that!

I have.
I started in at the very ending of Oct and from Oct until now I have lost 26 pounds.
I changed my diet drastically and started eating smaller portions and much more healthy. I don't eat any junk food.
What I do do is some basic strength training, mainly 'girl' push ups and some ab work--but very little.
I am home with two kids so I'm also "active" with them. But for the most part I consider myself sedentary.

ETA: And besides my abs--I've had two c-sections one slightly less than a year ago, I do not look skinny flabby. My arms actually look fantastic. So even just a little here and a little there helps.

I lost a lot of weight initially with no exercise. About 20-30 pounds, but that's because my eating was ridiculously out of control. I cut out soda, junk food, and fast food, in addition to logging my food every day. If your problem was like mine, and you're overweight because you're taking in a ton of extra calories, just eating right for a while should help.

A word to the wise though, I have a lot of extra skin around my belly, and I wonder if I had been exercising all along if it wouldn't be a little more firmed up.

My mom has lost 25 doing weight watchers and has not exercised at all. Of course, that's not the "healthy" way to do it, but so far that has worked for her. I'm sure she'll eventually plateau and not lose anymore if she doesn't exercise at all, but with her it has to be baby steps...

AND to put it in perspective... I have lost more weight in less time because I do exercise.

It is, but unless you get down very low, you likely won't be as satisfied with the results as regular exercise. Your arms, legs and mid-section will still be flabby instead of toned and lean. I tried it and lost a bit, but wasn't happy because my legs were fat and I'd still get winded walking up stairs even though I was barely overweight (per my BMI).

With exercise, now I'm much leaner, I've lost around my waist and hips and even my arms (which were really fat!) and my legs look like they could crack walnuts (and my butt is awesome! )

Hi Allison,

I'm not playing the importance of exercise down, nor am I encouraging anyone to shun it, this is just my personal story: due to physical problems and budgetary restraints I don't / can't exercise. I have a desk job and so consider myself sedentary. I walk approx 20 minutes 3 - 4 days a week and on weekends I do household chores that can add up to a lot of time on my feet and energy expended. I do not usually log these activities as exercise. The only time I log exercise is if I do strenuous activity like mowing my very large lawn or an actual workout.

I lost 40 lbs. last year (from approx 230 lbs down to approx 190 lbs). That's only .77 lbs/wk. So, I tell people you can lose without exercise but its certainly at a slower rate. I hope to lose another 40 this year and can hopefully start to tolerate exercise (maybe after that total knee replacement I'm told I need).

I eat VERY well. I make all my own food, eat almost zero processed foods, watch my sodium and count my calories. I LOVE the food I eat and do not feel deprived. I believe in the slogan that you have to eat to lose weight. I also believe quite strongly that if you are restricting the number of calories you consume in a day, those calories will serve you best if they are as dense in nutritional value as possible. That's why I cut out the processed foods, the sugar, the refined carbs such as white bread, white rice and white pasta and anything else that doesn't add up to "real food" in my opinion.

hope this makes sense, good luck!
JoJo

i haven't been exercising. i wish i wanted to. i bought the biggest loser for the xbox kinect and planned on doing it while my 6 month old napped but have made excuses thus far. i do plan to start exercising at some point because i don't want to be a saggy mess when i get to my goal weight, but for now i've lost nearly 20 pounds without it in 2 months.