Losing weight without working out?

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deanawhitney
deanawhitney Posts: 9 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have been in the process of losing weight since September and I have been working out at least 5 days a week and eating about 1,200 calories everyday. I hit a plateau about two months ago and was not seeing the scale move at all. I went on spring break at the end of March and stopped working out while I was home and never started again but was still on the calorie reduced diet. Since spring break I have lost 5lbs. I am very confused as to why I would be losing weight without working out when I wasn't losing anything while I was dieting and exercising. Help!

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  • abryant136
    abryant136 Posts: 3
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    Loss of muscle mass? :(
  • simianspaceman
    simianspaceman Posts: 1
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    It may be because while you were working out you were gaining lean muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat. since you have stopped working out your muscles may be beginning to atrophy and loose mass, thus the weight loss.
  • ktc33
    ktc33 Posts: 249 Member
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    You are probably losing muscle mass. Muscle weighs more than fat, so if you lose muscle you may notice that you drop a few pounds.
  • BrentGetsFit
    BrentGetsFit Posts: 878 Member
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    You were eating 1200 and working out on top of that? You weren't properly fueling and your body was conserving. Once you quit exercising, your body had enough fuel to run on and was able to let go of the excess. Simply put you should eat your exercise calories :)
  • allaboutme221
    allaboutme221 Posts: 8
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    You are still keeping up with the calorie count which is great! you also boosted your metabolism and so it is keeping up with you. You actually just made me feel better because when I am not working my son is not at the sitter and so I don't have that extra alone time as I usually do! thank you.

    Angie
  • crinn40
    crinn40 Posts: 5 Member
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    That is a bit puzzling, my guess would be that you're maaybe losing muscle since you're not working out. Muscles weighs more than fat. Thats what i think it is LOL
  • Spayrroe
    Spayrroe Posts: 210 Member
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    Might be that your body was feeling a bit under fueled, so staying under 1200 total cals while exercising made it retain, but when you dropped the exercise your body felt more comfortable letting go of the 'extra' bits?
  • jessimacar
    jessimacar Posts: 291
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    You probably weren't eating enough calories if you were working out and only consuming 1200 a day. You should eat back your calories to make sure you aren't starving your body.. If you starve your body it holds onto fat. Once you stopped working out your body probably didn't need much more than 1200 calories to survive so it was safe for your body to shed the fat it's been holding onto.
  • McKayMachina
    McKayMachina Posts: 2,670 Member
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    Simply put you should eat your exercise calories :)

    Yup.
  • cconeill
    cconeill Posts: 54 Member
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    You were eating 1200 and working out on top of that? You weren't properly fueling and your body was conserving. Once you quit exercising, your body had enough fuel to run on and was able to let go of the excess. Simply put you should eat your exercise calories :)


    I agree!
  • kirstinkrueger
    kirstinkrueger Posts: 346
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    You were eating 1200 and working out on top of that? You weren't properly fueling and your body was conserving. Once you quit exercising, your body had enough fuel to run on and was able to let go of the excess. Simply put you should eat your exercise calories :)


    just my opinion, but i have done a great job not eating them back.
    But OP, i had the same issue, dr said you always gain a little when you start working out and boost your metabolism and it continues when you stop working out but you arent gaining muscle on top of it so you tend to lose more. that make sense?
  • HeidiMightyRawr
    HeidiMightyRawr Posts: 3,343 Member
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    Perhaps you were eating too little previously your body held onto what it had. If you're eating 1200 a day that's fine but if you're exercising on top of that and not eating back some of the calories burnt then you're living off 1200 minus whatever the burn was and not giving yourself the food you need.
    Now you haven't been working out more you're in a way getting more calories inside you and this is working well if you're losing weight.

    I would say try and continue working out, it has many benefits besides losing weight but try and eat a bit more on your workout days staying above 1200 cals a day NET, which is cals eaten minus cals burnt working out.
  • HartJames
    HartJames Posts: 789 Member
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    Because, you were eating too few calories originally and your loss eventually led to starvation mode and body stopped dropping weight. You were likely not eating back your calories? So, effectively, without exercise you are at the appropriate deficit to lose fat and not muscle and if you were to start working out again you would need to add those additional cals back in on top of your base loss amount. Why? One reason is you can eventually stop dropping weight but scariest of all, if you ever fall off the wagon and you have starved your metabolism you will re-gain so fast your head will spin! It will quite literally be harder to lose and that same 5, 10, 20 or whatever pounds and it will look and be fatter. Like, if someone started out a size 16, starved their way down to a size 6 by losing 50 pounds, then gained that same 50 back they would likely wear more like a size 18 or have all kinds of unfortunate lumps and bumps in places they never had before.
  • GRSanders6739
    GRSanders6739 Posts: 1 Member
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    When you hit a plateau you have to change things up to get your body back into the weight loss mode. It can be a change in exercise routine, or a change in eating habits. Congratulations on finding a plateau breaker. :wink:

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