Losing Weight without Working Out?

nikkidoodleee wrote: »

Okay, yeah, that is quite a big number of weight to lose, you are completely right with that. But honestly I just want to lose enough so I can fit into a Halloween costume that I had handcrafted when I was like, 15/20 pounds lighter. (And back then even then my mother told me that I needed to lose weight to look good in it...)

Body recomp can help you with this also. Granted, it would require you to work out but it would allow for you to change your body, without actually loosing weight, to help you fit in that outfit.

matchbox_girl wrote: »

My doctor (an MD who has specialized in weight loss for the last 20 years) says despite the benefits of exercise, it does nothing for weight loss. It's all about what you put into your body nutrition wise. (Exercise is amazing for you, just not for losing weight.)

Your doctor is wrong...

nikkidoodleee wrote: »

RodaRose wrote: »

Are you using a food scale to weigh your diary entries?

A food scale? What do you mean?

A scale to measure your food on, your logging will be much more accurate if you know exactly how much your food weighs. Do you use a scale at the moment, if not, how can you be so sure you're sticking to your calorie goal?

matchbox_girl wrote: »

My doctor (an MD who has specialized in weight loss for the last 20 years) says despite the benefits of exercise, it does nothing for weight loss. It's all about what you put into your body nutrition wise. (Exercise is amazing for you, just not for losing weight.)

Nothing? So those calories burned by exercising are just phantom calories?

I agree that losing weight only requires that you consume less calories than you burn, but there are two parts to the equation...what you consume and what you burn. If you exercise, your calories burned increases. If you don't eat more to compensate, you have a greater deficit. Simple math.

A calorie burned is another calorie to add to your deficit.

IMO, exercise should be considered a 4th macronutrient...

nikkidoodleee wrote: »

Hey guys! I don't come to this forums often, but I was wondering, is there a way to lose weight without exercising but eating well? What tips/food suggestions would you suggest to help with that? I would really appreciate your help, for I need to lose at least 25 pounds by October...

I'm prob gunna get so hated on for this post, but I really don't care.

I originally lost 40lbs by diet alone.
The thought of exercise is not my favourite thing in the world, especially when the fat person inside me wants to play xbox with some mates.
Weight loss, if everyone is honest, boils down to basic math. If you are living in a calorific deficit then you lose weight. Eating 1350 Cals a day with no exercise may be why you are seeing slow results.

TLDR skip this bit
For example we know 1 pound of fat = roughly 3,500 calories, so we need to burn 3,500 more calories than we eat to lose 1 pound of fat.
When it comes to diet alone, you have to figure out your Basal metabolic rate (BMR). Your BMR is the amount of calories you burn a day just by living.

Mine for example is roughly 1,700 calories a day. So if I was to eat 1,350 calories a day It would take me:
1700(BMR)-1350(Calories A Day) = -350 (calories deficit)
3,500(Calories in 1lb of fat)/350(Daily deficit) = 10 days to lose 1 pound


If you are shorter and/or weigh less than me it would take even longer, and if you estimate your food intake and don't weigh it as was mentioned before, even longer than that. Adding work outs ups your calorie burn.

To summerize, yes you can lose weight through diet alone, I did it through Intermittent Fasting and a 500Cal budget (pre workout) a day diet of rice and chicken. Rice filled me up super fast and has relatively low calorie count for he amount of space it took up on my plate and in my stomach haha.


(add on: Including today there are 91 days left until October 1st, you would need to be in a calorific deficit of 962 calories a day for those 91 days to lose 25 pounds, completely doable, but much easier with exercise, even if you just walk a dog or something for 30-45 mins a day)

If you eat below whatever caloric burn you have during the day without exercise, you will lose weight.

But don't think you'll look great if you do your entire weight loss this way without working out. You'll lose weight, but you'll also lose muscle and you won't look "fit". You'll be thin, yes. But not fit.

Working out is important, especially if you don't have the motivation to do so. Here's a few reasons why:

• When you lose fat, you'll reveal the muscle beneath - if you don't train, you'll have nothing to reveal. You'll just look thin and you won't be able to lift your own groceries without help.
• Doing resistance training helps with bone density, which, especially for women, helps make sure we have healthy and strong bones into old age.
• Resistance training while on a calorie deficit (eating less than you burn) helps preserve your existing muscle mass so that you don't get weaker as you lose your weight.
• Builds a *kitten*-ton of confidence.
• Helps you work out stress and you'll feel like a proper beast when you can deadlift the equivalent of your mother's weight - trust me, as someone with a *kitten* up mother, being strong enough to lift how much she weighs off the ground is as satisfying as punching her maw without all the legal trouble.

I'm assuming your goal isn't just to lose weight, but to look good after. Even if you just to bodyweight stuff at home (push ups, sit ups, invest in a chin up bar and work your way up), you'll look and feel better than just cutting your consumption alone.

J72FIT wrote: »

JPIDGLEY wrote: »

nikkidoodleee wrote: »

Hey guys! I don't come to this forums often, but I was wondering, is there a way to lose weight without exercising but eating well? What tips/food suggestions would you suggest to help with that? I would really appreciate your help, for I need to lose at least 25 pounds by October...

I'm prob gunna get so hated on for this post, but I really don't care.

I originally lost 40lbs by diet alone.
The thought of exercise is not my favourite thing in the world, especially when the fat person inside me wants to play xbox with some mates.
Weight loss, if everyone is honest, boils down to basic math. If you are living in a calorific deficit then you lose weight. Eating 1350 Cals a day with no exercise may be why you are seeing slow results.

TLDR skip this bit
For example we know 1 pound of fat = roughly 3,500 calories, so we need to burn 3,500 more calories than we eat to lose 1 pound of fat.
When it comes to diet alone, you have to figure out your Basal metabolic rate (BMR). Your BMR is the amount of calories you burn a day just by living.

Mine for example is roughly 1,700 calories a day. So if I was to eat 1,350 calories a day It would take me:
1700(BMR)-1350(Calories A Day) = -350 (calories deficit)
3,500(Calories in 1lb of fat)/350(Daily deficit) = 10 days to lose 1 pound


If you are shorter and/or weigh less than me it would take even longer, and if you estimate your food intake and don't weigh it as was mentioned before, even longer than that. Adding work outs ups your calorie burn.

To summerize, yes you can lose weight through diet alone, I did it through Intermittent Fasting and a 500Cal budget (pre workout) a day diet of rice and chicken. Rice filled me up super fast and has relatively low calorie count for he amount of space it took up on my plate and in my stomach haha.


(add on: Including today there are 91 days left until October 1st, you would need to be in a calorific deficit of 962 calories a day for those 91 days to lose 25 pounds, completely doable, but much easier with exercise, even if you just walk a dog or something for 30-45 mins a day)

The problem with this is 3 fold...
1. Weight loss is not as linear as you are making it out to be. Weight fluctuates normally and there is no guarantee (with or without exercise) that merely creating a 3500 weekly deficit will result in a pound of weight loss per week.
2. It is much harder to meet nutritional requirements with low calories dieting. Exercise increases energy out calling for more calories. More energy in equates to more nutrients.
3. Weight loss is merely a single side effect of exercise. There are so many more benefits that come along with it. If you diet without exercise you will lose a lot of muscle, believe that.

Everything is better when you are fit...

I agree with you, everything is better when you are fit, and i'm not against exercise, I was just pointing out *in a very simple way* that 3,500 calories = 1 pound of fat and if you don't weigh your food, and know your BMR then you are fighting a losing battle if you eliminate exercise.
i did leave out the variables of fluctuation, especially water weight which accounts for 0 calories, even though the water you carry obviously has a weight.

MarziPanda95 wrote: »

Mapalicious wrote: »

J72FIT wrote: »

Trying to lose weight without working out is like trying to have sex with your clothes on...

If you're not obese or morbidly obese, exercise is great because it seriously reduces your cravings.

This isn't true for everyone. Some people get reduced hunger/cravings, other people get more hungry. Sadly I'm in the latter category

Exercise makes me ravenous and stresses me out.

Even if you only walked 20 minutes or biked 20 minutes it would help tremendously. If you just want to have a calorie deficit maybe go down to 1250 and see how that works and also eat lots of fruits and veggies and drink LOTS of water.