Teach me how to lose without exercising...

Tell me how to lose weight without exercising.... In the past I only had success combining the two. Now my treadmill is broken and I have yet to get a new machine. I am also post partum and overwhelms so figured best to ram a step back from exercising until things settle down...
Advice?

Replies

  • techgal128
    techgal128 Posts: 719 Member
    Eat less than you burn throughout the day. That's all it takes.
  • ds6099
    ds6099 Posts: 98 Member
    Easier said than done! Exercising keeps me in check. That's the advice I need- HOW to be careful without it!
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    The good thing about MFP is your goal is given to you without exercise factored in. Eat that amount and you'll lose!
  • BWBTrish
    BWBTrish Posts: 2,817 Member
    techgal128 wrote: »
    Eat less than you burn throughout the day. That's all it takes.

    thats the only way
    do you expect magic?

    Weigh all your food on a food scale...start logging all your food eat less than you burn and walla weight loss.


  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,590 Member
    Weighing food is key. When you can't burn extra by working out, you have to make certain you know as exactly as possible how many calories you are taking in, because that "buffer" that exercise provides isn't there.
  • betuel75
    betuel75 Posts: 776 Member
    unless your doing hours of heavy cardio you really are not burning that many calories much from exercise. The biggest percentage is from eating less and/or figuring out how to eat in a way to be full without eating over a certain number of calories a day.
  • Bowsergirl
    Bowsergirl Posts: 89 Member
    I tried to lose weight too soon after having a baby and really discouraged myself. You should give yourself lots of time to heal.
    I did this with my baby for awhile and it was pretty fun. He loved it.
    http://www.babble.com/baby/workout-mom-exercises-with-baby-weight-loss/
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    I agree with the other re; the food scale.

    If it helps, I lost the majority of my weight with zero exercise. 24lbs in 4mths. I was pathetically sedentary, averaging around 2000-2500 steps a day.

    I've only started exercising in the last 6mths, which is plain and simple walking. I got a fitbit which motivated me, and exercising allows me to eat more. But to lose weight exercise is not a prerequisite.
  • techgal128
    techgal128 Posts: 719 Member
    edited August 2015
    BWBTrish wrote: »
    techgal128 wrote: »
    Eat less than you burn throughout the day. That's all it takes.

    thats the only way
    do you expect magic?

    Weigh all your food on a food scale...start logging all your food eat less than you burn and walla weight loss.


    I personally don't weigh my food and have lost weight fine. However, I understand that a lot of people may need to so it's always encouraged.
  • seska422
    seska422 Posts: 3,217 Member
    ds6099 wrote: »
    Easier said than done! Exercising keeps me in check. That's the advice I need- HOW to be careful without it!
    The only parameter that can be controlled when you can't exercise is calorie intake. Carefully weigh and measure everything, record everything in your food diary, and take note of foods that are more satisfying and keep you full. You don't have as many calories to waste on "treat" foods so choose them judiciously.
  • ds6099
    ds6099 Posts: 98 Member
    seska422 wrote: »
    ds6099 wrote: »
    Easier said than done! Exercising keeps me in check. That's the advice I need- HOW to be careful without it!
    The only parameter that can be controlled when you can't exercise is calorie intake. Carefully weigh and measure everything, record everything in your food diary, and take note of foods that are more satisfying and keep you full. You don't have as many calories to waste on "treat" foods so choose them judiciously.

    Good advice! I've been losing fine without weighing my food cuz I had that buffer. Gonna be super careful now!
  • Nanogg55
    Nanogg55 Posts: 275 Member
    How about walking with the baby in a stroller? Even a short walk will give you some fresh air and change of scenery.
  • earthnut
    earthnut Posts: 216 Member
    edited August 2015
    ds6099 wrote: »
    Tell me how to lose weight without exercising.... In the past I only had success combining the two. Now my treadmill is broken and I have yet to get a new machine. I am also post partum and overwhelms so figured best to ram a step back from exercising until things settle down...
    Advice?

    It's a lot easier if you eat foods with less calories per volume. Your body tells you "I'm full" based on the *volume* of food you eat, not the number of calories. Fruits, veggies, soups, high-fiber things all have few calories per volume. Look into Volumetrics.

    Also, certain kinds of foods will keep you satiated for longer than others. Fiber, water, and protein will keep you feeling fuller for longer. Fruits, veggies, whole grains, beans, lean meats. Fat, sugar, and starch will make you feel hungry faster. Fast food, fried food, sweets, refined grains, juice, potatoes. http://nutritiondata.self.com/ rates foods by a "fullness factor".

    Since you're post-partum, it's best to take weight loss slowly to give your body a chance to recover, especially if you're breastfeeding. Losing weight isn't recommended for the first 2 months for this reason.
  • Patttience
    Patttience Posts: 975 Member
    It would be my pleasure to help you. And its a not a question of easier said than done. It's actually easier to lose weight without exercise becuase then you don't have to push yourself to exercise when you don't feel like it or if you have a busy day.

    That said, just try to take opportunities through your normal day to take the more active choice.

    So how do you lose weight without formal exercise. Eat more healthy, cut your calories only minimally and accept losing weight more slowly. Unless you have a ton of weight to lose.

    Anyway this is the process i have been using since 2014. I now do some exericse daily a) because i have a dog and b) i want to do it for my health. All i do is a fast walk on the beach for about 30 minutes. But I am already at my healthy weight and i know i am eating all my calories back from exercise so i'm not doing it to lose weight.

    I began in 2014 with 80kg and lost so easily by just eating healthy adn cutting calories minimally. I am in maintenance now and have been for about 8 months.

    Note if you have recently been doing a lot of exercise and now not doing anything, you may find your appetite exceeds your daily burn. This is because of all your muscle mass and faster metabolism. It make take a few weeks to settle down. Don't panic. Stick to a good diet. Eat at meal times and don't snack.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    hac125 wrote: »
    How about walking with the baby in a stroller? Even a short walk will give you some fresh air and change of scenery.

    + 1

  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    I was going to say an outdoors walk can help a lot with the postpartum blues, too.

    I lost my first twenty pounds on diet alone.
  • ds6099
    ds6099 Posts: 98 Member
    I'm not breastfeeding and 5 months pp already.
    For the next couple of months I'll focus on eating right until things settle down. That will be hard!
  • Pinesgurl
    Pinesgurl Posts: 39 Member
    I agree with the other re; the food scale.

    If it helps, I lost the majority of my weight with zero exercise. 24lbs in 4mths. I was pathetically sedentary, averaging around 2000-2500 steps a day.

    I've only started exercising in the last 6mths, which is plain and simple walking. I got a fitbit which motivated me, and exercising allows me to eat more. But to lose weight exercise is not a prerequisite.

    I love what you have to say! :-) I'm disabled so try to do small hand weights and a resistance band from a chair. I'm losing excruciatingly slow. I do not add in exercise calories now.
  • echmainfit619
    echmainfit619 Posts: 333 Member
    > Easier said than done!

    That's true of everything.

    Nothing worth doing is ever easy.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    edited August 2015
    mlokie wrote: »
    I agree with the other re; the food scale.

    If it helps, I lost the majority of my weight with zero exercise. 24lbs in 4mths. I was pathetically sedentary, averaging around 2000-2500 steps a day.

    I've only started exercising in the last 6mths, which is plain and simple walking. I got a fitbit which motivated me, and exercising allows me to eat more. But to lose weight exercise is not a prerequisite.

    I love what you have to say! :-) I'm disabled so try to do small hand weights and a resistance band from a chair. I'm losing excruciatingly slow. I do not add in exercise calories now.

    @mlokie rest assured it is totally possible. I work from home, and I when I lost that weight I was pottering around at home and doing nothing else but watching my calories. I was constantly worried about not exercising, as I was always led to believe that you must exercise to lose weight. Obviously this is not true.

    You can do this!! :heart:

  • Pinesgurl
    Pinesgurl Posts: 39 Member
    mlokie wrote: »
    I agree with the other re; the food scale.

    If it helps, I lost the majority of my weight with zero exercise. 24lbs in 4mths. I was pathetically sedentary, averaging around 2000-2500 steps a day.

    I've only started exercising in the last 6mths, which is plain and simple walking. I got a fitbit which motivated me, and exercising allows me to eat more. But to lose weight exercise is not a prerequisite.

    I love what you have to say! :-) I'm disabled so try to do small hand weights and a resistance band from a chair. I'm losing excruciatingly slow. I do not add in exercise calories now.

    @mlokie rest assured it is totally possible. I work from home, and I when I lost that weight I was pottering around at home and doing nothing else but watching my calories. I was constantly worried about not exercising, as I was always led to believe that you must exercise to lose weight. Obviously this is not true.

    You can do this!! :heart:

    Friend me, please, please. I want to suck up encouragement. :-)
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    You just eat fewer calories. That's it!

    You can still get some exercise, even in the house. Dance, do workout tapes, body weight stuff. :)

    Congrats on the baby!!!
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    mlokie wrote: »
    mlokie wrote: »
    I agree with the other re; the food scale.

    If it helps, I lost the majority of my weight with zero exercise. 24lbs in 4mths. I was pathetically sedentary, averaging around 2000-2500 steps a day.

    I've only started exercising in the last 6mths, which is plain and simple walking. I got a fitbit which motivated me, and exercising allows me to eat more. But to lose weight exercise is not a prerequisite.

    I love what you have to say! :-) I'm disabled so try to do small hand weights and a resistance band from a chair. I'm losing excruciatingly slow. I do not add in exercise calories now.

    @mlokie rest assured it is totally possible. I work from home, and I when I lost that weight I was pottering around at home and doing nothing else but watching my calories. I was constantly worried about not exercising, as I was always led to believe that you must exercise to lose weight. Obviously this is not true.

    You can do this!! :heart:

    Friend me, please, please. I want to suck up encouragement. :-)

    Request sent :smile: :smile:

  • BWBTrish
    BWBTrish Posts: 2,817 Member
    techgal128 wrote: »
    BWBTrish wrote: »
    techgal128 wrote: »
    Eat less than you burn throughout the day. That's all it takes.

    thats the only way
    do you expect magic?

    Weigh all your food on a food scale...start logging all your food eat less than you burn and walla weight loss.


    I personally don't weigh my food and have lost weight fine. However, I understand that a lot of people may need to so it's always encouraged.

    I think we have to change the minds in this matter

    It is rare that people can...like you. And lucky you btw. I wish i could

    But we should encourage the other way around...weigh ALL your food on a scale...and when you do that learn if you can do without it.
    In some test ( studies are online somewhere) is proven that most people think they know portion sizes and how to eyeball and guesstimate their food. Shocking to know that most of them are off in a long way.
    Also sad enough btw.

    I encourage people to weigh their food and learn it. And from there to try to not weigh a portion... I am pretty good now in cutting half a tsp of butter etc Because i have done and weighed it so many times.... now cutting that piece of butter i use isnt far off the grams i indeed tend to have.

    But i still keep weighing. Just because my deficit is getting smaller after losing 105 pounds and i dont want my weight loss to stall or slow down. And after all i am 1 minute longer in the kitchen by weighing my food. It really dont take that long to do so.

    But yes lol would be handy if i could do without...but no biggie to weigh my food...if i have to forever.
    Totally used to it and a very small task to do for losing and keeping my weight off.

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  • skinnyinnotime
    skinnyinnotime Posts: 4,078 Member
    hac125 wrote: »
    How about walking with the baby in a stroller? Even a short walk will give you some fresh air and change of scenery.

    This is excellent advice.

    I lost all my baby weight from my first 2 pregnancies each time with a calorie deficit (no logging) and walking for miles. With the second baby I had a double buggy, even more hard work! My husband used to phone me and when I'd tell him somewhere miles from home he'd be shocked at how far I'd walked lol. Not suggesting you do that, but walking is good for both of you.

    After my third baby I joined MFP!
  • Bshmerlie
    Bshmerlie Posts: 1,026 Member
    I don't count on exercise to help me lose weight. I simply eat at the level MFP has me set at with a sedentary lifestyle. I actually only do about 30 min walking on the treadmill anyway so I just use it as my cushion for any errors in my logging accuracy. If you don't feel like exercising then don't. If you're not into the exercise thing then don't start simply because you're on a diet. That way when you stop your diet your body will already be use to the sedentary pace. Often times people start up these crazy workout routines only to stop them when they stop their diet. Just like your diet your workout routine should also be something you can do for the rest of your life. If its not going to be don't start it.
  • BWBTrish
    BWBTrish Posts: 2,817 Member
    Bshmerlie wrote: »
    I don't count on exercise to help me lose weight. I simply eat at the level MFP has me set at with a sedentary lifestyle. I actually only do about 30 min walking on the treadmill anyway so I just use it as my cushion for any errors in my logging accuracy. If you don't feel like exercising then don't. If you're not into the exercise thing then don't start simply because you're on a diet. That way when you stop your diet your body will already be use to the sedentary pace. Often times people start up these crazy workout routines only to stop them when they stop their diet. Just like your diet your workout routine should also be something you can do for the rest of your life. If its not going to be don't start it.

    This

    I lose weight because of my deficit i created
    the exercise i do because i love to get fitter and be active.

    and yes it gives me more room to eat extra...but is not needed.

    For people who dont like to exercise i always say...just start in the kitchen. Weigh all your food on a food scale, eat less than you daily burn
    Than when you like to, add some walking ....and maybe over time more and more

    And before you know it, you are exercising :)

  • mccindy72
    mccindy72 Posts: 7,001 Member
    Eat at a calorie deficit and you will lose weight. A deficit of 500 calories per day will help you lose a pound a week. It's not a problem at all to lose weight without exercise - exercise is for fitness. At best it gives you a few hundred calories extra to add to your deficit.
  • Merkavar
    Merkavar Posts: 3,082 Member
    ds6099 wrote: »
    Easier said than done! Exercising keeps me in check. That's the advice I need- HOW to be careful without it!


    How did exercise keep you in check?

    Also why can't you exercise with out a treadmill?

    Walk outside, walk around inside, skip, etc etc

    But ultimately eat at a deficit to lose weight.
  • ds6099
    ds6099 Posts: 98 Member
    I love all your advice! I will log every calorie and hope for the best!