Weight loss faster without workout :/

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Hi all, I'm eating 1600 calories a day and was running a couple mile a day on the treadmill as well but my weight wasn't really moving. My ankle started hurting so stopping running and since then my weight is dropping really fast, how can I lose weight faster without working out?
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  • kuranda10
    kuranda10 Posts: 593 Member
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    The same thing was happening to me. The only logical explaination I could come up with is my muscles really retain water after heavy workouts. I never researched it much beyond that since my size was going down.
  • DemoraFairy
    DemoraFairy Posts: 1,806 Member
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    How long did you eat 1600 while working out and without working out? Muscles retaining water after working out may well be a factor. Did you eat back your exercise calories when you were working out?
  • Yi5hedr3
    Yi5hedr3 Posts: 2,696 Member
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    Yep - loosing muscle....
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    water weight dropping from no longer required for muscle repair from exercise

    calories dropping from no increased appetite to fuel body to run

    it's temporary probably
  • TheopolisAmbroiseIII
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    Jayz395 wrote: »
    Hi all, I'm eating 1600 calories a day and was running a couple mile a day on the treadmill as well but my weight wasn't really moving. My ankle started hurting so stopping running and since then my weight is dropping really fast, how can I lose weight faster without working out?

    I'm the exact opposite. I was at a 2 month stall and started running on the treadmill again, and it's started falling off (4lbs this week, time to readjust).
  • SingingSingleTracker
    SingingSingleTracker Posts: 1,866 Member
    edited December 2015
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    Jayz395 wrote: »
    My ankle started hurting so stopping running and since then my weight is dropping really fast, how can I lose weight faster without working out?

    Simple. Cut off one of your legs. :-)

    It has oft been said on MFP message boards and numerous articles, blogs, magazines and what not that "weight is lost in the kitchen, not in the gym" or some such variant of that statement. And that statement is said for good reasons.

    This article by Dr. Yoni Freedhoff states:

    We need to unhitch exercise from our weight-management wagons. Breaking it down, figure that your diet is responsible for 80 percent of your weight and fitness – unless you're incredibly active, just 20 percent. If weight's your concern you're much more likely to lose it in your kitchen than you are in your gym. But don't forget, if it's health you're after, you need to do both.

    So your question of "how can I lose weight faster without working out?" would be to run a larger deficit in the CICO equation. You can use food (calories) on the CI part of the equation, exercise on the CO part of the equation, or a combination of both depending on your goals. But to do it without exercising leaves you with only the kitchen option which simply means you have to eat less calories. And that's fine and dandy.

    It raises all kind of questions surrounding your use of the word "faster". You don't want to reduce calories too much - like going beyond a 20% reduction from your maintenance level. With the deficit, your body will consume water, glycogen stores, fat and muscle to fuel itself. If you reduce your calories too much (beyond the 20% below maintenance levels) in an effort to cut weight faster, your muscles will be fed on by the body to fuel itself. So I would take care not to go too fast and to counteract the muscle loss.

    Many exercise and eat in specific ways using an effort to help maintain the muscle they have while losing weight. Read this to start down the path of maintaining muscle while losing weight.

    Faster is not always better. Initial losses of water, glycogen not withstanding that you have seen thus far since you stopped the running - your deficit or "losing it in the kitchen" will be your ticket to your goals. Hopefully without losing too much muscle and finding some other forms of exercise for health benefits that doesn't hurt your ankle (cycling, weight lifting, walking in good supportive shoes, etc...).
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,658 Member
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    He didn't really mean "how can I" so much as "why did I."

    He's not looking for a process going forward, but an explanation of what happened.
  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
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    Jayz395 wrote: »
    Hi all, I'm eating 1600 calories a day and was running a couple mile a day on the treadmill as well but my weight wasn't really moving. My ankle started hurting so stopping running and since then my weight is dropping really fast, how can I lose weight faster without working out?
    Your a 30 something male only eating 1600 cals and running. That's not very much. Sometimes there's a sweet spot deficit where weight loss happens best. Dropping your running found that. When I started many many years ago, the combination of running and eating too little did not work for me. I started eating a bit more and never looked back.
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,658 Member
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    rybo wrote: »
    Jayz395 wrote: »
    Hi all, I'm eating 1600 calories a day and was running a couple mile a day on the treadmill as well but my weight wasn't really moving. My ankle started hurting so stopping running and since then my weight is dropping really fast, how can I lose weight faster without working out?
    Your a 30 something male only eating 1600 cals and running. That's not very much. Sometimes there's a sweet spot deficit where weight loss happens best. Dropping your running found that. When I started many many years ago, the combination of running and eating too little did not work for me. I started eating a bit more and never looked back.
    How would burning fewer calories help his weight loss if nothing else had changed?

    It's almost certainly water weight or eating enough less to offset the missing exercise. It's almost certainly not some sweet spot in which calories in and calories out cease to be the determinant.

  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
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    rybo wrote: »
    Jayz395 wrote: »
    Hi all, I'm eating 1600 calories a day and was running a couple mile a day on the treadmill as well but my weight wasn't really moving. My ankle started hurting so stopping running and since then my weight is dropping really fast, how can I lose weight faster without working out?
    Your a 30 something male only eating 1600 cals and running. That's not very much. Sometimes there's a sweet spot deficit where weight loss happens best. Dropping your running found that. When I started many many years ago, the combination of running and eating too little did not work for me. I started eating a bit more and never looked back.
    How would burning fewer calories help his weight loss if nothing else had changed?

    It's almost certainly water weight or eating enough less to offset the missing exercise. It's almost certainly not some sweet spot in which calories in and calories out cease to be the determinant.
    The same way me eating more helped my weight loss.
  • FitGirl0123
    FitGirl0123 Posts: 1,273 Member
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    rybo wrote: »
    rybo wrote: »
    Jayz395 wrote: »
    Hi all, I'm eating 1600 calories a day and was running a couple mile a day on the treadmill as well but my weight wasn't really moving. My ankle started hurting so stopping running and since then my weight is dropping really fast, how can I lose weight faster without working out?
    Your a 30 something male only eating 1600 cals and running. That's not very much. Sometimes there's a sweet spot deficit where weight loss happens best. Dropping your running found that. When I started many many years ago, the combination of running and eating too little did not work for me. I started eating a bit more and never looked back.
    How would burning fewer calories help his weight loss if nothing else had changed?

    It's almost certainly water weight or eating enough less to offset the missing exercise. It's almost certainly not some sweet spot in which calories in and calories out cease to be the determinant.
    The same way me eating more helped my weight loss.

    I always found the more I ate, the more I lost also! I never had great results from the MFP's standard caloric goal for many women of 1200 cals a day.
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,658 Member
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    rybo wrote: »
    rybo wrote: »
    Jayz395 wrote: »
    Hi all, I'm eating 1600 calories a day and was running a couple mile a day on the treadmill as well but my weight wasn't really moving. My ankle started hurting so stopping running and since then my weight is dropping really fast, how can I lose weight faster without working out?
    Your a 30 something male only eating 1600 cals and running. That's not very much. Sometimes there's a sweet spot deficit where weight loss happens best. Dropping your running found that. When I started many many years ago, the combination of running and eating too little did not work for me. I started eating a bit more and never looked back.
    How would burning fewer calories help his weight loss if nothing else had changed?

    It's almost certainly water weight or eating enough less to offset the missing exercise. It's almost certainly not some sweet spot in which calories in and calories out cease to be the determinant.
    The same way me eating more helped my weight loss.
    And how was that?

  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,658 Member
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    rybo wrote: »
    rybo wrote: »
    Jayz395 wrote: »
    Hi all, I'm eating 1600 calories a day and was running a couple mile a day on the treadmill as well but my weight wasn't really moving. My ankle started hurting so stopping running and since then my weight is dropping really fast, how can I lose weight faster without working out?
    Your a 30 something male only eating 1600 cals and running. That's not very much. Sometimes there's a sweet spot deficit where weight loss happens best. Dropping your running found that. When I started many many years ago, the combination of running and eating too little did not work for me. I started eating a bit more and never looked back.
    How would burning fewer calories help his weight loss if nothing else had changed?

    It's almost certainly water weight or eating enough less to offset the missing exercise. It's almost certainly not some sweet spot in which calories in and calories out cease to be the determinant.
    The same way me eating more helped my weight loss.

    I always found the more I ate, the more I lost also! I never had great results from the MFP's standard caloric goal for many women of 1200 cals a day.
    That's only a "standard" when relatively small women try to lose at a very high rate.

  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
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    rybo wrote: »
    rybo wrote: »
    Jayz395 wrote: »
    Hi all, I'm eating 1600 calories a day and was running a couple mile a day on the treadmill as well but my weight wasn't really moving. My ankle started hurting so stopping running and since then my weight is dropping really fast, how can I lose weight faster without working out?
    Your a 30 something male only eating 1600 cals and running. That's not very much. Sometimes there's a sweet spot deficit where weight loss happens best. Dropping your running found that. When I started many many years ago, the combination of running and eating too little did not work for me. I started eating a bit more and never looked back.
    How would burning fewer calories help his weight loss if nothing else had changed?

    It's almost certainly water weight or eating enough less to offset the missing exercise. It's almost certainly not some sweet spot in which calories in and calories out cease to be the determinant.
    The same way me eating more helped my weight loss.
    And how was that?
    I'm not really sure what you don't understand about my last statement. Eating more = weight loss.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    rybo wrote: »
    rybo wrote: »
    rybo wrote: »
    Jayz395 wrote: »
    Hi all, I'm eating 1600 calories a day and was running a couple mile a day on the treadmill as well but my weight wasn't really moving. My ankle started hurting so stopping running and since then my weight is dropping really fast, how can I lose weight faster without working out?
    Your a 30 something male only eating 1600 cals and running. That's not very much. Sometimes there's a sweet spot deficit where weight loss happens best. Dropping your running found that. When I started many many years ago, the combination of running and eating too little did not work for me. I started eating a bit more and never looked back.
    How would burning fewer calories help his weight loss if nothing else had changed?

    It's almost certainly water weight or eating enough less to offset the missing exercise. It's almost certainly not some sweet spot in which calories in and calories out cease to be the determinant.
    The same way me eating more helped my weight loss.
    And how was that?
    I'm not really sure what you don't understand about my last statement. Eating more = weight loss.

    ways eating more = greater weight loss

    1) when you are logging more accurately and removing inconsistencies
    2) when you're increasing your TDEE because you're fueling better
    3) diet break replenishing Leptin levels can help you lose more when returning to calorie defecit

    perhaps?
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,658 Member
    edited December 2015
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    rybo wrote: »
    rybo wrote: »
    rybo wrote: »
    Jayz395 wrote: »
    Hi all, I'm eating 1600 calories a day and was running a couple mile a day on the treadmill as well but my weight wasn't really moving. My ankle started hurting so stopping running and since then my weight is dropping really fast, how can I lose weight faster without working out?
    Your a 30 something male only eating 1600 cals and running. That's not very much. Sometimes there's a sweet spot deficit where weight loss happens best. Dropping your running found that. When I started many many years ago, the combination of running and eating too little did not work for me. I started eating a bit more and never looked back.
    How would burning fewer calories help his weight loss if nothing else had changed?

    It's almost certainly water weight or eating enough less to offset the missing exercise. It's almost certainly not some sweet spot in which calories in and calories out cease to be the determinant.
    The same way me eating more helped my weight loss.
    And how was that?
    I'm not really sure what you don't understand about my last statement. Eating more = weight loss.
    Except that's impossible, given accurate measurements of "more" and "loss" if other factors are held constant.

    So, what I don't understand, is how the physics of that would work or where the extra calories went.
  • FitGirl0123
    FitGirl0123 Posts: 1,273 Member
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    rybo wrote: »
    rybo wrote: »
    Jayz395 wrote: »
    Hi all, I'm eating 1600 calories a day and was running a couple mile a day on the treadmill as well but my weight wasn't really moving. My ankle started hurting so stopping running and since then my weight is dropping really fast, how can I lose weight faster without working out?
    Your a 30 something male only eating 1600 cals and running. That's not very much. Sometimes there's a sweet spot deficit where weight loss happens best. Dropping your running found that. When I started many many years ago, the combination of running and eating too little did not work for me. I started eating a bit more and never looked back.
    How would burning fewer calories help his weight loss if nothing else had changed?

    It's almost certainly water weight or eating enough less to offset the missing exercise. It's almost certainly not some sweet spot in which calories in and calories out cease to be the determinant.
    The same way me eating more helped my weight loss.

    I always found the more I ate, the more I lost also! I never had great results from the MFP's standard caloric goal for many women of 1200 cals a day.
    That's only a "standard" when relatively small women try to lose at a very high rate.

    LOL I wasn't trying to lose at a "high rate" but MFP still suggested 1200. It's a moot point now because I'm all about the gains and enjoy watching the scale go up now. But, when no other factor was changed, other than going from eating 1200 calories, to eating 1500 calories, the number on the scale started moving down. So you can chalk that up to whatever you want, but it's a fact.
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,658 Member
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    rabbitjb wrote: »
    rybo wrote: »
    rybo wrote: »
    rybo wrote: »
    Jayz395 wrote: »
    Hi all, I'm eating 1600 calories a day and was running a couple mile a day on the treadmill as well but my weight wasn't really moving. My ankle started hurting so stopping running and since then my weight is dropping really fast, how can I lose weight faster without working out?
    Your a 30 something male only eating 1600 cals and running. That's not very much. Sometimes there's a sweet spot deficit where weight loss happens best. Dropping your running found that. When I started many many years ago, the combination of running and eating too little did not work for me. I started eating a bit more and never looked back.
    How would burning fewer calories help his weight loss if nothing else had changed?

    It's almost certainly water weight or eating enough less to offset the missing exercise. It's almost certainly not some sweet spot in which calories in and calories out cease to be the determinant.
    The same way me eating more helped my weight loss.
    And how was that?
    I'm not really sure what you don't understand about my last statement. Eating more = weight loss.

    ways eating more = greater weight loss

    1) when you are logging more accurately and removing inconsistencies
    2) when you're increasing your TDEE because you're fueling better
    3) diet break replenishing Leptin levels can help you lose more when returning to calorie defecit

    perhaps?
    Well, #1 is feasible, but that's why I mention "accurate measurements." #2 I think is pretty much covered in "other factors held constant" as long as you're talking about more fuel leading to more activity, and that also ties back in to #1. I'm not sure how TDEE would meaningfully be affected, otherwise. #3 is also feasible, but that -- and reduced stress, cortisol, etc. -- are relatively short term effects.
  • Jayz395
    Jayz395 Posts: 90 Member
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    He didn't really mean "how can I" so much as "why did I."

    He's not looking for a process going forward, but an explanation of what happened.

    Yes that's right, I ran each day for about 3 weeks eating 1600 weight didn't really alter. Since I've stopped I lost about 3-4 pound every week been about 5 weeks now
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,658 Member
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    Jayz395 wrote: »
    He didn't really mean "how can I" so much as "why did I."

    He's not looking for a process going forward, but an explanation of what happened.

    Yes that's right, I ran each day for about 3 weeks eating 1600 weight didn't really alter. Since I've stopped I lost about 3-4 pound every week been about 5 weeks now
    Three weeks isn't very long, especially with the running, which can cause water retention that would mask any loss. Three or four pounds a week is pretty substantial. Mostly likely a decent chunk of that is water, but if that continues you might want to look at eating more so that you're not at a larger deficit than your body can cover from fat stores.