Can I lose weight with minimal workouts?
ajc1309
Posts: 255 Member
I've started to work out again doing 35-50 mins on a stationary bike 2-4 times a week. The thing is I'm on my feet all day at work and sometimes don't feel like working out when I get home. I'm eating around 1200 cals a day so can I still lose if I decide to not work out some days?
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Replies
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Yes. Exercise is for health and fitness. A calorie deficit is for losing weight.1
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Exercise is not in any way required to lose weight.
Lifting weights can help preserve muscle while you lose. Self-supported light-moderate impact helps preserve bone loss while you lose (think roller skating or walking). Cardio can help you create a larger overall deficit. But in the end, what matters is if you on average eat fewer calories than you burn overall, including the calories you burn while sitting/sleeping/exercising/etc.
Honestly, if I ate 1200 calories, I'd never work out because I'd be too tired.0 -
It's all about calories. You can lose fat by diet alone.1
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You can lose weight with no workouts. Its all about the calories.1
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I can definitely understand not wanting to work out if you're on your feet for your job. Instead of doing more cardio for a workout, why don't you do some body weight exercises while you're watching tv or something like that? You could do sets of push-ups, squats, lunges, etc. They won't burn a lot of calories but they'll show better toning results.2
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Yep. As long as you are burning more calories than you eat, you'll lose weight. Your body burns calories just keeping you alive, so everything burned during exercise is just "bonus". When I started losing weight, I didn't exercise at all (was a student with no desire to), and I still lost weight.
Exercise is good for overall health, but it isn't necessary for weight loss.1 -
garethclement2009 wrote: »1200 calories could be 5 mars bars, concentrate on the quality of your food, get a good breakfast in you, eat regular and drink water, 1200 calories is all well and good. But if your body uses less calories daily then it's pointless. Work out your BMR, then minus 500 calories and in theory you'll lose a pound a day.
Good luck
Most BMR calculators give me around 1400 though?
My fitbit says I'm burning about 2000 cals a day on average.
BMR is the amount of calories your body burns just to live. TDEE is what it burns throughout the day, which is what your Fitbit gives you.2 -
garethclement2009 wrote: »1200 calories could be 5 mars bars, concentrate on the quality of your food, get a good breakfast in you, eat regular and drink water, 1200 calories is all well and good. But if your body uses less calories daily then it's pointless. Work out your BMR, then minus 500 calories and in theory you'll lose a pound a day.
Good luck
Most BMR calculators give me around 1400 though?
My fitbit says I'm burning about 2000 cals a day on average.
BMR is the amount of calories your body burns just to live. TDEE is what it burns throughout the day, which is what your Fitbit gives you.
so when the fitbit says 2,000 it includes bmr or it's all in addition to that?
(off topic but i keep getting confused by this in the forums)0 -
jessiferrrb wrote: »garethclement2009 wrote: »1200 calories could be 5 mars bars, concentrate on the quality of your food, get a good breakfast in you, eat regular and drink water, 1200 calories is all well and good. But if your body uses less calories daily then it's pointless. Work out your BMR, then minus 500 calories and in theory you'll lose a pound a day.
Good luck
Most BMR calculators give me around 1400 though?
My fitbit says I'm burning about 2000 cals a day on average.
BMR is the amount of calories your body burns just to live. TDEE is what it burns throughout the day, which is what your Fitbit gives you.
so when the fitbit says 2,000 it includes bmr or it's all in addition to that?
(off topic but i keep getting confused by this in the forums)
If your fitbit says you burned 2000 calories, you've burned 2000 calories total including everything.2 -
I've started to work out again doing 35-50 mins on a stationary bike 2-4 times a week. The thing is I'm on my feet all day at work and sometimes don't feel like working out when I get home. I'm eating around 1200 cals a day so can I still lose if I decide to not work out some days?
How tall are you? Unless you are very short, you may be tired because 1200 calories isn't enough for you, especially with an active job.
How long have you been on 1200 calories and how much weight are you losing per week?0 -
jessiferrrb wrote: »garethclement2009 wrote: »1200 calories could be 5 mars bars, concentrate on the quality of your food, get a good breakfast in you, eat regular and drink water, 1200 calories is all well and good. But if your body uses less calories daily then it's pointless. Work out your BMR, then minus 500 calories and in theory you'll lose a pound a day.
Good luck
Most BMR calculators give me around 1400 though?
My fitbit says I'm burning about 2000 cals a day on average.
BMR is the amount of calories your body burns just to live. TDEE is what it burns throughout the day, which is what your Fitbit gives you.
so when the fitbit says 2,000 it includes bmr or it's all in addition to that?
(off topic but i keep getting confused by this in the forums)
Ideally FitBit includes everything. So with a TDEE of 2,000 you could lose 1 pound a week by eating 1,500 calories.
BMR + Activity level + Exercise = TDEE3 -
jessiferrrb wrote: »garethclement2009 wrote: »1200 calories could be 5 mars bars, concentrate on the quality of your food, get a good breakfast in you, eat regular and drink water, 1200 calories is all well and good. But if your body uses less calories daily then it's pointless. Work out your BMR, then minus 500 calories and in theory you'll lose a pound a day.
Good luck
Most BMR calculators give me around 1400 though?
My fitbit says I'm burning about 2000 cals a day on average.
BMR is the amount of calories your body burns just to live. TDEE is what it burns throughout the day, which is what your Fitbit gives you.
so when the fitbit says 2,000 it includes bmr or it's all in addition to that?
(off topic but i keep getting confused by this in the forums)
It includes BMR. Mine says I burned 2253 calories so far today, which is with 10,000+ steps. Tuesday I took a day to relax and my total burn was still over 1900 calories.0 -
jessiferrrb wrote: »garethclement2009 wrote: »1200 calories could be 5 mars bars, concentrate on the quality of your food, get a good breakfast in you, eat regular and drink water, 1200 calories is all well and good. But if your body uses less calories daily then it's pointless. Work out your BMR, then minus 500 calories and in theory you'll lose a pound a day.
Good luck
Most BMR calculators give me around 1400 though?
My fitbit says I'm burning about 2000 cals a day on average.
BMR is the amount of calories your body burns just to live. TDEE is what it burns throughout the day, which is what your Fitbit gives you.
so when the fitbit says 2,000 it includes bmr or it's all in addition to that?
(off topic but i keep getting confused by this in the forums)
Ideally FitBit includes everything. So with a TDEE of 2,000 you could lose 1 pound a week by eating 1,500 calories.
BMR + Activity level + Exercise = TDEE
thank you!! i thought people were just zooming around all day while i sat at my desk.0 -
kshama2001 wrote: »I've started to work out again doing 35-50 mins on a stationary bike 2-4 times a week. The thing is I'm on my feet all day at work and sometimes don't feel like working out when I get home. I'm eating around 1200 cals a day so can I still lose if I decide to not work out some days?
How tall are you? Unless you are very short, you may be tired because 1200 calories isn't enough for you, especially with an active job.
How long have you been on 1200 calories and how much weight are you losing per week?
I'm 5'3 and 142lbs. I've been doing 1200-1300 calories for about a week or so now. I've lost 0.6lbs this week.0 -
Is that 1200 net? If so, and you're weighing your food on a digital kitchen scale, 1200 probably is a fine net to use, at least at first.0
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Is that 1200 net? If so, and you're weighing your food on a digital kitchen scale, 1200 probably is a fine net to use, at least at first.
I don't usually eat back the calories my fitbit gives back to me, so no? At least I don't think so.
And I weigh everything I eat and drink, even sauces and stuff like that.0 -
Is that 1200 net? If so, and you're weighing your food on a digital kitchen scale, 1200 probably is a fine net to use, at least at first.
I don't usually eat back the calories my fitbit gives back to me, so no? At least I don't think so.
And I weigh everything I eat and drink, even sauces and stuff like that.
well, if it's a TOTAL of 1200, you might find your performance working out suffers eventually. If that happens, raise your total to 1300 or 1400. That's my advice. But honestly, if you're weighing everything and using accurate entries, then you'll lose weight at 1200 no matter if you exercise or not.1
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