Losing Weight Through Diet Alone?

kimlee1807
kimlee1807 Posts: 10 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Is it possible to lose weight through diet alone?

I'm 20 years old and working full time in an office, working quite far from where I live so commuting takes a lot of my time and by the time I get home I'm exhausted.
I used to go to the gym quite regularly before - but I get SO anxious I could only go if it was very late, say gone Midnight, when it was either empty or almost empty - which when I was only working part time with afternoon starts was absolutely ideal, but would be a nightmare now.
I'd love to go back to the gym a couple of days a week, but the way I used to burst into tears when it was busy and not even walk in was awful. I don't know what else I can do.

I also used to be quite an active horse rider, but due to losing my horse and now riding a horse 1/2 times a month just plodding about - no facilities to do any of the faster paced/more difficult work.

I've cut right back on my eating - cutting out puddings, i've recently cut out bread and my day now consists of:

Breakfast - a bowl of cereal, depending what's in the house, but usually just a small bowl.
Lunch - 2x chicken drumsticks, some chopped up tomato and cucumber and a portion of grapes (approx 400 calories usually).
Dinner - Whatever is served on the table. I live with my other halfs family and his mum cooks the family meals; so it really is down to whatever she's serving that day - but usually a variety of healthy meals, and again - small portions.

So my daily calorie intake is restricted to approx 1200 calories a day now.
Before, I was eating a whole lot more for lunch throughout the day and after dinner would go on to have half of a cheesecake or some other type of pudding, with lots of bread and carbs which is probably where I was going on.

I've put on so much weight in the past two years... I was 8 and a half stone at 17 and am now 10st11 at 20... I'm only 5ft2 so this is overweight for my height, i've gone up a clothes size and i'm really not happy with my appearance.
Yet, I get so anxious and upset about being seen out/doing anything and so depressed I lose all motivation to actually get up and do anything. I'm too terrified to go jogging, I don't have a bike and even so the idea of cycling sounds horrific, I just don't know what to do.

I'm so inactive now but I just feel like without any exercise I'm not going to be losing any weight.

Help/advice/motivation, please? What can I do to help me lose the 2 stone I'm desperate to lose?

Thankyou
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Replies

  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,752 Member
    Weight loss is all about consuming less calories than you burn - it is more about diet than exercise, so you can definitely change your weight through diet. Exercise is great for health though, so finding some way of incorporating more movement in to your life would be beneficial..

    Have you entered your stats in to MFP? The calorie goal you get for weight loss is based on your general daily activity, without exercise. Adding exercise gives you more calories. As a shorter woman, you may find that your calories to lose are quite low, or weight loss will be slow - exercising would give you some more food.

    Being accurate with your intake and logging would be a great place to start - weigh all solids, measure all liquids and log everything using accurate database entries.
  • meganpettigrew86
    meganpettigrew86 Posts: 349 Member
    There is heaps of exercises you can do from home. Many strength and core exercises only use your body weight i.e simple sit ups, planks, push ups etc. Invest in a swiss ball (can even order online) they give you a bunch more exercises. Wii fit can be addictive and has some low key cardio. If you have the room and or money buy an exercycle or tredmill, if you can get one second hand they are often alot cheaper and sometimes barely used.
    This wont cure your issues with public gyms but will fix the exercise problem!
  • ACanadian22
    ACanadian22 Posts: 377 Member
    Why not walk at lunch?? I will say that you will still lose without exercise. I lost my first 25 pounds that way. BUT, I looked less toned....
  • kelsiestoner
    kelsiestoner Posts: 78 Member
    I sent you a friend request because I am in the exact same place right now! I work all day and after a long commute home I have no energy to do anything. I'm trying to focus more on my diet because even though I have been eating fewer calories the ones I'm eating aren't the most nutritious. lol I am too anxious to go to a gym or to jog as well so I've been trying to just walk around my backyard more or up and down the stairs. Every little bit helps. People don't understand how easy it is to get into this rut at an office job!
  • EatingAndKnitting
    EatingAndKnitting Posts: 531 Member
    I lost 45 doing diet only. I only recently added in exercise, and I'm adding in exercise to increase my cardiovascular health, not to lose weight faster. The fact that it gives me more calories to eat is annoying, because I'm not hungry after I eat three meals of nutrient dense foods, I've not been eating my exercise calories, and underfueling myself. (BAD jesslla, don't do this!)

    Exercise is for health. Weight loss happens in the kitchen.

    I'm sorry for the loss of your horse too. Losing a loved animal is hard.
  • Go_Deskercise
    Go_Deskercise Posts: 1,630 Member
    edited October 2017
    If you couldn't tell from my username lol .... I work a desk job at a small family owned company, so I get the struggle. I got to a point were I kept gaining weight and gaining weight, but I kept convincing myself it was ok. It's only a couple LBS, no big deal. After stepping on the scale one day and realizing that the couple LBS had turned into 20+ LBS..... ughh I had to stop it before it got worse and even harder to do something about.

    Since then I have lost around 12 lbs, with 8 lbs more to go to get to pre office job weight :smile:

    Some of the things I did to lose the weight was:

    My fitbit has helped with reminders to get up as much as I can and just walk around either the cubicle area or if it's nice, I go outside and walk to perimeter of the parking lot.

    I log my calories for breakfast and lunch ahead of time to make sure that I am leaving myself with enough calories for dinner.

    I park further away from places to up my steps walked for the day

    I eat what I want, but just less

    The only real exercise I do is when I walk my little dogs. They get tired and hot pretty quick so it's usually only about a mile.

  • whosshe
    whosshe Posts: 597 Member
    I have never been a fan of taking time out of my day to workout for n minutes. Every time I would try to lose weight I would start working out and hate every minute of it so I would fail miserably and fall back into the same patterns. As soon as I found MFP I realized it's all about them calories.

    I'm a little over 60lbs down from 230lbs-168lbs and I still don't formally workout. The moment I signed up for MFP I actually cancelled my gym membership lol

    I have asthma as well. It's tough. I don't know if you've ever had a very serious asthma attack before but it's terrifying and I avoid anything that could potentially set one off.

    My plan is that when I get closer to my goal I'll up my calories and focus on toning. But for right now I'm enjoying being lazy and still losing weight. I'm a little flabby but I'll get there.
  • kayeroze
    kayeroze Posts: 146 Member
    Like another poster said before me, I think working out at home would fit your needs best. Invest in a few gym necessities for home workouts and start there. While I don’t have high anxiety about working out, I do get anxious when trying a new routine or going back to the gym after a few weeks or months of not going, I understand wanting to go late in the evenings. Please know that most gym goers don’t particularly care how exhausted or how much you sweat as long as you wipe afterwards if that helps at all.

    My recommendations is work on your diet first and start working out at home until your feel more comfortable going to the gym (or not).
  • msmith404040
    msmith404040 Posts: 84 Member
    edited October 2017
    I completely understand how you feel :) I have a touch of agoraphobia and find it hard to leave the house except for work, thank goodness, without anxiety, which is crazy because I'm rather outgoing in a lot of situations. I work an office desk job and a home office desk job 12 to 14 hours a day, so not a lot of spare time to work out.

    I've lost 22 pounds with counting calories, like you, at 1,200 goal since I'm short. Stick with it, it really works.

    I was walking on my treadmill at a reasonably brisk rate and eating back those calories in the beginning, but I'm not doing that anymore and still losing.

    You can do it!!
  • TxTiffani
    TxTiffani Posts: 798 Member
    I am 5’1 and started at 152lbs (maybe 10stone 12?) so I totally get it...on a smaller framed person it’s a lot of weight and I would be exhausted when I got off work as well and that’s not with much of a commute either and I only live ~5 miles from work. I have lost slowly taking some breaks here and there with my calories but I’ve lost 20lbs this year and mostly due to calories being lower. I stick to around 1200. I do have an exercise bike and go through spurts of riding it daily while watching a show, but I have an office job and other than that I’m not terribly active. It’s totally doable;) I’ll friend you:)
  • nic_27_grassisgreener
    nic_27_grassisgreener Posts: 193 Member
    I believe that the majority of your effort in losing weight should come from what you're eating! "Abs are made in the kitchen!" :D

    OP, I'm sorry for what you're going through. Are you currently getting mental health treatment of any kind? I have struggled with "bursting into tears" with various activities in life myself, and I only realized recently that it could probably be helped by therapy and/or medication. Feel free to friend me
  • rickiimarieee
    rickiimarieee Posts: 2,212 Member
    edited October 2017
    I can tell you I'm almost 21. Stay at home mom, and I haven't really had much time for exercise so I rarely exercised I just did diet. I've lost 28 pounds. I'm 5'4 was 158 now I'm 130. It's all about weighing your food and accurate measurements and logging!
    I also got tired of working out after a few minutes, but when your weight drops I feel as if it's a stamina boost! I also was diagnosed with anxiety months ago! You can do this!
  • rickiimarieee
    rickiimarieee Posts: 2,212 Member
    laurenebargar wrote: »
    rickinnercirclebet wrote: »
    20 YEARS OLD AND EXHAUSTED? REALLY?

    Really? I'm 23 and an accounting manager, while going to school full time, trying to spend time with my husband and keeping up with my household and trying to lose weight. YES 20 years can be exhausted, just like someone in their 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, etc can be. Age makes literally no difference in how much one person can physically handle.
    I love this! When I worked as a nurse before I had my little one I did 16 hour work days. I don't know what age has to do with being tired lolol. I'm even tired now and I take care of my house, cook, clean, laundry, and take care of a 9 month old and a 6 year old.

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