Calorie decifit without working out too much

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kyraleigh7163
kyraleigh7163 Posts: 21 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Does anyone have experience with losing weight (say 2lbs a week) with only a calorie deficit and occasionally working out? I used to workout 5+ days a week but lately I’ve just been too busy to get around to that. I haven’t been able to workout in over a week, but have been restricting calories... my weight doesn’t seem to be going down at all though, if anything it’s going up

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  • kyraleigh7163
    kyraleigh7163 Posts: 21 Member
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    Could it just be temporary water retention?
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
    edited February 2018
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    A calorie deficit of -1000 per day to your NEAT is absolutely required for you to lose 2 lb per week, and patience is absolutely necessary because it is not going to be -2 lb every single week nor -2/7 lb every single day.

    If you weigh more than 200 lb, go for it. Enjoy. If you weigh less than 200 lb, don't. You should not attempt to lose more than 1% of your body weight per week. The reason for this is that it is too severe.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    Depends on your overall activity. I didn't work out today, for example, but I'm still going to get 10k steps.

    Personally though, if I don't have at least 7000 steps a day, I can't keep a deficit, it's just too little food for me (and I can't spend any calorie on treats). But I only want to lose 15 lbs at this point, so a 2lb a week deficit would leave me starving anyway.

    Either way, as long as you're eating your MFP calories for your activity level (without exercise), you should be able to lose weight (provided that you log accurately).
  • HoneyBadger302
    HoneyBadger302 Posts: 1,992 Member
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    The normal litany of questions:

    How are you tracking?
    Are you using a food scale to weigh everything and measuring cups for all liquids?
    Are you including every lick, nibble, bite, and dribble?
    Are you making sure to include cooking oils, sauces, etc and accurately (measuring and tracking)?

    Yes, I have lost weight by not working out. Working out is definitely not needed to lose, however, depending on where you are at, 2 pounds/week may be far too aggressive unless you have a lot to lose (1% of your body weight is a better average goal, up to those 2 lbs).

    All exercise does is burn additional calories - your deficit should be the same regardless of exercise.

    I prefer to workout as the calories allotted to keep the deficit needed to lose effectively while having a desk job is just too little for me to remotely feel satisfied. Plus, I find my overall activity level gets better with being more fit, which means I'm burning a few extra calories here n there throughout the day.
  • kyraleigh7163
    kyraleigh7163 Posts: 21 Member
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    I’m at about 182lbs right now according to the scale, and I’m about 5’5 and I’m trying to get to 140 or 135. Right now I’m trying to do a 1000 calorie deficit and trying to walk as much as possible to get steps.. although I’m at work for the majority of the day so sometimes it’s hard
  • Marilyn0924
    Marilyn0924 Posts: 797 Member
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    Setting a loss goal of 2 lbs/week is too aggressive based on your stats. Drop it 1 lb/week max. You can lose on deficit alone.
  • xLyric
    xLyric Posts: 840 Member
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    I lost around 30lbs with just eating at a deficit, no exercise other than whatever walking the day required. I did eventually get to the point where I would have to eat less than I was comfortable with to keep losing, so I started walking more to 'earn' more calories.

    If you can eat on a -1000 deficit (or whatever number you're aiming for) and be comfortable and safe, that's all you need to do. If you're not losing, you need to up your deficit or move more.

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