success stories with just food, no exercise?

I have lost 80 pounds so far just by changing my diet. I thought the same as you that if I did everything at once I would give up, but not that I have my diet more under control my plan is to start exercising. It's daunting though cause the last time I exercised was in high school p.e. class. Not really sure what to do yet, but I'll figure it out eventually.

your diet is so much more important than exercise. they say abs arent made in the gym there made in the kitchen. some experts go as far as saying the ratio is 80:20 (food v erercise) in how you look. and i have to say i agree. if you train hard all week but eat mcdonalds everyday you wont see any results. therefore have a go at the plan without exercise and you will notice a huge difference. good luck with your plan

its 90% diet and that's the truth. and many years ago, I went on a very low calorie diet - and it worked but my muscles really wasted away. I don't think its a healthy way to go. you HAVE to exercise to be healthy, so no point in not just starting now. no point at all. that being said, if you have significant weight to lose, you may not be able to exercise yet and of course you should check w/ a doctor if you are at all doubt. and as per losing muscle, I don't think it actually becomes an issue until you get close to the end of the weight loss process (like around 25% body fat for me, 30% for women).

I previously lost 150 lbs with just changing my diet. I gained all but 30 lbs back, though. Not sure if that has anything to do with how I lost it, but that's what happened.

I totally agree that diet is more important than exercise. If you want proof look at me... I worked out 6 days a week and didn't lose a pound until I got my diet in shape. Because I did the "I workout so I can eat whatever I want" thing too.

Still, I love exercise. I would encourage you to do SOMETHING... especially if you're not new to exercise. Just make the decision that you're not going to eat those exercise calories back. The extra calories you burn through exercise will help you lose weight that much faster. And if you have a bad day and eat a bit too much, the calories burned in exercise will help you stay under your goal every day.

Plus you just feel incredible when you workout, lose weight, and start to feel "fit".

Good luck!

Losing weight is all about a food, specifically a calorie deficit.
You don't need to exercise, if you're careful with your calories....

However, have you heard of Skinny-Fat...?
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/skinny-fat

Personally i can't think of much worse that losing weight without exercising. It's not the "weight" i want to lose, it's the FAT!

I think your approach is smart - I used that approach when I kickstarted my plan. My idea was, get my body used to fewer calories and really solidify my eating habits, THEN when you may naturally start hitting a plateau shock your body again in 60 days with adding exercise to the equation. It's worked great for me.

Congrats to everyone on your success :-)

Yep lost 15 lbs in 3 mos just by switching my diet and little to no exercise. At first was just eating what I wanted within 1200cals but plateaued quickly so then switched to a low or non-fat, lean meat diet with lots of fruits and veggies and very little starches. Still kept about 1-2 cheat days per week but the weight just melted off after that ....... Good Luck!

I lost my first 20 lbs with no exercise. Once that much was gone, I had a little more energy and started walking for exercise. (Now I've added running as well).

I've been making one change at a time, get comfortable with it, then add the next change. Seems to be working for me. I'm ready to add strength training now, too.

^^^^^Exactly, this!!!^^^^^^^

If you don't make the changes in a way in which you get comfortable with them then you will be overwhelmed and give up!

You can't just wait around for a leprechaun to jump out of no where and say "OK, on to the next change", you do have to push yourself, but that is part of setting smaller, non-scale goals for yourself.
Set a goal to eat more veggies, then when grabbing for some baby carrots instead of a bag of chips feels natural, set another goal.
Maybe like drink X glasses of water everyday.
And if you mess up once, don't beat yourself up, you are human and not perfect, so recognize that you messed up and MOVE ON!
Then when YOU are ready, add in your exercise. Before then you could sneak in smaller amounts as you go, park farther away, walk the grocery cart back to the store instead of the convenient corral, take the stairs when given the opportunity. These will all also become second nature, just like eating healthy. And when the time comes for true organized exercise, try all sorts of stuff and see what you like. You don't have to be a runner because Susie is. You don't have to love Zumba because Stacy does. Maybe cycling is your thing. Maybe it's weight lifting, maybe kickboxing or MMA. Heck, my hubs and I walk around our neighborhood a couple of times and when we are on the shorter streets that run N/S, we do lunges or shuffles or drop and do some push-ups, jumping jacks or whatever at the corner.

But in the meantime, keep up the good work! You can do this!

I think you should be at least walking daily. Just start with 15 minutes. My dog helps me to want to walk, even when its only 20 degrees out.

I lost 20 pounds on just dietary changes. I "exercise" by dealing with my two small kids, baths, play and walks. Now that I've lost a total of 35 pounds I need to exercies to lose the other 20 because my body is too happy at this weight.

I completely understand where you're coming from. I can't tell you how many times I've started a new "diet" all gung-ho and doing everything perfectly - and I've burned out just as many times, although the last time I lasted a whole 8 weeks!

I know what my downfalls are and I have a plan to counteract every one of them this time:
1) If I do too much too fast, I'll burn out. Plan of action: take it one step at a time! This isn't a race! So what if I get skinny fat and then have to spend the next year building muscle? I know the alternative means I'll probably give up entirely, so temporary skinny fat is the lesser of two evils.

2) I need to EAT, or I'll give up. Every diet I've tried, with the exception of Atkins, has had me eating 1200/cal/day or less. And I'll do fine for a while but then I'll get stressed at work, or super happy at home, or some ridiculous made up reason to celebrate will throw me right off track and cause a binge, which will then be followed by another binge. And another. This time, I'm eating 1500 calories per day, staying full all the time, and I feel great! I even lost 4lbs my first week.

3) I get bored. I eat the same things day after day because I can't be bothered to take the time to constantly re-plan my meals. Then I start to get bored and start buying lunches at work and eating poorly. This time, I'm keeping the same premise but I found an organics company that will deliver a mixed box of veggies once a week. I don't know what's coming, so it's a challenge to figure out what to do with the random things that show up at my door.

4) For now, I am shallow, I am superficial, and I need to see the scale go down. When I work out, it doesn't. So for now, until I've lost a lot of my excess fat and I'm in a comfortable routine, I'm not working out. I know that's stupid, I should care more about recomposing my body, etc. but it's the truth - for now I need constant reassurance that the scale is going the right way.

Freedom125 wrote: »

I completely understand where you're coming from. I can't tell you how many times I've started a new "diet" all gung-ho and doing everything perfectly - and I've burned out just as many times, although the last time I lasted a whole 8 weeks!

I know what my downfalls are and I have a plan to counteract every one of them this time:
1) If I do too much too fast, I'll burn out. Plan of action: take it one step at a time! This isn't a race! So what if I get skinny fat and then have to spend the next year building muscle? I know the alternative means I'll probably give up entirely, so temporary skinny fat is the lesser of two evils.

2) I need to EAT, or I'll give up. Every diet I've tried, with the exception of Atkins, has had me eating 1200/cal/day or less. And I'll do fine for a while but then I'll get stressed at work, or super happy at home, or some ridiculous made up reason to celebrate will throw me right off track and cause a binge, which will then be followed by another binge. And another. This time, I'm eating 1500 calories per day, staying full all the time, and I feel great! I even lost 4lbs my first week.

3) I get bored. I eat the same things day after day because I can't be bothered to take the time to constantly re-plan my meals. Then I start to get bored and start buying lunches at work and eating poorly. This time, I'm keeping the same premise but I found an organics company that will deliver a mixed box of veggies once a week. I don't know what's coming, so it's a challenge to figure out what to do with the random things that show up at my door.

4) For now, I am shallow, I am superficial, and I need to see the scale go down. When I work out, it doesn't. So for now, until I've lost a lot of my excess fat and I'm in a comfortable routine, I'm not working out. I know that's stupid, I should care more about recomposing my body, etc. but it's the truth - for now I need constant reassurance that the scale is going the right way.

Thanks a lot. I gained from this write up. It all applies to me especially no. 2.