Are you wondering how to lose weight without exercising, or if it’s even possible?
The easiest and fastest way to lose weight is a combination of diet and exercise.
However, if you detest working out or if your physical condition prevents you from doing so, there are ways to lose weight without exercise.
Sticking to a healthy, low-calorie diet will enable you to reach your goal weight faster than exercise alone.
In fact, according to weight loss experts, losing weight is 75 to 80% diet and 20 to 25% activity-related.
So don’t use being unable to stick to a fitness regimen as an excuse for carrying excess pounds.
If you take in fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight, with every 3,500 calorie deficit equal to one pound.
This is regardless of whether the shortfall is due to eating less, exercising more, or combining the two.
By cutting 500 calories a day, you can expect to lose one pound a week.
If you typically eat a lot of junk food, you may be able to cut 1,000 calories per day.
In this case, you should drop two pounds a week.
The next section of this article discusses how to lose weight without exercising.
We will then look at the downsides of this approach, so you have a balanced overview.
Table of Contents
How to Lose Weight Without Exercising Facts
When cutting calories to lose weight, your starting weight will affect how quickly you lose your excess pounds. The higher your pre-diet weight, the faster you will slim down.
If you have a naturally fast metabolism, you will lose weight more rapidly than if your
metabolism is slow. Regardless of this, losing weight without exercising will take time.
Eat small amounts of low-calorie food often rather than two or three larger meals each day. This has proven to be the best way to fuel the body and to keep the metabolism running.
Try to include foods that boost the metabolism in your diet regularly. Fat-burning foods won’t burn many extra calories, but they can make a difference over time and are good for you.
The Downsides of Losing Weight Without Exercise
If you want to lose weight without exercising, at least try to move more.
An active lifestyle provides far more benefits than just fat reduction, including lower blood pressure, a decreased risk for cardiovascular disease, improved mental clarity, and stronger bones. It also protects against some cancers.
A lack of exercise contributes to muscle loss. This is of particular concern with long-term weight loss, which will be the case if you have a lot of weight to lose.
Under these circumstances, your body will begin to use muscle for energy when it runs out of fat stores, and “skinny fat” can result.
Skinny fat is the term used to describe someone who is slim but lacks muscle definition.
Along with being visually unappealing, typically, with a reduction of muscle mass comes a loss of strength.
The latter is of particular concern as we age. Between the ages of 30 and 70, females can lose up to 23% of their muscle mass, and males can lose approximately 21%.
This reduction in strength can negatively impact our quality of life and prevent us from doing the things we loved doing in earlier years. Sometimes, it can even prevent us from functioning in our day-to-day lives.
Less lean muscle equates to a slower metabolism. When combined with a more sedentary life, weight gain is far more likely.
Studies have shown that while effective for the short term, every pound of weight we lose is estimated to comprise 69% fat and 31% lean muscle.
Regular physical activity combined with a healthy weight loss plan can increase the fat loss to 78% per pound and decrease muscle loss to 22%.
Doing resistance training workouts a minimum of two or three times a week can boost fat loss to 97%, decreasing muscle loss to just 3%.
Examples of resistance exercises include using free weights or a weight machine, resistance bands, suspension equipment, and bodyweight workouts.
The increase in muscle mass your workouts provide will boost your metabolism, enabling you to burn more calories both during and after your workouts.
Afterburn calories alone could amount to 100 calories per day, which is equivalent to 10 pounds over one year.
Meal Preparation Strategies
Cook your meals rather than eat at restaurants if you can. You will know exactly what is in them, so you will be able to calculate the exact calorie count.
If you don’t have the time to cook nightly, prepare a week’s worth of meals on the weekend.
Freeze those you won’t be eating within a few days, so you will always have something healthy and low-calorie at hand.
Using an ingredients delivery service is an excellent option for busy individuals. Just make sure to choose a company that offers nutritionally balanced meals.
The food is delivered fresh to your home or workplace with recipe cards containing the meals’ calorie counts and simple-to-follow preparation instructions.
You will pay a bit more than you would when shopping yourself, but you will save time, and if you usually drive to the store, you will save on gas.
Other benefits include not having to calculate the correct serving size and there is no wastage. And by staying away from the supermarket, you won’t have to fight the temptation to buy junk food.
If you’re really time-poor or you don’t want to cook, be aware that most food delivery companies also offer ready-made heat-and-eat meals.
If you must eat out, try to do so at a restaurant that lists the fat and calorie count of the dishes on the menu.
Some seemingly nutritious frozen meals are high in sugar, sodium, fats, and preservatives. These should be avoided, so check the ingredients list before purchasing.
Keep reading to find out more ways to lose weight without exercise.
More Ways to Lose Weight Without Exercise
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Overhaul your diet
To lose weight without exercising, you will need to overhaul your diet.
Give up eating processed and sugar-laden foods, and base your diet around lean proteins, vegetables, and whole grains.
Increase your intake of vegetables. Veggies are low in calories, and their high fiber content will satisfy you, so you will eat less of other foods.
Replace cream and cheese sauces with herbs and spices. These are just as tasty and low in fat and calories.
Swap out white bread for fiber-rich whole grain. Whole grains are satisfying, so you will feel full for longer.
Skip the soda! One eight-ounce glass contains approximately six teaspoons of sugar.
Drink iced tea instead. It is healthier, has far fewer calories, and is more refreshing.
Water is an even better option, as it contains zero calories. If you don’t like plain water, add a squeeze of lime or lemon or some chopped, fresh fruit.
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Eat slowly
Another reliable way to lose weight without exercising is to eat slowly.
Rushing meals often leads to overeating, so take smaller bites and chew each mouthful for longer. It takes approximately twenty minutes for our brain to realize that we are full.
Studies have shown that we take in fewer calories when eating at a more leisurely pace. This can result in a weight loss of up to 20 pounds in a year without making any other changes.
If you take smaller bites and chew each mouthful for longer, you will also relish the flavor for longer. Another benefit of eating more slowly is that you will be less prone to digestive problems.
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Get sufficient sleep & manage stress
Losing weight without exercise will be more difficult if you don’t get sufficient sleep.
In fact, people who are regularly sleep-deprived have trouble losing weight and tend to gain weight.
This is due to an increase in ghrelin and a decrease in leptin, two hormones that influence appetite.
Sleep quality is also a factor, so aim for seven to eight hours of uninterrupted sleep each night.
Keeping your stress levels under control will also assist with weight loss. This is because the stress hormone cortisol rises when we’re stressed.
Cortisol boosts hunger, increases insulin levels, and causes blood sugar levels to drop. In these circumstances, we crave sugary and fatty foods. This is not ideal at any time and is even more undesirable when you are dieting.
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Log your food intake
Document everything you eat and drink for a week and how many calories it contains. Do this as soon as you’ve finished eating.
If you only write everything down once a day, you will probably forget about the incidentals and the exact amount you’ve consumed.
Put what you typically eat onto your plate, then use a spoon, a measuring cup, or a kitchen scale to determine the serving size.
Next, calculate how many calories the foods contain. The easiest way to do this is to use an online food calculator or an app.
Weighing, calculating the calorie count, and noting everything we eat is tiresome. However, most of us tend to eat the same foods often.
Once you know the calorie count of each food, you will see where you can cut back or make different choices.
When you write everything down, you may also see patterns that provide insight into your eating habits.
For example, if you don’t eat until you are famished, you might find that you overeat or make poor food choices. Being aware of this, you will be able to make changes that will result in weight loss.
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Calculate your caloric requirement
Along with calculating how many calories you’re taking in, you must understand your basic caloric needs. If you don’t have access to a device that calculates your daily calorie burn, there’s a formula you can use that is reasonably accurate.
Multiply your weight by 10 if you are an adult female or by 12 if you are an adult male. The number you get will give you a good idea of how many calories you need per day, without exercise, to maintain your current weight.
If you weigh 250 pounds, you are probably taking in around 2,500 calories per day. If you cut two hundred calories daily, bringing the calorie count to 2,300, it will take you approximately twelve months to lose twenty pounds.
You could then cut another two hundred calories to lose twenty pounds over the next year. For some people, exercising will then be possible as movement is usually easier and more enjoyable when carrying less weight.
Increase your NEAT
Every activity you undertake burns calories, so take advantage of Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT).
Physical activity falls into two categories – EAT and NEAT.
EAT is the acronym for Exercise Activity Thermogenesis, which is the energy expended doing sport or exercise such as playing tennis, bowling, power walking, lifting weights, taking a yoga class, etc.
NEAT is the opposite of EAT. It stands for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. It describes the energy we expend during activities other than exercise such as gardening or taking the stairs instead of walking.
These are things that often don’t require much extra effort, but the calories burned will quickly add up. So walk to your TV to change the channel rather than use the remote, walk or cycle to your corner store rather than drive, etc.
Click here to find out more about how NEAT can help you lose weight.
How to Lose Weight Without Exercising Summary
If you want to lose weight without exercising, try to incorporate several five to fifteen-minute bursts of moderate-intensity movement every day.
This could be playing your favorite up-tempo music and dancing or taking your dog for a brisk walk. You could use the stairs rather than the elevator or get stuck into the housework with gusto.
The possibilities are endless.
Increasing your Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis will enable you to burn extra calories without breaking a sweat or even stepping outside your front door if you don’t want to.
Combine this extra activity with a healthy, low-calorie diet, stress management strategies, and solid sleep, and it will be easier for you to lose weight without exercising.
