Can you lose weight without exercise?

Yes!  You absolutely can! …if you are in a consistent calorie deficit, you will lose weight.  

A calorie is a unit of measurement for energy inside your body.  

Just like your house needs electricity to function - which is measured in Watts.  

Your body needs food to function and that energy is measured in calories.  

We need food to fuel our body.  Any human needs to consume a minimum number of calories per day just to survive and operate the vital organs.  I call this the baseline,  but the fancy name for it is basal metabolism rate (BMR).  

Simply put, eating less than this baseline amount of calories everyday could lead to malnutrition.  So, you don't want to go under this number. 

However, eating too many calories is not ideal either because it leads to excess calories that your body stores as fat in your body and you gain weight.

Your maximum calorie intake is the amount of calories you need to eat everyday to maintain your current weight.  Consuming this amount of calories everyday will lead you to keep your current weight, and going over this maximum amount of calories per day will lead to weight gain.  Given that your goal is to lose weight, you will have to aim lower than this number.  You want to aim somewhere in between your baseline and your maximum amount of calories. 

If you continue to do this everyday you will lose weight.  This is a scientific fact.   A few hundred calorie deficit every day is enough to lose weight [1]

I provide specific mathematical formulas to figure out your baseline and your maximum amount of calories in my weight loss program, click here to learn more about the Evolve Method.  

This works well for a while, because it's a simple formula.  And it might be all you need to eventually hit your goal.  However, don't beat yourself up if you find this doesn't work after a while.  Many people tend to hit a plateau when they're only using this strategy and I will explain why.   

Losing Weight Vs. Losing Fat

When you don’t exercise, your muscles adapt to this and get weaker.  They even start to shrink (atrophy).  Because your muscles weigh quite a bit, if they start to shrink, you will likely see your weight go down on the scale, but you’re not losing fat.  

And this becomes the first risk when trying to lose weight without exercising.  Sure the number on the scale will start to go down based on you eating less calories (less energy) than what you are burning, but you may not be happy with the way you look because the fat may not be .  

The second risk you run by trying to lose weight without exercising is extreme weight fluctuation.  When you don’t exercise, the weight you do lose is EASILY regained just by slipping away from your diet for 1-2 days.  However, when you exercise on a regular basis, you can slip away from your diet for a few meals (even a few days) without causing too much damage.  You may not lose weight that week, but you will likely not gain weight that week either.  Research has proven that exercising on a regular basis helps you maintain the weight you do lose [2].

So The Question Then Becomes How Do I Lose Fat?

Whether you choose to exercise or not is a choice you have to make based on your preferences, however what I do recommend is that you eat a lot of protein.  

As we’ve talked about, being in calorie deficit will ensure you’re losing weight, but as you’re decreasing the amount of calories you’re eating, if you’re also making sure you’re eating lots of protein, your muscles will stay strong and will not start to shrink.  This means your scale may not go down as quickly, but the weight you do lose will be mainly fat [3]! The source of your protein does not matter.  Whether you eat animal protein, or plant based protein only does not matter.   

So again, whether you choose to exercise or not is up to you, but if you want to lose fat, you need to be in a calorie deficit everyday, while also eating a lot of protein. 

If you want to know how much protein you should be eating specifically, you can find out in my weight loss program.  Click here to get more information about the Evolve Method. 

Other Benefits of Exercises

Exercise has also been proven to increase energy levels, improve sleep [4], decrease stress, and improve mental health [5].  Exercise has also been linked to a stronger immunity system, to chronic disease prevention, such as diabetes and cancer - and to an increase of longevity, even if you are already suffering from a chronic condition, like diabetes [6].  So why on earth would you not want to exercise? ...

Biggest Excuse I Hear When it comes to Exercise: I don’t have time to exercise!

Although all forms of exercise are good for your health; they are not all efficient if your goal is fat loss. 

There are exercises that focus more on flexibility, stability, and tolerance. I call them low impact exercises.  They are very beneficial for your health (especially for lung and heart health), so they are important, and they burn calories, but you need to do A LOT more of this type of exercise to see fat loss.   

On the other hand, there are exercises that burn an enormous amount of calories (in half the time), that elevate your heart rate (up to 75-80%) and keep it elevated for longer, and strengthen your muscles at the same time.  I call these high efficiency exercises.  Just by doing 20 minutes of this type of exercise 3-4 times/week, you can lose fat.  

I provide a list of these high efficiency exercises in my weight loss program.  Click here if you want to learn more about the Evolve Method. 

How to lose weight long term?

Diet and exercise are the pillars of weight loss.  However, time and time again, people try to apply diet and exercise principles to their life and they quit after a few weeks.  That’s because they 

1. Try to do too many changes too quickly.
2. Never learned the psychology of habits or how to maintain them.  
3. Are not addressing the barriers that get in the way of their weight loss, like sleep issues, stress, lack of motivation, low self-esteem, time management, and addictions.

Does this make sense? 

If this resonates with you, maybe you would like to know about the 5 Steps you SHOULD do to lose 30lbs or More!  Learn it all in my FREE Online Masterclass!  Click HERE to Register!

Julie Richard

Certified Health Coach

Founder of Ulikeyou Weight Loss

REFERENCE:

1 - Crane, M. M., Lutes, L. D., Ward, D. S., Bowling, J. M., & Tate, D. F. (2015). A randomized trial testing the efficacy of a novel approach to weight loss among men with overweight and obesity. Obesity (19307381), 23(12), 2398–2405. https://doi.org/10.1002/oby.21265

2- Cox CE. Role of Physical Activity for Weight Loss and Weight Maintenance. Diabetes Spectr. 2017 Aug;30(3):157-160. doi: 10.2337/ds17-0013. PMID: 28848307; PMCID: PMC5556592.

3- Pesta DH, Samuel VT. A high-protein diet for reducing body fat: mechanisms and possible caveats. Nutr Metab (Lond). 2014 Nov 19;11(1):53. doi: 10.1186/1743-7075-11-53. PMID: 25489333; PMCID: PMC4258944.

4- Taheri, M., & Irandoust, K. (2018). The Exercise-Induced Weight Loss Improves Self-Reported Quality of Sleep in Obese Elderly Women with Sleep Disorders. Sleep & Hypnosis, 20(1), 54–59.

5- Caviness, C. M., Abrantes, A. M., O’Keeffe, J. B., Legasse, A. J., & Uebelacker, L. A. (2023). Effects of a bout of exercise on mood in people with depression with and without physical pain. Psychology, Health & Medicine, 28(4), 1068–1075.

6- Stessman, J., & Jacobs, J. M. (2014). Diabetes Mellitus, Physical Activity, and Longevity Between the Ages of 70 and 90. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 62(7), 1329–1334. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.12930