When I started to lose my weight, people would ask me how I was doing it. “Are you going to the gym?”; “What are you doing?” It’s not hard to lose weight without exercising at all, but you do have to be consistent. Here’s 5 tips on how to lose weight without exercise.
If you don’t know, last year I realized how out of control my weight had gotten and I decided that I wanted to lose it. I lost 30 pounds in 3 months and it had nothing to do with exercise.
I always thought that weight loss came from dieting and eating salads all the time while exercising every day. I would always hear about exercise and “needing to get into the gym” to lose weight, but if you are having a hard time finding a gym, or just don’t like exercise, don’t worry because you don’t need to exercise to lose weight.
Basically, just to keep itself alive, your body is burning calories. The amount of calories you are burning just to stay alive is called your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) and it varies from person to person based on your age, height, weight, and activity level. Here’s a TDEE calculator you can use to get an estimate of how many calories your body is burning just to stay alive.
One pound is equal to 3500 calories. So, say you want to lose one pound per week. All you have to do, is create a 3500 calorie deficit in your weekly calorie intake. That’s all there is, and you will be guaranteed to lose the weight. Your body still has to burn its TDEE, so it will start to burn your energy reserves (fat) to make up the deficit.
So, I used the calculator and my daily TDEE is 1600 calories — this is the number of calories my body burns just to stay alive. If I eat 1600 calories a day, it balances out to zero — I won’t gain weight and I won’t lose weight. But if I want to lose one pound a week, I would need to eat 500 fewer calories per day — 3500 calories in a pound divided by 7 days in a week equals 500 calories that I would need to cut from my diet to reach my goal.
Now that you know the math, it’s easy to know what to do. In my example, I would now need to eat 1100 calories in a day to be able to lose 1 point a week. You don’t need to exercise; you can just eat your way to your goal weight.
5 TIPS TO LOSE WEIGHT WITHOUT EXERCISE
I use the MyFitnessPal app to track my calories before I eat them, so I can map out my day and plan my meals accordingly. It’s a lot harder to have to think back over your day and remember what you ate, so plan ahead.
Of course what you eat will make a difference in how you feel during the day. If I eat a lot of candy or sweets, that’s probably not going to be very filling or nutritious for 1100 calories and I’ll be hungry and irritable. So, it’s important to think about what you want to eat and make smart decisions that can help you make it to your goals.
In order for MyFitnessPal to be a tool for your weight loss plan, you have to be honest with your calorie counting. Measure out your food for accurate calorie counting. If you are lazy with your measurements, you are being lazy with your counting and probably underestimating your calories. The math won’t work if you aren’t accurate. I bought a food scale to help me to stay accurate with my measurements and I get a lot of use out of my measuring spoons.
It helps me to stay on track with my daily calorie goals when I drink lots of water throughout the day because I feel more full. I like water in general and drinking out of my glass water bottles, but it really does make a difference in how I feel. If you drink a lot of sodas or juices, drinking water will be an easy switch that can cut out those liquid calories.
When I started my lifestyle change and started losing weight, I created a weight loss tracker in my planner to help me track my progress. This was a huge motivator for me in losing each pound. To help you lose weight, it’s important to keep sight of your goals and track your progress. I think that having a visual reminder on paper is more engaging/motivating than just keeping it in your phone or just notating mentally. Plus, one you reach your goal, it’s nice to be able to look back and see how far you’ve come. Celebrate your wins!
