Losing without working out

[amjcal 5]

I find it hard to find time to workout on a daily basis, which scares me that after I have the surgery I will not have any results. Has anyone not had a daily workout and lost weight? I know when I was my ideal weight in the past I loved to workout because it was not as hard as it is now. I feel if I have this tool and know it will work, then my workouts will be more successful than in the past. I guess when it comes down to it and now that I have got approved I am really hoping I can stay committed. I don't think the food will so much a problem as the working out. Any words of wisdom??

Thanks

[hopetolose 192]

I am not working out as much as I need to, right now only about 2 times a week. I am still losing, but I am sure it is slower than it could be because I am not working as much as I should. I just bought Zumba and recieved it yesterday, so I am hoping that I can get that done at least 3 times a week if not more. It looks so fun. And there is a DVD that came with it that shows all the steps and once they break it down, it looks so much easier.

Good Luck!

[Grider 92]

Wiggle while you work,,, stretch, dance from one room to another, park far away from destination, do steps instead of elevator- in bed excersize you legs,stomach arms just a few extra min a day. it helps

[amjcal 5]

I love Zumba, thats a great idea it is a great workout!! I hope you like it!!

[honk 780]

I highly recommend lap swimming. I started at 364 pounds wearing a fat lady swimsuit, and using a snorkle and a Water proof mp3 player. I was having HORRIBLE knee problems and could not do other aerobic exercise. I lost 82 pounds prior to having surgery.

[Acadia 20]

You can lose weight without working out, simply because your caloric intake will go down. However, as Grider said, do the little things. Park further away. Take the stairs. Do leg lifts while doing the dishes. Do squats during commercials or while cooking. Little things like that add up. Even starting a little garden will get you moving more (and provide you with great healthy food).

Once you start losing faster though when you do more activity you'll get a little addicted to that loss and you'll be encouraged to move more just to be able to get on the scale and see that extra drop. It's a really nice feeling.

I've found the FitBit ($99 with free online tracking, charting, etc.) is a great motivator. It monitors your activity level (not just your steps but how active you are), your sleep, and at the site you can track your food. And it's tiny, clips anywhere (I wear mine on the center of my bra) and it shows a little flower that grows with your activity and shrinks accordingly - it tracks the previous 3 hours. If you were super active for 30 minutes it will grow a fair amount the slowly go down over 3 hours until you do more activity.

It definitely helps you realise how sedentary we can be.

[Jachut 487]

You've got to get smart with it. When I got banded, I decided to start running because you can burn massive amounts of calories in a short time, at the speed I run, I can burn about 500 in half an hour and I knew that hard as it would sometimes be, I really COULD find half an hour most days.

I certainly dont have time for the gym with a half hour of cardio and an hour of weights kind of routine and I dont even really have time to drive the 10 minutes there and 10 minutes back for a class. So..... I dont.

I was also doing bootcamp but at the moment, having had a large surgery, and six months of chemo, I'm feeling like being more gentle on my body and apart from my runninng and doing ballet/yoga/pilates style routine for toning (and its working WAY better than weights ever did for me). I started this after I began teaching gymnastics to young kids as a casual job and realised that despite my 'brute strength", I really have no true functional core strength, nor any grace or flexibility. It kinda made me think that maybe making your muscles all short and bulky aint all its cracked up to be, well, not for my body anyway. Anyhow, I digress, the point is I've taken a forty minute long Callanetics routine and fit it in in brief five minute spurts through the day (i'm also doing relief teaching and I've fit in these exercises at the start of recess and lunchtime before I go for my coffee, lol) - and am getting truly great results without even feeling like I spend any time doing it. That and a run every day and I've gotten back into great shape after my big surgeries.

[vickyd 24]

I have been losing steadily despite exercising sporadically at best. I know that as I lose more weight I will have to seriously ramp up my exercise routine but right now I am having a hard time finding the motivation. That said, I think that the reason I have lost so well is that I had restriction from the beginning and I am very careful about what and how much I eat. If I wasn't so careful with my diet then I don't think I could have lost as much as I have.

[FLORIDAYS 3,040]

I too have been losing very well with out formal exercise. I know I needed to start doing something so I started walking .... every night I walk 15 minutes away from the house and turn around and walk back. Not particularly exciting but its a start. I also am gardening on the weekends (becasue I can now kneel and get back up!) and trying to do the little things like parking farther away from the front door @ work, stores etc....

[Humming Bird 275]

Not that I'm promoting doing it without exercise.......... but , I lost 100 pounds in the first year with zero exercise. At my age and place in my life, I don't feel the need to have a hard body. If and when I ever want to put on a bathing suit I'm sure I would look better if I had worked out hard all this time. I'm pretty happy with my results anyway

[stateofzen 46]

I have only recently (as in the last two weeks) started exercising with any regularity. I have to tell you, the difference between the last time I stepped on my treadmill at 250 lbs and now at 175 is AMAZING. I hopped right on and started jogging in intervals almost immediately, when I could barely walk at 3.5 mph before.

I always knew there would come a point that I'd need to add exercise in, both for health and to keep the scale moving. Unfortunately, I seem to see the scale moving up a couple of lbs right now instead of down, but I'm not worried because I know my body is just getting used to the increased and different physical activity.

It can be done, to a point, and then you'll have to decide if you're ok with where you're at with no exercise or find a way to get it in.

Oh, and Zumba is SOOO much fun, even at a higher weight. I did do weekly Zumba classes off and on at higher weights.

[Jenn1214 120]

I have lost 38 pounds in three months with minimal exercise, but I count calories obsessively. Even if I slack off a little bit, the scale doesn't budge. I plan to start exercising more regularly soon so I have a little bit more freedom.

[Wheetsin 714]

You can lose weight without exercise as long as your BMR or daily activity MR is continuously higher than your caloric intake.

You will lose weight more slowly, and you will be losing it from different sources (e.g. body mass vs. fat mass).

Once you have good restriction, it's not so hard to manage the intake part of it.

But your MR will change as you lose weight, and you will have to readjust, or compensate somehow (exercise).

The long story short -- lots of people lose a lot of weight without exercise. RARELY is that loss maintained. It normally comes to a stop, and then what? Exercise while you're still in the losing cycle, before maintenance. WHen you hit maintenance, and are healthier, you will be so glad you did. Exercise isn't just about losing fat, it's about being healthy.

And you don't have to work out daily, and you don't have to work out for very long. And workouts don't have to be an event -- e.g. a set time of day, involve you driving somewhere, etc. Take the stairs, park in the last spot, don't use a shopping cart, etc. It all adds up. It's not the maintained heart rate increase that will help you with fat loss, but it can be your appetizer until you're able to commit to a real exercise routine.

[roziecakes 20]

I guess I'm weird, but exercising is my favorite part. I've always gotten a fairly good amount of exercise, even at my heaviest; I'm just looking forward to being able to do more of it. I'm already daydreaming about running marathons and riding mountain bikes, and becoming a yoga teacher...

[JakerT5 8]

To be honest , I don't won't to start working out , once you start working out you have to keep doing it , because when you stop all what you worked for starts going away , now don't get me wrong , i know I will have to work out eventually , but I am waiting to the last thing I have to do