Can you lose weight without exercising? 

Now, let me preface this by saying I don’t advocate not exercising, but yes, you can absolutely lose weight without it. In fact, some people, not all people and not most people, but some people do find it easier to lose weight without exercising.

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No time to exercise

One reason they find it easier not to exercise is because of time – they have a finite amount of it and trying to exercise regularly while also controlling their intake can often be too much. So, instead, they just focus on controlling their calories – being in a calorie deficit, they find this much more manageable.

Exercise-induced hunger

Another reason is the exercise-induced hunger can be a bit too much for them. Let me explain – if everything worked as we'd expect it to, whatever we burned during exercise, our body would ramp up hunger just enough to compensate. In other words, we burn 300 calories, so our body tells us to now eat 300 calories – this would put us in homeostasis – perfect balance. But for some, they burn 300 calories, and their body tells them to eat whatever’s not pinned down; 600 calories, 1000 calories, even more – they just have this insatiable appetite. Now, this is rare, but these people do exist – you may be one of them, and for those who have a training-induced insatiable appetite, it can often be worth minimising the intensity and duration of your sessions when fat loss is the goal – you don’t want to battle with hunger too much!

Don’t cancel your gym membership

But before you get too excited, cancel your gym membership and burn your Peloton bike – it's worth mentioning that MOST people do find it easier to lose weight when exercising. When we exercise, we burn calories, so if we remove said training from the fat-loss equation, we'd need to consume much fewer calories to lose weight. For many, their calories would need to be lower than they're prepared to go. Most of us enjoy our food – I know I do, so I'd prefer to exercise regularly and be able to eat more of it. We also need to consider the end result – if you lose weight without exercising, you'll likely lose a lot of muscle mass. This means the end result is not a toned athletic one but rather a smaller version of yourself. And exercising is not all about losing weight and looking good naked – you'll build strength, muscle mass, and muscular endurance – the list of benefits is vast and totally worth sacrificing 30 minutes to 1 hour of your day!

Take home message

The message I'd like you to take away from this is that you absolutely can lose weight without training, and if you can't exercise, you can take solace in this. We all have periods when we can't train, whether that's due to injury, a holiday, or just a particularly busy time in life. But it's okay – you can still pursue your weight loss goals! On the other hand, if you can exercise, you should! The benefits are huge. In fact, I love training so much that I've dedicated my professional life to helping others with theirs – this exercising malarky is alright, and if you fall in love with it, life is just that little bit sweeter!