Can You Lose Weight Without Exercise?

Short answer: Yes.

While many may not agree. You can, in fact, lose weight without exercising. When I started my weight loss journey I had no interest in exercise. Why would I want to do something that made me so uncomfortable?

I focused on diet and what I mean by that is that I had to learn about what I was eating how much I was eating and why I was eating the way I was. I joined Noom and learned that I was a storm eater as well as an emotional eater. It didn't matter what emotion it was sad tired bored angry or just meh. I was always eating because of something. I found out that I had to address the issues that I had tucked away in a corner nice and neat. I started cognitive behavioral therapy techniques to reduce my anxiety and manage my depression along with my physician's suggestions. I started to notice the more I watch my 600-pound life that these people much like myself had many emotional issues and mental health diagnoses that prevented them from making progress and their journeys as well. I don't think that we put enough emphasis on the toll that mental health can take on our physical health if left unaddressed. As they address some of my issues it wasn't myself that's all growth but my husband and my mother I only saw the physical progress that this led me to. And I even had trouble seeing that by myself. Because of my mental health.

When it came to what I was eating I had always thought that because I was a nurse I knew everything I needed to know about nutrition. I was wrong. There is so much more to nutrition than the average Joe knows and we should be educating ourselves to better ourselves. Luckily there are many nutritionists and dietitians who offered their free professional advice on platforms like TikTok or Instagram. You don't have to pay anybody to lose weight. That's my biggest pet peeve.

Herbalife, AdvoCare, Shakeology, or even the chocolate Modero (or whatever it's called) diet supplement will not make you lose weight. The only thing that can do that is you.

As far as how much I was eating, I was shocked to find out that my perception of serving sizes was grossly underestimated. Serving sizes were easily double to triple compared to what the nutritional value diagram on the packaging would say. The biggest thing that I found to combat this and make a huge difference in my daily caloric intake was by investing in a small kitchen scale. Luckily these are available just about anywhere. Weighing my food in units of grams has helped me not only decrease my intake of calories but has also helped teach me what a normal serving size is when my scale isn't available to me. I still go out to eat I still enjoy snacks outside of the house that I haven't prepped but I am better equipped now to understand what is normal and how much is too much.

You can still eat real food. You can even eat all the foods that you love. I know I still each chips and chocolate. The biggest thing is that you have to learn moderation and figure out how to make each meal or snack worth your calories allotted.

So the answer is yes, you can lose weight without exercise. But remember that exercise is good for the heart and the rest of your body that you're working so hard on improving.