Lose Weight Without Training

In this article, I’m going to explain why it’s possible, exactly how to make it happen, and why working out is actually a surprisingly shitty way of causing weight loss.

Now, when you consume the same number of calories that you burn (calories in = calories out), you will maintain your current weight. This is known as your maintenance level.

Than you burn (calories in > calories out), the leftover calories that didn’t get burned will be stored on your body for later use primarily in the form of body fat. This is a state known as a caloric surplus, and it is the sole cause of fat gain.

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Than you burn (calories in < calories out), your body will burn stored fat for energy instead. This is a state known as a caloric deficit, and it is the sole cause of fat loss.

It means that in order to lose weight, you need to be in a consistent caloric deficit. And to put that deficit into place, you can either eat a little less (diet alone), burn a little more (exercise alone), or some combination of the two.

Instead of creating your deficit by working out and burning more calories, you’re going to create your deficit by eating a little less.

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How much less? 20% below your maintenance level is a good place to start. Full details here: How Many Calories Should I Eat A Day To Lose Weight?

The only real key to losing weight is being in a deficit, and that can be accomplished just the same with or without exercise.

In fact,  studies show that with all else being equal, the same results are produced regardless of how a person creates their deficit (diet alone vs diet/exercise).

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For right now, I want to tell you why working out for the specific purpose of burning calories to create a deficit and cause weight loss is not only NOT needed, it just plain sucks.

The average person doing a typical form of cardio – which is the typical form of “fat burning exercise” most people do – at a typical intensity will usually end up burning about 5-10 calories per minute.

Possibly more with a higher intensity activity, and possibly more if the person weighs more (a bigger body burns more calories than a smaller body). But, on average, 5-10 calories per minute is usually a decent estimate.

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While this is definitely still something, the fact is that working out doesn’t burn nearly as many calories as most people think, hope or incorrectly assume it does. Yes, even when taking EPOC/afterburn into account. That’s just another aspect of exercise that causes significantly less calorie-burn than most people assume (source).

Which means, you’d need to do A LOT of cardio (often) and/or very high intensity forms of cardio (often) for it to truly have the significant calorie-burning, weight-loss-causing effect most people think it does/would like it to. And excessive amounts of exercise like that often come with more cons than pros.

A person will do some form of exercise for the purpose of burning calories/losing weight, and they’ll assume they burned a lot of calories when doing it.

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Instead, what often happens is this “reward mentality” kicks in and the person thinks “I jogged on a treadmill for 30 minutes today, surely I can now afford to eat this additional 1000-calorie meal.”

And they do that, never realizing they actually only burned 200-300 calories. Which means they unknowingly cancel out whatever deficit they may have created by working out, and possibly put themselves into a surplus as well.

This, by the way, is one of the many reasons you hear people saying stuff like “I’ve been working out all the time but I’m still not losing weight!” or “I exercise a ton but I’m somehow gaining weight!”

How To Lose Weight Without Cardio • A Sweet Pea Chef

It’s typically going to be much more convenient and sustainable for a person to just eat a few hundred fewer calories per day than it will be for them to burn those same few hundred calories every day through additional activity.

And sure, something like HIIT will burn more calories in less time than a low/moderate intensity activity (like walking or jogging) would, thus being the more time-efficient of the two. But, not only would it still be less efficient compared to eating fewer calories, it’s also going to be much harder to do and require MUCH more physical and mental effort to consistently make happen.

Let’s say someone made the decision to go to bed an hour and a half early so they can wake up an hour and a half earlier than usual the next day to give themselves time to travel to the gym and spend an hour on the treadmill (burning around 500 calories) before going to work or school or wherever else.

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Later on, however, they ate two extra handfuls of almonds and wiped out that entire hour of cardio (and the 500 calories it burned) in the span of about 3 minutes.

Sure, the real problem here is the issue of dietary noncompliance that caused this example person to eat more than they were supposed to, but the point remains the same. It’s laughably easy to out-eat what you can burn via exercise.

And here’s the point most relevant to the original question being discussed in this article, which is how to lose weight without exercise.

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While it can certainly be a potentially useful tool for that purpose, it’s not actually required in any way whatsoever. It’s completely optional.

But the people who ask this question don’t realize this. Nor do the people who use “I just don’t have time to exercise” as their excuse for getting/staying overweight.

In most cases, it’s just going to be much easier, more efficient, and a much more sustainable approach than creating your deficit via exercise instead.

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Of course, you can absolutely feel free to use a combination of the two if needed or preferred (details here: How Much Cardio Should I Do To Lose Weight?), but it doesn’t change that fact that working out is not a necessary part of weight loss. Diet alone will get the job done just fine.

I hear from people on a daily basis who are trying/failing to lose weight. I know the questions they have, the problems they experience, and the excuses they make.

And one of the most common excuses I hear revolves around the incorrect idea that exercise is needed in order to make weight loss happen (aka the myth covered in Big Point #1).

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After all, if it’s something they NEED to be doing to reach their goal, they simply won’t be able to reach that goal without it.

) excuse. THIS is the reason why A) they are fatter than they want to be, and B) there’s nothing they can do about it.

. It’s just your unfortunate circumstances that are preventing you from being able to do the thing you need to be doing. You’re totally in the clear, because you have a

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You DON’T actually need to work out in order to lose weight, and that’s the key fact people in these scenarios seem to be missing.

This goes back to the point I made earlier about there being a big difference between saying that “exercise sucks” and “isn’t needed” and saying that “exercise sucks” and “isn’t needed” 

Because the reality is that while working out for the purpose of causing weight loss is both optional and kinda shitty, it’s a requirement for building muscle and/or maintaining muscle.

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Which means if you want to do either of those things while you lose weight (and I highly recommend that you do), you’re going to need to do some form of intelligent weight training.

Of course, regarding #3, if you prefer to use something like cardio from the very beginning to help you create some or all of your deficit on certain days… that’s perfectly fine.

Weight loss success largely comes down to doing whatever best allows you to be in a caloric deficit and consistently sustain it.

Is It Possible To Lose Weight Without Exercise?

Don't waste another minute of your time searching for what to do. I've already done the research for you and created step-by-step plans that work. Select your goal below...

Jay is the science-based writer and researcher behind everything you've seen here. He has 15+ years of experience helping thousands of men and women lose fat, gain muscle, and build their goal body. His work has been featured by the likes of Time, The Huffington Post, CNET, Business Week and more, referenced in studies, used in textbooks, quoted in publications, and adapted by coaches, trainers, and diet professionals at every level.I hoovered down food like it was my job: no leftovers were safe, no refrigerator left unraided, no pantry unplundered. I was an active kid involved in hockey, soccer, basketball, karate, and football, but no amount of athletics kept the weight off, because I ate whatever was put in front of me and developed a raging sweet tooth.

Me. Fat and jolly with plenty of friends, but always the fat kid. I know, because I was constantly told how fat I was. Growing up, I learned to hate my body.

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In high school, I spent a lot