How To Lose Weight Without Exercising

How to lose weight without exercising - is it even possible? Well, yes and no - and it often depends on making other adjustments to your lifestyle.  

There is a common misconception that strenuous or extensive exercise is the “one size fits all” solution to rapid weight loss. While exercise is certainly advised to improve sleep, ward off depression and anxiety, and to overall live longer - extreme amounts of it as seen on programs like “The Biggest Loser” can in fact have an adverse effect on your body, as high levels are simply not viable in the long term. While rapid weight loss was seen in the short term, contestants often piled the kilos back on as their metabolic ratio had declined after production had stopped.

When it comes to real fat loss, all the exercise in the world won’t save you if you are ignoring your diet.


“If you actually want fat loss, diet is better,” declares Dr Michael Mosley, presenter of the BBC series ‘Trust Me, I’m A Doctor’ and the physician who popularised the 5:2 diet. “People truly underestimate how much exercise they have to do in order to burn off fat. The reality is that most people are unable to stick to the levels of exercise necessary to lose the weight.”

Hypothetically, you wanted to burn 372 calories. You would either need to run at 10km/h for thirty minutes, or you could instead cut out the can of Coke and the two Tim Tams that you had the evening beforehand – I think it’s obvious what most people would prefer.

Our bodies run on two types of fuel: sugar, and fat. When your body needs a quick burst of energy, the first source of fuel is the glucose (sugar) found in your blood - so you need to cut out the source by avoiding sugary drinks and snacks. The next stop on the hunt for fuel is the sugar stored in our livers and muscles (glycogen). When this resource is depleted, only then will the body turn to its fat stores.

Most people are also unaware that cortisol (the stress hormone) is a big contributor to the cause of belly fat. Learning how to destress through meditation or by doing hobbies to distract the mind from its worries, can help you decrease further production of belly fat. High intensity exercise can also sometimes create even more stress to your body, which basically ends up rendering it ineffective; if your goal was to shed some kilos.

The Key On How To Lose Weight Without Exercising

Weight loss should not be viewed with a “one size fits all” approach. Women's Health Magazine recently shared an article that included case studies on five different women, and what worked for them in terms of long term and sustainable weight management. The interview focused on what the women consumed, as opposed to how much (or how little) they exercised. Programs and action plans that worked for each of the women included:

  • Improving sleep quality
  • A diagnosis for Hashimoto’s disease
  • Cutting out dead carbohydrates
  • Calorie tracking
  • Eating whole, unprocessed foods

However, it’s important to note that what worked for one, may not work for the other. We know that weight management is associated with your overall well-being, so a tailor-made approach that’s just for you is a surefire way to get results.

The 12 Week Reset Program  

Our bodies are as unique as our fingerprints and what one person needs to heal, optimise and thrive is completely different to the next person. Anita and her team at Burleigh Heads based Live Young Clinic, specialise in holistic and natural medical practices. Their acute knowledge into fine tuning the body without the need for pharmaceuticals lead them to develop the 12 Week Reset Program, a customised strategy designed to eliminate yo-yo dieting, unsustainable exercise regimes, and to ultimately keep the weight off for years to come.

So how does the 12 Week Reset Program work? The “magic” lies within a cellular wellbeing hair scan. By analysing just four strands of your hair and it’s follicles, a customised plan will highlight key areas of weight loss resistance in your body. These can include monitoring the levels of your internal vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and amino acids, along with sourcing any potential interferences that may be hindering your weight management. Essentially, the scan examines the way your body breaks down food.

Upon the completion of the hair follicle analysis, your Live Young Clinic coach will issue you a plan of what to eat based on the individuality of what’s going on in your body. There’s no standard approach here, as everyone is different. So, what happens to the fat you’re going to lose?

The body has to get rid of any excess fat deposits via a series of rather complex metabolic pathways. The by-products of the fat loss can “exit the building” via sweating it out through your skin, or as urine via your kidneys. Oddly enough though, most of it is simply exhaled through carbon dioxide. To completely breakdown say 10kg of fat, we will exhale a whopping 29kg of oxygen - burning 94, 000 calories, with little to no exercise required.