Is it healthy to lose weight without diet or exercise?
With the right medical guidance from a doctor, weight loss is possible without dieting or exercising through small and achievable changes to your lifestyle.[1] To get a clearer understanding of how to lose weight without exercising or dieting, we should first consider that there are several key factors involved in weight gain [2].
For example, hormonal or thyroid issues can lead to sudden weight gain in adult men and women. A medical study conducted in Colorado, USA, discovered that the risk of hypothyroidism is present in an estimated 3% to 16% of adult men within different age groups who took part in the study [3].
What we eat may also affect weight.[4] Some eating habits can interfere with weight loss plans, such as distracted or disordered eating [5] or eating foods that are in and of themselves healthy but encourage weight gain, such as protein-rich foods. We also caution against cutting entire food groups out of your daily meals or taking part in fad diets as part of your plan regarding how to lose weight without exercising. [6] Your diet is peculiar to you; many popular diets are designed in a way that disregards your unique nutritional needs in favour of a more generalised approach to losing weight.
Another critical factor on how to lose weight without exercising is if there are any pre-existing medical conditions or genetic predispositions towards weight gain.[7] There are some conditions or illnesses that can cause sudden weight gain, such as hormonal imbalances, as well as gastrointestinal or metabolic issues where nutrients are not adequately absorbed by the body and lead to obesity.[8] Weight gain is also among the symptoms of stress, as well as some types of anxiety.
Despite how it sounds, addressing the underlying causes of weight gain will improve both our health and our body's ability to lose weight. This is why it’s critical that we consult with a doctor first before embarking on a sudden diet change so that they can help design a fast effective weight loss plan for you. By going in blind, we may unintentionally exacerbate the condition that’s causing our weight gain, rather than alleviate it.[9]
Can dieting alone help with weight management?
Diet-based weight management that attempts to address how to lose weight without exercising is possible, but there are some caveats.
When people talk about dieting, they generally refer to diets that target certain nutrients or food groups as the source of a person’s weight gain. These diets purport to lead to rapid weight loss[10] – which they do, for individuals predisposed to benefiting from such diets.[11] However, just because a diet is effective for weight loss doesn’t mean it is sustainable long-term.
What’s often left out in conversations regarding these instant weight loss diet plans is that they’re often paired with rigorous workout schedules, or will only result in temporary weight loss.[12] In some cases, the weight initially lost through these diets is regained or doubled soon after, as the diets focus on short-term weight loss rather than developing or enforcing long-term dietary management.[13]
On the other hand, even a modest weight loss through guided dieting can be more effective in the long run[14] – when it comes to how to lose weight without exercising, healthy dieting gives us a better chance of keeping the lost weight off for good.[15]
In summary, it’s absolutely possible to lose weight without diet or exercise,[16] as the way we approach our diet can do wonders for how we gain, retain, or lose unwanted inches on our body. Finding the ideal combination of which food for weight loss is ideal for you, however, is a complex process that fad or crash diets by nature cannot adequately address.
Thankfully, Mosh health practitioners can help bridge the gap between you and how to lose weight without exercising through a personalised diet plan.
Your Mosh health practitioner will consult with you regarding your current health and diet and work with you on how to plan a diet to lose weight, and advise you on different options like weight loss shakes or supplements to retain vital nutrients while avoiding and ultimately losing weight.
What are sustainable ways of losing weight without exercise?
There are a few tried and tested methods of keeping weight off.[17]
Healthy diet and eating habits
Key among them is a healthy diet. We’ve covered disordered eating behaviours, and with good reason – when left to progress unattended, they could lead to eating disorders, or to compounding weight-related health issues. Avoiding fad diets and focusing instead on better nutrition, for example, is a recognised weight management method – just ask your Mosh doctor.
Regular low-impact exercise
Another way regarding how to lose weight without exercising is to keep active. Hear us out: when we say ‘keep active’, we mean taking care to keep our joints and muscles healthy. You don’t necessarily have to spend hours on a cycling machine or jog great distances to do so; a leisurely twenty-minute walk around your neighbourhood more than suffices for older individuals.
Walking around your home office while some work files are downloading, or doing some stretches before going to bed, for example, may seem like small gestures, but go a long way towards weight loss with exercise.[18] Paired with effective time management, this gives us more time to focus on our weight loss targets and to practice a healthier lifestyle.
Evidence-based treatments
Personalised treatments are also a good answer to how to lose weight without exercising. Your Mosh doctor can help you achieve weight loss without exercise.[19] Our doctors can review and assess your situation and provide you with the necessary medical, over-the-counter, or coaching solutions to help you lose weight in a healthy, sustainable manner. Best of all, Mosh works with your consultation schedule, instead of the other way around, so you don’t have to inconvenience your personal obligations just to stay in good shape and health.
Personal health care made easy with Mosh.
Mosh is your gateway to a whole new arena of personal health care that’s also personalised just for you. At Mosh, we provide consultation- and counselling-based advice on health care at your convenience, cutting out the hassle of arranging in-person consultations.
All of our health practitioners are professionally licenced and registered with AHPRA, meaning they’re fully qualified to provide medical advice in Australia. To that end, Mosh has connected our medical team to hundreds of men throughout the country, helping them find and access medical treatments that are specially tailored for their specific requirements.
Mosh health practitioners are always ready to help, whether it’s advising on and explaining baseline depression test results and how to calm anxiety, to prescribing topical or non-invasive treatments for hair loss and skin care issues.
When it comes to how to lose weight without exercising, even small lifestyle changes grow into considerable weight loss as long as we keep going. Sometimes, we just need some help to get where we want to be. Let us at Mosh help you get there.
Get in touch with us and meet your Mosh health practitioner today.