Dieting without exercise

Dieting alone can lead to weight loss, though it is not feasible for most people and will not produce long term results. Dieting without exercise leads to yo-yo style weight fluctuations with a steady increase in weight over time. A moderate restriction in calorie intake combined with an increase in physical activity yields the healthiest, longest lasting and best overall results.

Calorie Balance

The relationship between how many calories you burn and eat (calorie balance) controls weight. Burning more calories than you eat creates a calorie deficit, leading to weight loss. Eating more than you burn creates a calorie surplus, leading to weight gain.

Basics of Weight Loss

Weight loss is not synonymous with health. The only requirement for weight loss is a calorie deficit; there is no need to exercise or eat healthy. A healthy lifestyle is much different and requires more than simple weight loss.

A calorie deficit is the only way to lose weight. When you burn more calories than you eat, your body is forced to look to non-food sources to make up the deficit of energy. This is the "magic" that causes weight loss. Eating less, exercising more or combining both creates a calorie deficit.

If you burn 2, 500 calories per day and only eat 2, 000, you have created a deficit of 500 calories per day. Since your body needs 2, 500 calories and you have only provided 2, 000 through food, it has to get those extra 500 calories from non-food sources: body fat. It is through this mechanism that weight loss occurs.

How to Create a Calorie Deficit

Calorie balance has two sides: energy burned and energy taken in. That means three opportunities to create a calorie deficit: exercising more, eating less or a combination of both.

Diet Alone

Losing weight is a numbers game (if you are only interested in weight loss rather than overall health). Maintaining a calorie deficit always leads to weight loss. Without exercise, a calorie deficit must be created through a lower calorie intake. The main problem with dieting alone is the sacrifice needed to sustain a very low calorie intake for a long period of time is too much for most people to handle.

• 25 years old
• 5 feet, 7 inches
• 170 pounds
• sedentary, no exercise
• female

The person in this example is physically inactive, and as a result, does not burn many calories. Weight loss requires a deficit of at least 500-1, 000 calories per day. A deficit of 1000 calories per day would require an intake of just 900 calories; a level nearly impossible to maintain over a long period of time.

The amount of change required to eat 900 calories per day is so great, most people would not handle it well. After a few days on a very low calorie diet, most people would breakdown and go back to their old habits causing any weight loss to return quickly.

The Body's Reaction to Dieting

The body perceives a sudden and drastic reduction in calorie intake as starvation and adjusts its metabolism accordingly. When humans used to hunt and gather food rather than buy it at a grocery store, a drastic cut in calories meant we would not eat for a while. Slowing down metabolic processes is the body's way of protecting itself against long periods with little or no food. This energy saving feature is known as starvation mode.

The body enters starvation mode during periods of very low calorie intake, i.e., weight loss strategies that rely on solely dieting. If the 25 year old female in the example above started eating 900 calories per day, her calorie deficit would be 1, 000 calories. Unfortunately, starvation mode causes your body to drastically cut its energy needs. Her deficit would be much smaller than 1, 000 calories, slowing or even stopping weight loss.

Losing Weight With Diet and Exercise

Combining a moderate reduction in calorie intake with an increase in physical activity is the best way to lose weight. Take the following example:

• physical activity: moderate exercise, 3-5x per week

Adding physical activity causes the same person to burn 2, 450 calories per day instead of 1, 900. That is an increase of approximately 30%. The same female can now eat more (1, 500-2, 000 calories vs 900-1, 400 calories per day) AND lose more weight than if she was dieting alone.

Benefits of Exercise

Exercise provides positive health benefits including: building muscle, decreasing cholesterol/blood pressure, increasing bone density and fighting off depression. Starvation diets are harsh on your health and do not deliver long lasting or desirable results.

The Bottom Line

Dieting alone is a horrible weight loss strategy because it is not effective. It requires more change than most people are capable of adjusting to. Exercise allows you to eat more while losing much more weight than dieting alone. Shortcuts such as dieting without exercise do not solve problems, but in many cases, make them worse.