I’ve been doing IF for three weeks (mostly 16:8 and sometimes 14:10). It’s been wonderful in reducing bloating and reducing my sweet tooth but I haven’t lost any significant amount of weight.
I see some very motivating posts about people losing a lot of weight but I wonder if I need to increase my exercise in order to see results. Has anyone been successful in losing weight without added exercise?
With OMAD the difference is pretty noticeable after a week or two. If you have longer feeding windows YMMV. Personally with a window that large I wouldn’t expect to see much of a difference without drastically changing my calorie intake, and even then it tends to backfire because it makes cravings worse. But that’s just my personal experience.
One thing I will say is, sometimes in those first 3 weeks your body is actually losing fat. I have a scale that measures BF (not that it’s accurate, but you can at least see the trend). A lot of times when I have plateaued I’ve noticed my BF go down and my clothes starting to fit differently, even though my weight hasn’t changed. Usually the weight starts coming off sometime after, and sometimes so fast it makes up for the weeks I didn’t lose weight.
If after 4 weeks you aren’t noticing any change, consider a longer fasting window (for me, OMAD or about 20:4 is the sweet spot for the fastest weight loss.)
FWIW, I have literally never exercised to lose weight. You don’t need to exercise to lose weight. Focus on what you eat and how much (and of course, when.) If you want to increase activity, just adding walks to your day could help, but don’t feel like you have to work out like mad to lose weight.
I’m down 11 lbs in 6 weeks, little to no exercise. 16:8 minimum, usually more like 18:6. But I also faithfully use CICO. I find IF makes it much easier to stay in a calorie deficit, and I’m much more satisfied than with CICO alone.
More people see succes on 18:6. Maybe work your way up. Congrats on lowering your sweets and carb intake! The more whole foods you eat, the better results you’ll get.
As the saying goes, “you can’t exercise your way out of the kitchen.” Or plate, or something like that, lol
I have lost 43 pounds over the past 4 1/2 months through calorie restriction and IF only.
Studies over the past 10-15 years have shown that there is little or no link between moderate exercise and weight loss. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jan/28/study-reveals-that-exercise-alone-wont-cause-weight-loss
My previous, unsuccessful attempt at long-term weight loss was extremely discouraging because I was on the treadmill for 1-1/2 - 2 hours per day and not losing weight. It made no sense because “diet and exercise” are supposed to be how you lose weight. How could I be burning 300-400 calories on the treadmill every day and not losing weight?
It’s not about “diet and exercise”, it’s just about diet. I feel lied to by the medical community because they know better now and still are not honest about it. There are many other health benefits to regular exercise, so they don’t want to discourage people from exercising. But it’s not how you lose weight.
I take long walks and hike occasionally and I am going to add in some strength training. While that’s obviously not going to hurt my weight loss efforts, I do not associate any weight loss results with those activities.
If you want to reduce sweet tooth a little further, just lessen sugar intake. Like for example, if you use 2 teaspoons sugar in your tea/coffee, reduce it to 1 teaspoon. Also same with other stuff like cookies and cakes, don’t eat the ones that are too sweet. Eventually your taste buds are gonna adjust.
I lost close to 30 lbs in the first three months of IF. My clothes started to get looser at the -15lb mark, that’s when I first noticed changes. I was actually pleasantly surprised bc I had been trying for 6 weeks and was getting discouraged bc I wasn’t seeing results.
I need to lose weight to qualify for hip replacement surgery. I have severe arthritis and can’t actually do too much as far as exercise. I lost weight at the average rate of 1 lb per 24 hour fasting period with just fasting and doing low impact “walk at home” exercises from YouTube.
I try not to compare myself to others and be satisfied with any progress no matter how small. Trying to force myself to lose weight quicker led me to binge eating and caused me to gain back 20 of the 30 lbs. It took many months of trying and several failed attempts to get back into IF consistently. I now focus on non scale victories and weigh myself only once per week. I have an article of clothing one size too small that I try on periodically to measure my progress. Taking pictures help too, it’s easier to see your body change in pictures vs in the mirror.
I lost 2kg in the first week and 1 per week thereafter with one meal a day and low carbs. You should know that IF only works if you miss meals and don’t replace them. It doesn’t work if you eat the same as before in a smaller window
Lots of great insight shared here (as usual, I find great stuff in the replies!) but to simply respond to OP’s question - yes, I lost weight right away w/o exercise. My window is only open for 4 hours, so I am obviously eating far fewer calories than when I was eating all day, and allowing my body to do what it does when I’m fasting.
When i was 20, I found that exercise was more important to losing weight FOR ME than it is now.
Now, I realize it is all about what I put in my body and the exercise of raising and lowering my fork over and over.
Watch those carbs, stay hydrated and yes, it will break your fast.