Can I Lose Weight Without Working Out?

Let me start by saying, this statement is more loaded than a baked potato from Texas Roadhouse.

Can you lose weight without working out?  Sure, you can.  Can you run a marathon without shoes? Sure, you can – but they make it a heck of a lot easier, don’t they?

Let’s take a look at a few ways you can lose weight when you might not be able to get to the gym as much as you’d like.

Whether you are going on vacation, working overtime at work, studying for next week’s exam, you may find yourself struggling to move and burn calories.  Moving is important because that is the primary way our body burns calories (or energy.)

In order to lose weight, you need to be burning more calories than what you intake on a daily basis.  Without doing this, you will not lose weight, I can promise you that.

Some of the most basic physiological functions of our body help us burn calories.  Breathing, maintaining body temperature & pumping blood are just a few.  Now if you were to workout, your breathing would accelerate, your temperature internally would increase, and more blood would be pumping through your heart and out to different parts of your body.

That sounds like a lot of energy being used (or calories being burned) to me, don’t you think?

3 Ways to Burn More Calories Without Working Out

So what are a few things you can do to burn more calories without exercise?

1. Drink water. There are many scientific studies proving that drinking water affects weight loss.  It may naturally suppress your appetite, helping you eat less.  Studies also show that drinking water can increase your metabolic rate up to 30%.

• Supplement recommendations:
  • Regulation of your thyroid plays an important role in metabolic function. Adding in a metabolism booster (something with chromium and kelp/iodine) will help regulate your thyroid, promote T3 & T4 hormone production and burn more calories at rest.
  • Accelerators also change our metabolic pathways from utilizing carbohydrates for energy and use fats instead to burn more calories and drop weight.

2. Increase protein intake. Protein has amino acids that are the building blocks to adding muscle.  Not only does protein make your feel more satiated (less hungry), it also helps build more lean muscle tissue.  A pound of muscle burns about six calories at rest versus a pound of fat that burns only about two calories at rest.

• Supplement recommendations:
  • Sustained-assimilation protein shakes are an excellent way to increase your protein intake throughout the day. They are convenient, tasty and cheap.  A scoop of chocolate protein with a ½ cup of greek yogurt right before bed is that perfect snack to satisfy your sweet tooth so you aren’t reaching for the ice cream.

3. Get better sleep. Studies show that poor sleep can decrease leptin levels (slows metabolism and reduces motivation) and increase ghrelin levels (make you hungry).  Both of those things sound like a recipe for disaster when trying to cut for summer.

• Supplement recommendations:
  • Reducing cortisol is important when it comes to better sleep. We are more stressed and anxious than ever before.  Incorporating a cortisol reducer helps the body lower stress levels, relaxes the muscles and helps us get better rest (recovery.)  Look for ones that include ingredients to regulate estrogen levels (in females) and increase testosterone (in men).

If you need help finding ways to lose body fat for summer, want to be healthier or just feel better but have a busy schedule and struggle to burn the calories necessary, reach out to any one of our Certified Sports Nutrition Specialists at Peak.  Our goal is to GET YOU RESULTS.

If you found this blog helpful, make sure to follow us on Instagram @peakAZ for more tips and tricks, and come visit us at one of our store locations!