When it's time to start losing weight, you may find it difficult to set aside 30 to 60 minutes per day -- the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation -- to exercise. While exercise offers more than just a weight-loss benefit and is recommended, it's still possible to lose weight with little exercise. The key factors are what you're eating and, more important, what you don't eat. By watching your diet closely, you can lose weight faster than you might think.
Weight-loss Basics
Losing weight is a simple concept referred to as a calorie deficit. A calorie deficit means you're consuming fewer calories than you're burning each day. Let's say your current intake is 2,000 calories a day. Lowering your daily caloric intake to 1,500 calories each day would create a 500-calorie-a-day deficit. This will help you lose weight over time without even factoring in calories burned during exercise. So, even though you may have limited time to exercise or somehow may be limited in the amount of exercise you can do, you can still lose weight by focusing on what you eat.
Rate
It's possible to lose weight too fast, according to the CDC. Its recommendation for weight loss is no more than 1 to 2 lbs. per week. Creating a calorie deficit of 500 calories per day can help you lose 1 lb. per week while 1,000 calories each day leads to the maximum 2 lbs. of weight loss each week. To determine how many calories your body needs each day to perform all of its basic functions, like breathing and digestion, you can use a basal metabolic rate, or BMR, calculator. Subtract 500 to 1,000 from the resulting number to get a more accurate estimate of how many calories you should be targeting each day.
Diet
One of the key components of any low-calorie diet is to limit intake of sugar and foods high in saturated fats. These high-calorie foods and drinks can really add to your daily caloric intake. For instance, just one 20-oz. soda can contain 250 or more calories per bottle. In addition to eliminating high-calorie snacks from your diet, you must eat the right types of foods. This would include whole-grain foods, vegetables, non-fat dairy, lean proteins and fruit. Well-balanced meals that spread your daily calorie target equally among three to five meals is the best approach.
Adding Exercise
Throwing exercise into the equation can only speed up your weight-loss results. Even something as simple as walking at a brisk pace for 60 minutes can help you burn 277 or more calories, depending on your current body weight, according to the Mayo Clinic. Any type of aerobic or resistance exercise will help you burn additional calories, which you can contribute to your daily calorie deficit. Try implementing exercise into your day-to-day activities by simply turning off the TV, computer and video games and opting instead for some sort of physical activity.
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