How can I lose weight if my health keeps me from exercising?

Contrary to what most people think about losing weight, what you eat is the most important part of weight loss. Consuming a diet that is full of refined foods, high fat, low in fiber and nutrients will cause your body to store fat easier. On the flip side, a diet filled with complex carbs, like whole grains and colorful vegetables, lean protein, and good fats is ideal for fat loss. 

Even those who exercise daily struggle to lose weight and they don't know why. Many of them are still eating diets filled with junky food and trying to "exercise" it away. It can't be done. In fact, some of them may be eating too few calories and over-exercising causing their bodies to hold on to all their calories and store them as fat. 

If you are unable to do high impact exercises or cardio, not all is lost because I would consider strength training more important. Putting on lean muscle makes your body more efficient at burning calories, even after you are done lifting weights. Start with lower weights and higher repetions to build endurance. 

Make a few small changes to your diet such as, smaller portions, more fruits and vegetables, or more water, and you will be surprised that the weight may start to drop without any exercise. As you drop the weight, maybe health conditions will improve enough for you to add small amounts of exercise in.

No matter what your health is your nutrition will be the determining factor in your weight so if you cannot exercise you can still manage your weight based on what you eat.

It will be very important to log your food so you are more aware of the number of calories you are consuming.  The logging of food will also help you being self accountable to make sure you are consuming the appropriate amount of calories.

The most important thing to remember is the less active you are the less calories expended and the more reduction in lean tissue you will have.  The less lean muscle tissue you have and the less you move the less food you will be able to take in.  That is the number one factor you have to keep in mind.  If you are active and move around you will be able to intake more calories. 

Manage calories and log your food and in the future if you can exercise more then you will be able to increase the amount of food you take in.

You can continue to lose weight without engaging in formal exercise. The key is increasing your activity level, even if you don’t engage in formal exercise. Go for walks, when you run errand's park as far away as you can so you have to walk further, take stairs instead of elevators and escalators, do as many of your own household chores as you can. If you combine an increase in activity with a mild caloric restriction this should help you lose weight at a modest rate.  

Your first step should be to see your physician and find out what level of activity you can participate in.  Maybe you can start by simply walking.  Take baby steps towards your goal until you are feeling healthier and can take on more.  If walking is too much and your physician feels that you are not able to do any type of physical activity, focus on getting better rather than loosing weight.  If your physician feels you can take on some level of activity, it may benefit you to seek the advice of a health and fitness professional.  You can discuss your health issues and what level of activity your physician has cleared you for and the health and fitness professional can develop an individualized exercise program that'll help you reach your goal while staying within your physician recommended activity level.

Also, as always, be sure you are making healthy food choices.  To lose weight, you basically need to eat fewer calories than you are expending.  

The good news for you is twofold: 1) you don’t need traditional exercise to lose weight and 2) “exercise” can be as simple as moving any way you can. Diet, or reducing calories is by far the single most powerful way to lose weight. Once you determine how many calories you burn based on physical statistics and daily activities, you simply need to eat fewer calories than that number. And remember, your Sharecare Move It and Lose It program will calculate your numbers for you.

Studies comparing reducing calories with exercise only yielded the following: the group who reduced calories lost an average of 19.8 pounds in 6 months, while the exercise alone groups lost less than 2 pounds in the same period. So you see you can lose weight without “exercise.”

That said, as long as you can stand and move at any level, you can improve health and boost weight loss because you will burn more calories even if it’s not traditional exercise. In fact standing burns ~1.5 times more calories than sitting for the same time and normal walking or pacing can burn 2-3 times more. For example, if a 175 pound person can stand and/or walk 1.5 hours per day more than before, they can burn an extra 150 calories per day. That translates to a 15-pound weight loss after a year.

Final note, only one single fact determines the rate of weight/fat loss: the average daily calorie deficit. This is defined as the difference between how many calories you burn (no matter how you do it) and how many calories you consume. The body never stops burning calories so even a bedridden person can lose weight. Unfortunately, because they can’t move, they won’t be able to eat much because the more you move, the more you can eat.

In theory, weight loss is simple. You need to burn more calories than you consume. In other words, calories going out of your body need to be greater than calories going into your body. 

If your health prevents you from exercising, talk to your doctor about cutting your calories. Just by having your heart beat and your lungs breathe, you burn calories. Not being able to exercise does not mean you cannot eat, it simply means you have to eat less.

In addition, your doctor may be able to introduce you to ideas on training that do not fit the stereotypical high impact exercises of which you may be thinking. Many people with chronic disease can participate in low impact activities like yoga, pilates or a specialized personal trainer willing to work with your doctor. Please do not give up on a healthier lifestyle because of a chronic disease.