AnnaIs weight loss without exercise possible? This post discusses a “lose weight without exercise” diet.
The keto diet is a great way to feel good and achieve good health.
You actually do not have to exercise hard to lose body fat during the keto diet.
However, exercise will massively increase weight loss during your keto diet. We are not designed to stay still for long periods of time and lack of exercise increases the risk of illness. Even just 10 minutes of exercise a day can have a positive effect!
Even if you are familiar with the keto diet, whether a beginner or already a fan, you may be wondering if exercise is necessary to lose weight on the keto diet.
Is it possible to do the keto diet without exercise?
Read on for the answers and more! Today’s blog post will give you a better overview of the relationship between ketosis and exercise.
What is Ketosis?
When you are not consuming any carbohydrates, your body goes into a natural state called “ketosis”. Instead of carbohydrates, fats in the liver are broken down to produce ketones, which serve as fuel for the body and brain.
Advantages
Why is a ketosis-state metabolism something to strive for? What are the benefits?
When you are consuming a carbohydrate-rich diet, the body produced glucose and insulin. The glucose is used for energy and all that is unneeded is simply stored as fat.
But when you lower your carb intake, the body goes into this metabolic state–ketosis–where ketones are burned instead because there is no fat stored.
Additionally, the keto diet brings many other benefits, such as mental clarity, energy, stable cholesterol and blood sugar levels. The keto diet has proven successful in conditions such as type 2 diabetes and epilepsy and is even known to help relieve the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.
(NOTE: Interested in the keto diet and want to learn more? Check out “Keto Diet for Beginners“.)
Weight Loss, No Exercise
You can definitely lose weight without any exercise, while following the keto diet.
However, this is not the optimal way to reduce body fat. If you decide to do the keto diet without exercise, be aware that half of the weight you lose can be simply muscle and water, as opposed to actual fat loss.
In some extreme cases, such as severe obesity, exercise with the keto diet is just simply not an option. In these situations, it is recommended that the person lose enough weight–which is (slowly) possible without training–before combining exercise with the keto diet.
Severe overweight or obese people can usually do the keto diet without exercise without losing too much muscle mass. The higher the body fat, the risk of losing muscle mass is reduced (not eliminated). On the other hand, the leaner you are, the higher the risk you lose muscle mass if you lose weight–making exercise very important.
You can see many people doing the keto diet no exercise with amazing results. Exercise usually isn’t needed, but can be helpful, and in some cases necessary. Most do end up starting to add exercise with the diet at some point (because it simply is just better!).
(HINT: Ready to get started with the keto diet and lose weight? Check out the 28-Day Keto Challenge!)
Weight Loss vs. Fat Loss
Though often synonymous, weight loss and fat loss are not the same. Whether they are aware or not, fat loss is what most dieters would like to achieve.
For example, weight loss is easy. If you do not drink water for a while, you will lose a few pounds. When you start drinking water again, the weight will return…and fast. This is not real weight loss.
Nutrition-Exercise Relationship
It’s said that when it comes to losing weight, it is 75% nutrition and 25% exercise.
There was a study done to see if the keto diet without exercise was more beneficial for diabetics than a western standard diet without exercise. The experiment consisted of three groups of men and women between the ages of 18 and 65, all previously diagnosed with pre-diabetes, metabolic syndrome, or type 2 diabetes. Their BMI was greater than or equal to 25 and body fat was over 30%. For ten weeks…
- Group 1 consumed less than 30 grams of carbs per day and did no exercise.
- Group 2 followed a normal diet and did no exercise.
- Group 3 followed a normal diet and did exercise for 30 minutes, 3-5 days per week.
After Ten Weeks…
The results showed that although physical activity was beneficial, the imbalances in metabolisms associated with metabolic syndrome (the risks for stroke, diabetes, and heart disease) could not be altered during the 10-week study. In easier terms, exercise + normal diet = no meaningful results within the 10 weeks.
The study also showed that after doing the keto diet for 10 weeks, even without exercise, the results of weight, body fat, body mass index, and ketones were statistically significant (meaning that this is not attributed to chance).
Some results were very dramatic, for example, the resting metabolic rate of the “keto group” resulted in a big change in intensity, more than 10 times even, than in the other two groups.
Excessive carbohydrate and sugar consumption, usually found in the Western diet, has produced countless illnesses. Illnesses which could have been prevented by simply reducing dependence on certain foods.
Studies like the one mentioned above present the benefits of the keto diet.
Conclusion
Weight loss can be achieved without exercise during the keto diet, especially when the body fat percentage is high.
However, weight loss can increase exponentially if you do follow an exercise regimen. For example, walks of 2-3 hours a day are highly beneficial for getting into ketosis faster!
Regardless of our diets, physical exercises should be a part of our daily lives. Every person should move at least 10-30 minutes a day.
What is your experience with exercising with diets? Leave your comments and questions below!
Thanks,
Anna
www.readyforketo.com
Excellent article on weight loss without exercise,this post is awesome and helps to improve our healthy and achieve weight loss,to be realistic exercise has been the solution to weight loss that I know,but your write-up has opened my eyes to this fact;If I decide to do the keto diet and no exercise, be aware that half of the weight you lose can be simply muscle and water, as opposed to actual fat loss,the weight loss is as a result of the reduction of fats in the body,I’ve learnt greatly that any fat person could choose this product without exercise and still achieve the weight loss needed,thanks for sharing this article,it is a blessing to me.
This is a really interesting post, its really detailed and educating. I’ve known of Keto diet for a while and I’ve heard of people’s testimony about its effect and benefits to human health. Keto diet is a kind of weight loss measure, its is a low carb diet with high fat, and it really benefits Human health. Another benefits of keto diet is energy production, mental clarity, stability of blood sugar level and lots more. Thanks for sharing this article its gonna help so much. I’ll share it to some other platforms too. Thanks.
Hi Jones,
Thank you for reading and your feedback! 🙂
Tha k you, a big thank you for this clarity. I had an argument with a friend about the discourse and he kept telling me that it’s not possible but I see people who go on diet and also take supplement and not necessarily go on any rigorous exercises to help them lose weight. I have learnt however that to lose weight faster, one will need to add in exercising. This is a good post but I want to ask, is there really a difference between fat loss and weight loss? Isn’t fat equal to weight?
Thank you 🙂 You can definitely lose weight without exercising while doing the keto diet. But exercising may make things go a little faster and is overall good for you! I personally was able to lose about 20 pounds with no exercise on the keto diet!
Weight loss and fat loss are different in that, for example, you could lose a lot of water weight. Your body weight goes down. That is weight loss. But if you start drinking water again, you will quickly gain this weight back. This is not a true weight loss in the sense most people would like. Most people say weight loss, referring to fat loss. Most people would like to lose weight, through the loss of fat, as it is more permanent (or longer lasting) than losing water weight, for example. Hope I was able to clear things up!
I’ve always wondered if a particular diet can have a significant impact on a person’s fat loss goals, and perhaps keto is indeed the answer. I just have a question, if you don’t mind, what sort of exercise do you think will complement a keto diet to accelerate fat loss? Is it something akin to weight-lifting or perhaps aerobic workouts? Thanks
Hi Ron,
Thanks for reading! 🙂 Some low intensity cardio like going for a walk, jogging, bicycling, or swimming, or some strength training with lower weight and fewer reps are very common exercises done alongside a keto diet and will help you see results quicker!
Wow, this is a very nice post that you have put together here. I think that weight loss and Keto goes hand in hand. A friend I know took to Keto and he saw a drastic drop in his weight. He didn’t take Keto alone though, he also added exercise. I believe that they are complimentary and when done side by side, Keto diets can help to increase it. Some people also take some supplements too that work for weight loss so yes I believe that weight loss wothojgh exercise is very achievable. Nice post!