The title says it. I'm finally back on the wagon, but a consistent workout, like the gym, or even doing a video at home just isn't in the cards at this point. If I had my way I'd be spending at least three days a week in the gym for an hour or so but I am not able to for several reasons. And my life is so hectic that I am hard pressed to find to even find an opportunity to do anything at home.

That said, is it possible to lose a significant amount of weight without doing a consistent cardio or strength training routine? Is that unhealthy? Have any of you ever done it?

Theoretically you should be able to lose weight without exercising. It's not the best idea as you may lose muscle mass instead of fat, which I'm sure you don't want to do. However there are folks who are unable to exercise who have been able to lose weight by watching their diets alone.

Your food intake is the most important part of losing weight. I mistankenly believed for years that just exercise would get me there. I regularly exercised for years and just maintained my weight...only when I began to eat a more reasonable amount did I lose weight.

I can't exercise for medical reasons, and I've lost 31lb so far. There are a few other people here not exercising who are successfully losing weight. I'd suggest getting your diet right, and exercise whenever you can fit it in. It is of course better to exercise if you can, it's beneficial in all sorts of ways, but if you can't, or can't do it very often, then losing weight by diet alone is still better than not losing weight. Since you describe your life as hectic, maybe fit in short periods of whatever exercise you will find does a good job of relaxing or destressing you, and do it for enjoyment and general health benefits rather than feeling that you have to rely on exercising a set amount in order to achieve your weight loss goal?

A few years ago, I lost over 50 pounds without exercising. Yes, it's possible.

Yep, like others have said, it's definitely possibly.

One thing I would say, though, since you've said your life is hectic, is there any way you can fit in little things during the day? Walk instead of driving (if possible), do a few push-ups or punches while you'd normally be reading/sitting at the computer/playing with the kids etc I would do bicep curls with DD or hold on to her while doing squats, she loved that. It might not make a huge difference but every little bit helps.

Wieght loss has nothing to do with exercise and everything to do with energy which is measured in calories.

Exercise is fantastic for your overall health but you only need light to moderate intensity 3x a week for 20 minutes to see most of those benefits. Brisk walking will accomplish this.

I did it. I happen to hate exercise, so I don't do it that much. I find that now I can do a lot of things I couldn't do before, so maybe that will lead to me wanting to do some exercise. I do walk a bit, and some general exercising thrown in every now and then, but nothing consistent. I went on a hike with my son's boy scout troop. We hiked to the bottom of a canyon and then back up the other side. It wasn't that bad, really. I guess now that I'm not carrying around all that excess weight, I'm in better shape overall anyway.

I did minimal exercise the first 3 months and still lost almost 40 lbs.

On the other hand, I started exercising consistently after that and noticed that my losses accelerated and that next month, I lost about 14 lbs, which was the highest single month since the first month.

So yes, you can lose without consistent exercise, it may just take longer than it would if you were exercising regularly.

I think there are other benefits to exercise - both in terms of health and fitness as well as appearance. But you can only do what you can do. If exercise doesn't fit into your life right now, it's still MUCH better to work on losing weight through diet alone. And at least for me, losing 40 lbs made it a lot easier to exercise so it helped motivate me to go ahead and squeeze that time into my schedule after all.

You know, I agree with this to a point. As I do know that weight loss is possible without exercising, but I find over and over again for myself that the months I'm exercising, I lose. The months I don't exercise, I don't lose.

And for me, I think there's several parts to it. One, exercise is an appetite suppressant for me - as odd as that sounds. I actually eat less and feel less hungry when I exercise during the day than when I don't. ONE DAY makes a difference. Second, I feel better and more energized and more motivated to eat well if I've taken the time to exercise during the day - as exercise is a good anti-depressant too. And third, a 300-500 calorie workout when eating 1500 calories will lead to a weight loss much, much faster than if I didn't exercise... and for me, it's a difference between no loss or significant loss...

But, that's my body and how it works. Everyone is different. I have a REALLLLLY hard time controlling hunger, snacking and being in the dumps when i don't exercise - always have been that way.

Understood. The fact is - calories dictate fat loss or gain and exercise simply doesn't burn many calories.

Having said that - I am similar that if I have a good hard workout I am more likely to eat correctly because I don't want to waste the effort I put it. Others would use the exercise as an excuse to eat more - and their appetite might be stimulated by exercise. I've seen the same obese women on the eliptical month after month after month and they don't look like they have lost a single pound.

There is also a strong correlation between regular exercise and successful weight loss but how exactly they tie together is difficult to pinpoint but certainly those people who use diet and exercise are more successful statistically than those who only do one (diet) or the other (exercise).

I walk 2 miles a day to pick my son up from school, but other than that my exercise has been sporadic. I don't exercise on any kind of schedule. I've attempted it, but I don't make it long before I start forgetting to do it. I've lost 60lb since May.

Well I'm in a wheelchair and I do what lil excerise I can. 20-30 mins a day. I watch my calories intake mostly. You can do it. Just watch your your food.