There may be several reasons why you have to try and lose weight without exercising:

• You have an injury that limits or prohibits exercise.
• You’re getting ready for certain types of surgery, such as knee surgery, and the doctor wants you to lose weight. However, you can’t exercise much or at all due to the pain in your knee.
• You have painful arthritis or fibromyalgia.
• You have diabetes and low blood sugar, also called hypoglycemia. When you exercise, your blood sugar can reach dangerously low levels.
• You’re turned off by the word “exercise.” This may not be a solid reason to avoid physical activity, but it could be why you try to find ways to lose weight without exercise, says Amy Kimberlain, a registered dietitian based in Miami and a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

How Weight Loss Changes When You Can’t Exercise

Exercise helps the body burn calories more efficiently, says Dr. Scott A. Cunneen, director of metabolic and bariatric surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and author of “Weight Issues: Getting the Skinny on Weight Loss Surgery.” This is because your metabolism speeds up. Without exercise, your metabolism likely will slow down.

A speedier metabolism is one reason why exercise is a natural companion to eating less for weight loss. Depending on how much you exercise, it can help you lose weight more quickly. By eating less and burning off calories with exercise, you can potentially reach your calorie-cutting goal faster.

If you can’t exercise, it may take you longer to lose weight. This isn’t necessary a bad thing, as losing weight slowly can help you keep it off more than a quick weight loss, says registered dietitian Jill Weisenberger, author of “Prediabetes: A Complete Guide and Diabetes Weight Loss – Week by Week” and owner of Food & Nutrition Solutions by Jill, based in Yorktown, Virginia.

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Think Long Term for Weight Loss

Weisenberger encourages those interested in losing weight to think long term with their goals. For instance, you can set a goal of losing 10% of your body weight in three to six months. If you weigh 200 pounds, then that’s losing 20 pounds. She prefers this to weekly weight goals, which may show some quick weight loss initially that can be attributed to loss of water, bone and even lean muscle mass in addition to fat.

Losing weight without exercise also means you must focus more on cutting the calories that you eat while still making sure you eat nourishing food. One pound equals roughly 3,500 calories. If you divide that evenly over a week, that’s cutting 500 calories a day.

Best 11 Proven Ways to Lose Weight Without Diet or Exercise

1. Chew Thoroughly and Slow Down

Your brain needs time to process that you’ve had enough to eat. Chewing your food thoroughly makes you eat more slowly, which is associated with decreased food intake, increased fullness and smaller portion sizes

How quickly you finish your meals may also affect your weight. A recent review of 23 observational studies reported that faster eaters are more likely to gain weight than slower eaters. Fast eaters are also much more likely to be obese. To get into the habit of eating more slowly, it may help to count how many times you chew each bite.

2. Use Smaller Plates for Unhealthy Foods

The typical food plate is larger today than it was a few decades ago.

This trend could contribute to weight gain, since using a smaller plate may help you eat less by making portions look larger.

On the other hand, a bigger plate can make a serving look smaller, causing you to add more food

You can use this to your advantage by serving healthy food on bigger plates and less healthy food on smaller plates.

3. Eat Plenty of Protein

Protein has powerful effects on appetite. It can increase feelings of fullness, reduce hunger and help you eat fewer calories. This may be because protein affects several hormones that play a role in hunger and fullness, including ghrelin and GLP-1

One study found that increasing protein intake from 15% to 30% of calories helped participants eat 441 fewer calories per day and lose 11 pounds over 12 weeks, on average, without intentionally restricting any foods.

4. Store Unhealthy Foods out of Sight

Storing unhealthy foods where you can see them may increase hunger and cravings, causing you to eat more. This is also linked to weight gain. One recent study found that if high-calorie foods are more visible in the house, residents are more likely to weigh more than people who keep only a bowl of fruit visible 

Store unhealthy foods out of sight, such as in closets or cupboards, so that they are less likely to catch your eye when you’re hungry.

5. Eat Fiber-Rich Foods

Eating fiber-rich foods may increase satiety, helping you feel fuller for longer. Studies also indicate that one type of fiber, viscous fiber, is particularly helpful for weight loss. It increases fullness and reduces food intake 

Viscous fiber forms a gel when it comes in contact with water. This gel increases nutrient absorption time and slows down the emptying of your stomach. Viscous fiber is only found in plant foods. Examples include beans, oat cereals, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, oranges and flax seeds.

6. Drink Water Regularly

Drinking water can help you eat less and lose weight, especially if you drink it before a meal. One study in adults found that drinking half a liter (17 ounces) of water about 30 minutes before meals reduced hunger and lessened calorie intake.

Participants who drank water before a meal lost 44% more weight over a 12-week period compared to those who did not. If you replace calorie-loaded drinks — such as soda or juice — with water, you may experience an even greater effect.

7. Serve Yourself Smaller Portions

Portion sizes have increased during the last few decades, especially at restaurants. Larger portions encourage people to eat more and have been linked to an increase in weight gain and obesity 

One study in adults found that doubling the size of a dinner appetizer increased calorie intake by 30%. Serving yourself just a little less might help you eat significantly fewer calories. And you probably won’t even notice the difference.

8. Eat Without Electronic Distractions

Paying attention to what you eat may help you consume fewer calories.

People who eat while they’re watching TV or playing computer games may lose track of how much they have eaten. This, in turn, can cause overeating.

One review of 24 studies found that people who were distracted at a meal ate about 10% more in that sitting.

Additionally, absent-mindedness during a meal has an even greater influence on your intake later in the day. People who were distracted at a meal ate 25% more calories at later meals than those who were present.

If you regularly consume meals while watching TV or using electronic devices, you could be inadvertently eating more. These extra calories add up and have a massive impact on your weight in the long term.

9. Sleep Well and Avoid Stress

When it comes to health, people often neglect sleep and stress. Both, in fact, have powerful effects on your appetite and weight.

A lack of sleep may disrupt the appetite-regulating hormones leptin and ghrelin. Another hormone, cortisol, becomes elevated when you’re stressed.

Having these hormones fluctuate can increase your hunger and cravings for unhealthy food, leading to higher calorie intake. What’s more, chronic sleep deprivation and stress may increase your risk of several diseases, including type 2 diabetes and obesity.

10. Eliminate Sugary Drinks

Added sugar may very well be the single worst ingredient in the diet today. Sugary beverages like soda have been associated with an increased risk of many diseases.

It’s very easy to consume excess calories from sugary drinks because liquid calories don’t affect fullness the way solid food does. Staying away from these beverages entirely can provide enormous long-term health benefits. However, note that you should not replace soda with fruit juice, as it can be just as high in sugar 

Healthy beverages to drink instead include water, coffee and green tea.

11. Serve Unhealthy Food on Red Plates

One unusual strategy is to use red plates to help you eat less. Research indicates that this technique at least seems to work with unhealthy snack foods.

One study reported that volunteers ate fewer pretzels from red plates than from white or blue plates. The explanation may be that we associate the color red with stop signals and other man-made warnings.

Conclusion

Many simple lifestyle habits can help you lose weight. Some have nothing to do with conventional diet or exercise plans. You can use smaller plates, eat more slowly, drink water and avoid eating in front of the TV or computer. Prioritizing foods rich in protein and viscous fiber may also help.

However, it’s probably best not to try all these things at once. Experiment with one technique for a while, and if that works well for you then try another one.