I recently had someone visit my blog and ask, in part "if I don't include exercise in my Nutrisystem regimen, will I still lose weight?" I've always included at least small amounts of additional movement in my regimen. On some days, this likely does not reach the level of vigorous exercise. However, I do have friends who insist that they haven't lifted a finger to work out on this diet, and they've still had pretty decent results. In the following article, I will discuss this more as well as to crunch some numbers to show you how this might be possible.
The Nutrisystem Equation And How Exercise Affects It: The person who wrote to me was female. So, in this example, I will use figures geared toward women. Nutrisystem is designed so that you are taking in between 1200 -1500 calories per day. Statistics and studies indicate that the average woman consumes anywhere from between 3,000 - 4,000 calories each day. Of course, this varies and every one is different so if you know what is a "normal" or "typical" daily caloric intake for you when you aren't on a diet, then you are ahead of the game. )
But, if you are eating the diet's meals as provided and are taking in the recommended 1,200 - 1,500 calories per day (which isn't all that difficult because they provide most of your foods for you,) then you have a daily caloric deficit of about 1,800 to 2,200 per day. (Obviously, if you take in less calories than what is typical of many women, your numbers would be different.)
Still, it's easy to see that these deficits can really add up over time. You're potentially looking at saving 12,600 - 15,400 calories each week. Most people know that you have to save 3500 calories to lose a pound. So, with these numbers, that's around 3 to 4 pound weight loss per week. (The companies literature indicate that it's about 2 - 3, which is close to my numbers.) But, no matter which set of numbers are more accurate, they are both similar to one another.
So these results, at least according to my very basic calculations, are what you might hope for without exercise. And, if you added even a little exercise, it's easy to see that your results might change. For example, running on a stair master burns about 800 calories. If you were to do this for a week, you'd be saving another 5,600 calories, which is approaching a weight loss of another couple of pounds. (And for some people, this doubles their results.) Over the course of a month, this can approach an additional ten pounds, which can make a real difference.
So, my take on this question is that yes, you can lose weight on Nutrisystem if you don't want to exercise. But, you will likely get faster and more dramatic results if you decide to add it in. Even a brisk walk will burn an additional 250 calories every day and this can really make a difference. The company also regularly includes exercise resources with your food order to help make this easier.
