15 lbs in 3 weeks? Possible?

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Replies

  • eganita
    eganita Posts: 501 Member
    I don't think it's possible, especially at your starting weight (may be more feasible for someone 300-400+ lbs?). If by some chance you DID manage to lose that much weight in such a short time frame, you'd likely be losing mostly water weight. You would technically weigh less but probably wouldn't APPEAR like you weigh less anyway. I think that the best strategy is to lose weight with a moderate deficit- slow and steady.
  • demoiselle2014
    demoiselle2014 Posts: 474 Member
    yopeeps025 wrote: »
    Asher_Ethan wrote: »
    How long have you known about this reunion?

    I am almost 100% sure more than 3 weeks. :wink:

    Pointing this out now is not helpful to the OP. We don't know what her circumstances have been up to this point.
  • whmscll
    whmscll Posts: 2,255 Member
    Theoretically it IS possible, but you would have to virtually starve yourself, and you would be constantly ravenous, thinking of food 24/7, probably tired, cranky, distracted and not good for much. Your work will suffer. Your workouts will suffer. YOU will suffer. You would have to have almost superhuman willpower to do this, IMO. I couldn't do it.
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
    demoiselle2014 wrote: »
    yopeeps025 wrote: »
    Asher_Ethan wrote: »
    How long have you known about this reunion?

    I am almost 100% sure more than 3 weeks. :wink:

    Pointing this out now is not helpful to the OP. We don't know what her circumstances have been up to this point.
    Yeah, we do. She's been eating too much.

    People she sees know what she looks like, so she's considering I'll-advised weight loss to, what, impress people she used to go to school with but no longer sees.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    Set MFP to lose 1 lb per week, eat those calories, and get some extra exercise by walking around the mall looking for a killer dress and spanx. Don't make yourself miserable for a month trying to look slightly possibly better for one night. You're not going to lose 15 pounds.

    If your weight bothers you, use this experience as extra motivation to lose it sensibly and safely going forward, so you will be a weight you feel confident at for every big event you will have for the rest of your life :). For this one, try to lose a couple of pounds if you can, get dressed up and have fun!
  • demoiselle2014
    demoiselle2014 Posts: 474 Member
    DeguelloTex wrote: »
    demoiselle2014 wrote: »
    yopeeps025 wrote: »
    Asher_Ethan wrote: »
    How long have you known about this reunion?

    I am almost 100% sure more than 3 weeks. :wink:

    Pointing this out now is not helpful to the OP. We don't know what her circumstances have been up to this point.
    Yeah, we do. She's been eating too much.

    People she sees know what she looks like, so she's considering I'll-advised weight loss to, what, impress people she used to go to school with but no longer sees.

    We don't know why she's starting to work on this just a couple months before the reunion. And no, we don't know that the problem is just that she's been eating too much. We don't know anything about her besides her stats.
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
    If she's overweight, she was eating too much.
  • demoiselle2014
    demoiselle2014 Posts: 474 Member
    edited June 2015
    I don't think you are following me here. I didn't say she wasn't consuming too many calories. I was saying that we don't know what her circumstances have been so it is not helpful to criticize her now for waiting until this point to prepare for the reunion.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    this isn't high school.

    no.one.cares.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,990 Member
    Unless everyone there is posting on their clothing how much weight they've lost coming up to this reunion, NO ONE is really going to care.
    They ALL say the same things:

    "I haven't seen you in forever!"
    "You look great!"
    "You haven't aged a bit!"

    Yada, yada.

    They'll NEVER say:

    "Dang you gained a lot of weight!"
    "What happened to you?"
    "You used to be hot."

    Go to enjoy everyone. If you're in shape, they you are. If you're not, you're not.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png

  • demoiselle2014
    demoiselle2014 Posts: 474 Member
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    Unless everyone there is posting on their clothing how much weight they've lost coming up to this reunion, NO ONE is really going to care.
    They ALL say the same things:

    "I haven't seen you in forever!"
    "You look great!"
    "You haven't aged a bit!"

    Yada, yada.

    They'll NEVER say:

    "Dang you gained a lot of weight!"
    "What happened to you?"
    "You used to be hot."

    Go to enjoy everyone. If you're in shape, they you are. If you're not, you're not.

    Ninerbuff is accurate in my experience.
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
    whmscll wrote: »
    Theoretically it IS possible, but you would have to virtually starve yourself, and you would be constantly ravenous, thinking of food 24/7, probably tired, cranky, distracted and not good for much. Your work will suffer. Your workouts will suffer. YOU will suffer. You would have to have almost superhuman willpower to do this, IMO. I couldn't do it.

    I doubt it's even theoretically possible.

    5 lbs per week would be a 17,500 calorie deficit per week; or a 2500/day calorie deficit. At her size, her sedentary TDEE is around 1800. So she would have to consume ZERO calories for the next three weeks, AND exercise enough to burn off another 700 calories/day.

    Even if you're generous and give her 6 lbs of water weight loss, to lose the remaining 9 it would need to be a 1500 calorie per day deficit.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    Agree with almost all the advice above.

    1. Use MFP the way it was designed to set a reasonable calorie deficit.
    2. Meet that calorie deficit and incorporate some circuit training if you like.
    3. Go shopping, get a great outfit and some Spanx, and get your hair and nails done the week of the reunion.
    4. Don't get sloppy drunk and hook up with anyone from high school - that never ends well, plus you don't want to be too embarrassed to go to subsequent reunions.
  • demoiselle2014
    demoiselle2014 Posts: 474 Member
    That's why I thought perhaps sensible eating plus a light exercise program might be a good idea.
  • PrizePopple
    PrizePopple Posts: 3,133 Member
    demoiselle2014 wrote: »
    I don't think you are following me here. I didn't say she wasn't consuming too many calories. I was saying that we don't know what her circumstances have been so it is not helpful to criticize her now for waiting until this point to prepare for the reunion.

    The point is that she likely knew well before this point in time about the reunion. She's 17 pounds from a healthy weight for her height, and wants to lose 15 of that in THREE weeks. If she was so desperate to lose the weight she should have started sooner in order to accomplish her goal in a healthy manner. Not attempting to lose 5 pounds per week.

    It gets a little tiring seeing people stroll in with an excessive goal in a short period because they have a dress to fit into, a swimsuit to wear, or a party/reunion to attend. I'm in the home stretch of 12 pounds to go and it's a SLOW process. Would I like to be there in 3 weeks? Yeah. Is it reasonable? Nope.
  • lalainap19
    lalainap19 Posts: 165 Member
    Yayy I'm going to add you we are almost exactly the same I'm 5,5 163 and 23 years old we can take this journey together I'll add u
  • BennyCH
    BennyCH Posts: 73 Member
    15 lbs of fat or 15 lbs weight? 15 lbs fat = 7 kg => 1 kg fat = 7000 kcal => 7 kg fat = 49'000 kcal in 3 weeks => 21 days => 2300 kcal deficit per day...so lets say you eat 1300 kcal/day => TDEE 3600 kcal, that's a lot of additional exercise which is probably not a good idea on a low calorie diet...
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    ceoverturf wrote: »
    whmscll wrote: »
    Theoretically it IS possible, but you would have to virtually starve yourself, and you would be constantly ravenous, thinking of food 24/7, probably tired, cranky, distracted and not good for much. Your work will suffer. Your workouts will suffer. YOU will suffer. You would have to have almost superhuman willpower to do this, IMO. I couldn't do it.

    I doubt it's even theoretically possible.

    5 lbs per week would be a 17,500 calorie deficit per week; or a 2500/day calorie deficit. At her size, her sedentary TDEE is around 1800. So she would have to consume ZERO calories for the next three weeks, AND exercise enough to burn off another 700 calories/day.

    Even if you're generous and give her 6 lbs of water weight loss, to lose the remaining 9 it would need to be a 1500 calorie per day deficit.

    I *luvs* it when math and science co-mingles. <3

    To the OP: It's a bad idea. You'd probably faint after two days of trying.

    Whether you knew earlier or not about this reunion is moot. There isn't enough time between now and then for you to accomplish this completely unrealistic goal.
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