30 pounds in 8 weeks possible?

deoxy4

I have been on LC and Paleo in the past with good results. I always add 20 pounds in the winter. I suppose it is a matter of less activity and more calorie dense foods consumed in the winter.

I am a 62 year old male 6'3" and currently 214 after a tough New England winter. I would like to loose 30 pounds in 8 weeks. I think it is doable and not extreme. I plan to walk 3 miles, 2-3 times a week and upper and lower resistance training once a week.

I plan to limit carbs to 60 gm, protein to 140 gm and 100 fat.

I would appreciate hearing from others who have lost 30 pound in 8 weeks (or similar) and how you did it. Thanks.

auntstephie321

I know exactly what you mean about the winter, that was a rough one this year. I've lost about 27 lbs since march 18th when I really started focusing on it. I gradually went lower and lower carb and have settled in around 50g a day on average. I'm 5'5" starting weight 180 current weight 153, so I think it should be doable. Though once you start low carb I noticed a lot of inflammation reduced as well so even though I'm 153 I fit in clothes that fit me when I was 145 last time and I look a lot smaller than I ever did at this weight, you may not need to lose 30 lbs to get the look your after.

KnitOrMiss

Almost 4 pounds per week is extreme by any medical standard and is a rate that is not sustainable nor recommended, particularly when considering your age (age complicates all sorts of things, not that you are old, just that age complicates everything, particularly metabolism and weight loss!). If you are not doing this in a medically supervised way, I say that there is no way in heck to lose this much in that short of time, at least not and keep your current level of health and fitness.

Also, side note, 60 grams of carbs will not get you into ketosis very quickly, if at all. Additionally, getting into ketosis, if you do, your workouts will be limited the first 3 weeks or so as your body converts to using fats instead of carbs for fuel, plus your workouts and your dietary plan is not aggressive enough to get anywhere close to your goals without some outside influence.

But even if you somehow do manage to lose this amount of weight, you will lose muscle weight, and all of the weight will not stay off, unless you plan to starve yourself. Sorry to seem so down on this, but medical science limits safe weight loss to 1-2 pounds per week, simply because our hearts cannot keep up with this rapid of losses, depending on methods employed and medical monitoring.

And as Stephie said, consider what you're really wanting to accomplish. Me personally, I'd rather see a loss of 30 inches overall than a random number on the scale.

bluefish86

I have to agree with @KnitOrMiss... unless you are morbidly obese, it's not healthy to lose weight that quickly. You'll lose muscle and potentially damage your heart.

slimzandra

What's the rush? So you packed on 20 lbs. from Nov 1st through March 30th. That took approx. 20 weeks. That's about a pound a week. (fat, water, muscle)

Looking at the scenario, You're a big guy, that's the good news, 30 lbs with your BMI is not a lot to lose. At 6'3" getting under 200lbs is going to get harder to take off weight than if you were really obese. The bad news is what previous posters have correctly advised.

The question for me was what to eat and how to maximize my metabolism to turn it into just a fat burning machine, all the while keeping my muscles, crit. levels, hormones, bone density, hydration- all healthy. Eating LCHF gave me a bit of a metabolic advantage (ketosis) and kept my satiety (& sanity) in check which helped me stay on course. You can't really exercise off a bad diet, it helps to tone (eating adequate protein saves your lean-muscle mass) and cardio will burn some calories, (helping to reduce your body-fat percentage) but unless you plan on being in the gym 8hrs a day, you should focus most of your effort on diet.

LCHF has worked for me, I'm averaging about 1.5-2lbs. a week, and I am very, very committed. (I'm 5'1") Your mileage may vary. It's only doable if you start. What worked was starting a week where I felt comfortable that I was making good choices. Recording everything. Learning as much as I could about my body, my moods, in relation to the foods I was eating. At the end of 7 days. Review. Did that work? how could I do better next week? Were there better food choices I could make. When did I slip up, how to avoid doing that. Start again. Repeat as necessary. At 4 weeks, you should be able to gradually ease down to about 20g or less on the carbs, and up your fat intake, that will help speed things up. After 4 weeks experiment with different menus, ways of food preparation, more exciting LCHF foods. Go easy on yourself. Once you start, you'd be amazed at what 12, 15, 20 lbs. lost looks like, especially if you are working out. Reshaping and toning helps a lot, but the key is diet. (check out some of the success pictures on this site).
Commit one day and one pound at a time and Voila!, as soon as you know it, it all adds up. Some weeks, might be slower/faster than you'd expect, but it will come off and you can be healthy and completely sane while doing it. Keep us posted on your progress.

deoxy4

Thanks for your responses.

For me it is hard to find differences in the Atkins Induction Diet, LCHF Diet, and Ketogenic Diet. 90% of the tenets are common to each.

I am solidly overweight according to BMI calculations.

I am not metabolically impaired.

I have a healthy relationship with food.

I don't elevate my cortisol levels with excessive cardio and get 8 hours of sleep daily. (60%-75% fitness walks)

I resistance train 2 times a week upper and lower.


My experience from my early 30's has been a seasonal fluctuation of 20 pounds, 185 to 205. Typically I loose 20 pounds in May and June due to dietary changes and increased activity. I consider this to be an acceptable weight variation and not extreme diet yoyo'ing. This year I topped out at 218 which is not the norm. It was a brutal winter with extended weeks of cabin fever in the Northeast.

I am not starving myself. I am consuming 1800 calories a day which is an aggressive deficit but I don't feel extreme. I am consuming 120 grams of protein which is adequate for my lean body mass. I am consuming 100-130 grams of fat, mostly from mono and saturated fats. I am not metabolically broken and 60 grams of carbohydrates puts me in ketosis. I started the diet on 6/21 and I am going thru the mild flu and acetone breath changes. I am monitoring my electrolytes and find I am consuming: 5 grams of potassium, 2.5 grams of sodium, through diet and supplementing with 500 mg of magnesium glycinate. My blood pressure is 110/70 consistently. I am hydrating with at least 90 ounces of water daily.

To date I have lost a pound a day when hydrated. This is normal for me, and I think some LC'ers, when starting these dietary changes. I do not believe this is muscle wasting. I believe that the majority of first week weight loss is water weight and normal when starting a carbohydrate restricted diet. I am hydrating.

Next week I would expect a weight loss of 4 pounds and for the remaining 6 weeks a weight loss of 2.5 pounds per week . I would expect a weight loss of 25 pounds over the 8 week period. When I get to 185 I will initiate a maintenance diet plan. I will decide then how restrictive to be with my carbohydrate consumption going forward.

I am not really fond of the term diet. For me a better term is eating mindfully which I don't consider a chore or burden. I generally know what is good fuel and what foods are empty calories.

I know how I move, feel, and perform at 185 pounds. When I am eating correctly, actively walking and doing some resistance training, 185 pounds is my MATURE sweet spot.

I must have missed the medical studies limiting weight loss to 1-2 pound because our hearts can't keep up with rapid weight loss. If someone could post those studies I would be interested. I am always willing to learn. I have read there are serious health issues with extended extreme calorie restriction diets , i.e. 500 calorie diets, but I am not doing that.