Want to lose 15 pounds in 3 months

Missycvt

Hello. I am 5'3, current weight: 152, goal weight is 136 by Thanksgiving. Pretty much want to lose 15 pounds in 3 months. I started walking today, power walking for 30 minutes. I know I have to drink more water, cut out my alcohol intake and limit bread and diet drinks. I am thinking about doing mini goals like 5 pounds each month. Weekends are hard because we go out to eat Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Sunday through Wednesday I eat turkey sandwiches and chicken breast for dinner with a salad. I have about 2 coke zero's daily along with water or crystal light. Are there any recommendations that anyone would like to share to help keep me motivated and focused? Support is really needed because I find myself feeling bloated most days and too lazy to exercise. I used to do HIIT on the treadmill for 2 months and hardly noticed any difference. Perhaps I wasn't doing it correctly. I also bought 5lb weights to help with muscle toning because I have jelly arms! I have an event coming up in November and I have to wear a nice dress. Also not only that, but my current clothes have been fitting tight. I can tell in my bra straps that I am gaining weight and possibly retaining water. Back in 2009, I used to weigh 197 close to 200 pounds! Between then and 2012, I lost almost 60 pounds! I was at a weight that was healthy and comfortable! 136! I was so happy. Then I got married and got even more comfortable, lol too comfortable and am no longer working. Less activity and eating more, I definitely put on weight. I want to go back to 136. I want to look how I looked on my wedding day. Need encouragement....Help wanted...

dawniemate

I think that's realistic. ...just keep to what the app recommends for calorie intake and combine with some exercise. It's just over a pound a week which is a realistic goal. I eat out a lot but have realised you can still eat out and keep within your limits. CICO is the key! !!! Good luck ☺

Missycvt

Thanks! I was beginning to think I was alone in this and fell back on some frozen yogurt OOPS! I probably went over a serving size but I hear that its better than regular ice cream? Ugh, what I ate in ice cream is like what I just burned exercising! It's like I just ate back my exercise calories

snowflakesav

So easy to ruin any progress you make during exercise. That is why calories are so important. Your goal is reasonable but you will need to manage your calories.

booksandchocolate12

Missycvt wrote: »

I know I have to..... cut out my alcohol intake and limit bread and diet drinks.

Personally I don't like to put time frames on my weight loss. I never understand what the hurry is. So I won't be of much help with the 15 lbs in 3 months thing.

I just have a question about the alcohol, bread and diet drinks:

Why?

Jokersurv

Cut out the coke zero and the pounds will drop very quickly. I started in july and the only two changes i made that month was to cut out all soda and stay within my recommended calories. I continued to eat what i wanted including carbs and i lost 9 pounds the first month. Cutting down on the alcohol will help too

booksandchocolate12

I drink diet coke all the time. How on earth did I lose 40 lbs????

squatsanddeadlift

Jokersurv wrote: »

Cut out the coke zero and the pounds will drop very quickly. I started in july and the only two changes i made that month was to cut out all soda and stay within my recommended calories. I continued to eat what i wanted including carbs and i lost 9 pounds the first month. Cutting down on the alcohol will help too

I thought coke zero didn't have any calories in it??

AspenDan

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jswede1149

I've drank diet soda and I've lost 134 pounds. I drink much less these days though.

I started at 300 pounds. I walked 9,511 miles without counting calories. I did not know this site existed. I would have lost all this weight in 2.5-3 years had I calorie counted. You have to do these two things. I dislike gyms and exercise machines greatly. I got rid of my car and walk where I need to go. You may find the outdoors more suitable for your exercise needs.

I've wanted to lose 18 pounds. I've lost 8 in two weeks since I've joined. I want to lose the last 10 by the end of November. It is realistic to do if you stick to your goals.

Maxematics

So we're the same height and I started losing weight again here in June. From June 23rd to now I've lost a total of 16.6 pounds; I started at 139 and now I'm 122.4. Your goal definitely is doable. My first goal is 120 and my second is 110. I never thought I'd be this close to my first goal so soon. I'm not saying that what I did is the only way or the only reasons I lost weight, but I'll be honest and state what my life has been like for the past 2+months since you mentioned tips, etc.

• I was taking Zyrtec for an unknown food allergy. I'd break out in hives almost half the time I ate food. It took a long time, but I found out that I had a few allergies/sensitivities, one being grains, so I eliminated them from my diet. This helped a lot because I used to be very carb heavy in my eating. I'd eat a serving of crackers, then I'd want chocolate, then more crackers, then I'd have cheese, then more sugar. I was eating foods that weren't filling me up and because I didn't know I had these specific allergies, I'd bloat up tremendously and feel lethargic all day long. I'm not telling you to give up bread, especially if you don't have any grain allergies, but limiting it so that you can fit in more filling foods may help you.
  
  
• I am on a 1200 calorie diet. I'm full on that and others find it hard to be. However, when I say 1200 calories, I mean 1200 NET calories. If I went running on a certain day and earned extra calories from that activity, I would eat some of my exercise calories back. I have a Fitbit Charge HR which calculates my burn for me and reports it to MFP. Most people eat back 50-100% of their exercise calories, I only eat back 25% on average. if I feel hungry, I will eat more exercise calories back.
  
  
• I weigh everything I possibly can before eating it. That's the best way to make sure your diary is accurate. I don't really go out to eat much, so I didn't have to worry there, but I went to Applebee's twice in the past two months I've been doing this and it was really easy to find an entree on the menu that fit my calories/macro goals.
  
  
• I eat vegetables, fruit, meat, fish, yogurt, sweet potatoes, beans, nuts, cheese, etc. My sweet treats are usually Kind bars or protein bars/shakes. Other people may need actual sweets, but I didn't. As long as it fits your calories, any treat you choose will be fine.
  
  
• I only drink water. Before I started my diet I didn't drink soda or alcohol anyway, so this wasn't hard to do. Again, you could still fit your drinks that you enjoy into your diet, as long as you make the room for the calories.
  
  
• I made sure I walked 5 miles almost every day. This was a big change because I used to just come home from work and veg out on the couch all night. I started at first by walking 2 miles, then I pushed myself to do more. Eventually I started walking the whole trail at my local park. I chose 5 miles because that's roughly equivalent to the recommended 10,000 steps we should get per day. After doing this for a month or so, I finally got my Fitbit and it was a real motivator for me to get in steps. The whole point is to get your body moving, even if it starts off at 10 minutes per day.
  
  
• Keep in mind that while you can do weight training to try to maintain some of your muscle, you will not gain muscle in a calorie deficit. Muscle "toning" really isn't a thing and if your arms seem like jelly to you, the way to reduce that effect is to lose weight so you can lower your bodyfat percentage.
  
  
• In addition to the walking, I started the C25K running program. I never thought that I'd be able to say that I could run, let alone for 30 minutes without stopping, but I just completed my last run in the program yesterday. It's an amazing feeling to accomplish that. C25K kept me motivated.
  
  
• I like to follow exercise routines, so I started doing 21 Day Fix because I liked how it has different types of workouts (Pilates, Yoga, Weights, Cardio). I am not a Beachbody coach and I didn't even purchase the program, as I found it online for free. MFP dislikes Beachbody overall due to the aggressive "coaches" and the pathetic selling of Shakeology. I agree with that, but that doesn't mean the actual workouts are not useful. I like the workouts and I feel like they work for me, so I do them.
  
  At first I was following the eating plan using my own containers at home while still weighing all my food. What I liked about it was that it kept me making sure I was eating more vegetables, which I used to have a hard time with. I'm on Round 2 of that program and I still follow the basic notions of the eating plan, but if I want a sweet snack I'm going to eat it as long as it fits my calories. No, I did not drink stupid Shakeology either. This is just what I did, but you don't have to do this. Find any program or routine that works for you and just do it! I only mentioned this because it's specifically what I've been doing and I do feel like it plays somewhat of a role in my success thus far.

That's basically everything I started doing/am doing so far. All of it has personally helped me, but weight loss, diet, and exercise is not one size fits all. The only one size fits all part of it is CICO: Calories In; Calories Out. Eat at a deficit and you will lose weight, eat at maintenance and you will stay at your current weight, eat at a surplus and you will gain weight. Good luck, OP. If you want to add me for support/to chat, feel free.

alt5057

I used to drink a diet coke per day and I have found that I have felt much better in the past two weeks since joining MFP and cutting back. I still have one on occasion, but it is no longer a daily thing. I find that the days I do drink a diet soda, I tend to feel more bloated. If you can, you may want to consider cutting back on the diet sodas. You can lose weight while still drinking them if you stay within your calorie goal, but for me it was "see if I will feel better" when I decided to try cutting back.

nordlead2005

There is no reason to cut diet drinks if your goal is to lose weight. They have 0 calories and have no impact on weight loss. In fact, I use my daily diet drink to satisfy my sweet tooth.

You can make an argument for cutting alcohol, since liquid calories are the easiest to cut. However, that wouldn't stop me from having one on occasion. I drink alcohol probably once per month, but I've never been a fan anyways.

For bread, it really matters how much you've been eating. I can see dropping bread as a side dish with your dinner, or reducing the number of sandwiches you have for dinner, but there is no reason to eliminate it. I have bread at least once per day every day (pizza crust, sandwich, etc...), but not necessarily for every meal.

If you want to lose 15lb in 3 months, plug your stats into MFP and set your goal to 1lb/week. If you stay at that goal (on average, you can go over on individual days), then you'll probably lose 15lb. Probably, because the math says 12.8lb, but I'll give you some water weight and a tiny bit of muscle loss (which takes less calories). If you want to reduce muscle loss, then lift weights and eat lots of protein.

sarahjeannelevin

Your problem is probably going WAY over your calorie limit on weekends. I just started using this ap and realized that on some days I was eating over double my allotted calories! To remedy this, I started planning what I will eat the morning of or the day before, including treats, restaurant meals, etc. Even with reasonable portion sizes, this usually puts me WAY over my calorie limit, so I know how much I need to exercise to make up for the extra calories. If I don't exercise enough, I cut down on the treats I allow myself. This works well on weekends or vacation when I have more time to be active but more restaurant meals and drinks.

Good luck!

kshama2001

Weekends are hard because we go out to eat Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

I'd pick one - going out to eat three times per week or losing 15 pounds in three months. The two are not compatible with each other. Sure, it's possible to lose weight while eating out but you've already set yourself a fairly aggressive goal for someone with that little to lose and all the eating out will make it that much harder to achieve.

Missycvt

Thank you everyone for your comments! I am happy to see the support here.

barryplumber

You can walk 50 miles a day and run another 50 but if you don't have a calorie deflict you won't lose weight simple.

daniwilford

As a fat middle aged woman, I started doing strength training less than six weeks ago and I do nothing with less than 8 lb weights, I don't think the 5 lb ones will last for long. I avoid eating out because it is so difficult to accurately determine calorie and nutrition information. Weight loss is more dependent on the calories you take in than anything else. Elimination is not always necessary if you can stay in a calorie deficit and still meet nutritional goals.