Lots to lose in little time - help!

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bubblefreakkerry
bubblefreakkerry Posts: 11 Member
edited February 2016 in Health and Weight Loss
I have 5 months before my sisters graduation. I want to lose about 4 stone or more before then. I weigh close to 19stone and my ultimate goal is 10stone. so this would be about halfway. it would be the lightest i've been in many years. I have been trying to lose weight for the last year but have only been successful in gaining or maintaining. I've managed to lose cms but not weight and I've even stopped doing that much. Running out of ideas and struggling with day to day motivation - help please I am getting desperate!
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  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
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    56 pounds in five months is aiming pretty high and most likely won't happen. That's the realism of your situation. The best you can do is log your food on MFP, eat at a deficit, and possibly get some physical activity. If you follow that, you will lose weight, but how much you lose depends on you. At your current weight, a rate of two pounds per week to start is acceptable.
  • kiara1066
    kiara1066 Posts: 119 Member
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    The question for you is did you gain 5 stones in 5 months? So why bother to try to lose it in 5 months? I understand like celebrations come up, but you have to be realistic. Synacious advice sounds spot on.
  • Equus5374
    Equus5374 Posts: 462 Member
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    Setting such a drastic goal is immediately setting yourself up for frustration, stress, anxiety, and ultimately failure. You're going to stress yourself silly trying to attain it, probably not do it, get to the event and get past it, and then what, gain it back? Forget it. If you really want to lose weight, understand that the most important things are PATIENCE and DETERMINATION. It does NOT happen fast. It takes daily re-dedication to your efforts. Some days you'll do great and others not so great. You have to accept that and keep on keeping on. So now it's up to you...try to lose a bunch of weight quick while adding tons of stress and anxiety to your life, or accept how things are right now and make a concerted effort to change things over the course of the next few years. Yes, YEARS. That's how permanent weight loss happens.
  • CollieFit
    CollieFit Posts: 1,683 Member
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    So you're currently around 266lb? You say you've been trying to lose weight but you ended up maintaining or gaining? Can I ask what you tried that didn't work?
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    bubblefreakkerry wrote: »
    I have 5 months before my sisters graduation. I want to lose about 4 stone or more before then. I weigh close to 19stone and my ultimate goal is 10stone. so this would be about halfway. it would be the lightest i've been in many years. I have been trying to lose weight for the last year but have only been successful in gaining or maintaining. I've managed to lose cms but not weight and I've even stopped doing that much. Running out of ideas and struggling with day to day motivation - help please I am getting desperate!

    56 lbs in 5 months? You're currently 266 lbs. Losing 1% of body weight per week for 20 weeks would put you at 217.5, a 48.5 lb loss. That's an optimistic goal. I do not believe you can safely lose 56 lbs in 5 months.

    My advice is not to tie your health goals to an arbitrary date like your sister's graduation. Focus on learning and practicing long term good habits and you'll go much farther in the long run.
  • bubblefreakkerry
    bubblefreakkerry Posts: 11 Member
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    synacious wrote: »
    56 pounds in five months is aiming pretty high and most likely won't happen. That's the realism of your situation. The best you can do is log your food on MFP, eat at a deficit, and possibly get some physical activity. If you follow that, you will lose weight, but how much you lose depends on you. At your current weight, a rate of two pounds per week to start is acceptable.

    I'm not aiming for 56 lb in 5 months that would be ridiculous! I want about 24-30 lb which i think is around 2lb a week loss - thats healthy right?
  • cbihatt
    cbihatt Posts: 319 Member
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    Figure out your caloric needs to lose 2 lbs per week. Stick to that number. You will lose weight. It may not be the amount you hope to lose before your sis's graduation, but I guarantee you will feel better physically and your confidence will be miles above where it is right now. Don't talk yourself out of trying just because you might not get there fast enough.
  • bubblefreakkerry
    bubblefreakkerry Posts: 11 Member
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    I'm sorry I must have hit the wrong number when I did the conversion!I'm genuinely not looking for rapid weightloss! i'm perfectly happy to get any loss at this point!
  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
    edited February 2016
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    bubblefreakkerry wrote: »
    synacious wrote: »
    56 pounds in five months is aiming pretty high and most likely won't happen. That's the realism of your situation. The best you can do is log your food on MFP, eat at a deficit, and possibly get some physical activity. If you follow that, you will lose weight, but how much you lose depends on you. At your current weight, a rate of two pounds per week to start is acceptable.

    I'm not aiming for 56 lb in 5 months that would be ridiculous! I want about 24-30 lb which i think is around 2lb a week loss - thats healthy right?

    "I have 5 months before my sisters graduation. I want to lose about 4 stone or more before then."

    Google tells me 1 stone=14 pounds. 14x4=56 pounds. So unless I misinterpreted the sentences above, you initially stated you wanted to lose 56 pounds before the graduation. In any case, 24 to 30 pounds in five months is a better goal to set for yourself.
  • RobD520
    RobD520 Posts: 420 Member
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    I am not sure whether the original poster is male or female-which matters as far as weight loss speed is concerned. With my exercise program, and consuming about 1800 calories a day, I tend to average around 15 pounds per/month without shorting my nutrition requirements.
  • CollieFit
    CollieFit Posts: 1,683 Member
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    Hun you said you have 5 months before graduation and want to lose "4 stone or more", so with there being 14lb in a stone, people came to 56lb.... 2lb a week is perfectly feasible at your weight, but I come back to my question of what did you try before that didn't work? Did you honestly weight and log your food? Did you exercise?
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    bubblefreakkerry wrote: »
    synacious wrote: »
    56 pounds in five months is aiming pretty high and most likely won't happen. That's the realism of your situation. The best you can do is log your food on MFP, eat at a deficit, and possibly get some physical activity. If you follow that, you will lose weight, but how much you lose depends on you. At your current weight, a rate of two pounds per week to start is acceptable.

    I'm not aiming for 56 lb in 5 months that would be ridiculous! I want about 24-30 lb which i think is around 2lb a week loss - thats healthy right?

    Your OP says you want to lose 4 stone or more by the time of your sister's graduation in 5 months. As far as I know, 4x14 is 56 across the pond the same as it is here in the U.S. Perhaps your weight loss problems are mathematical in nature.
  • bubblefreakkerry
    bubblefreakkerry Posts: 11 Member
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    CollieFit wrote: »
    So you're currently around 266lb? You say you've been trying to lose weight but you ended up maintaining or gaining? Can I ask what you tried that didn't work?

    First year of uni I was super fit and active (and ate to maintain this) then i picked up a rugby injury but didn't stop eating (weight had never been an issue and I didn't think!). i gained about 4 or 5 stone in a year. so the first thing I did was try to get back into my fitness regime but i kept pushing too hard and re-injured myself. i then went through vlc diets liquid diets etc but i love eating too much and they made me feel like crap. since then i have been weaning myself off junk foods, making healthier choices, cutting portions down. i have continued gaining weight (more slowly than initially) despite this and a fairly active job.

    a few years ago i went to a nutritionist in kuwait, his diet plan max calories were around 500 per day but i stuck to it, introduced steady exercise and successfully lost 20kg which i kept off until a couple of years ago, i came to japan and everything came with rice, my eating scheduled was messed up because of my work times and i regained everything. i tried repeating his plan unsuccessfully.

    Around september i tried out chris powells diet where i ate more and did slightly different exercise i lost inches quickly but due to muscle gain i didn't lose weight - which i was fine with until i plateaud! however this plan is soo expensive in japan no matter how hard i tried to make it cheaper and really doesn't fit with my current lifestyle. it was also to physically difficult as i now have near permanent knee and back pain ironically compounded by my weight!

    Now i log everything to the best of my ability, i do a 20" yoga session once if not twice per day, swim 3 times per week, do classes at the gym and eat toast and poached egg for breakfast, chicken salad for lunch, a cup of soup and steamed veg for dinner (very late time) and have 4 or more pieces of fruit or raw veg as snacks (for example last week i ate a banana , a carrot, 2 satsumas and an apple).

    I'm sorry that turned out really long but i can't see where i am going wrong!

  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    Weigh solid food with a digital scale. Measure liquids with a measuring cup. Log accurately using usda or food label info. Eat below your maintenance calories. Do that and you'll lose weight.
  • bubblefreakkerry
    bubblefreakkerry Posts: 11 Member
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    Again apologies for the mathematical error. i must have made a mistake when i was converting from stone to kg so i would know what to aim for on my scale! its sounds reasonable (25kg) until you remember that kilos are bigger than pounds! such an idiot!
  • bubblefreakkerry
    bubblefreakkerry Posts: 11 Member
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    jemhh wrote: »
    Weigh solid food with a digital scale. Measure liquids with a measuring cup. Log accurately using usda or food label info. Eat below your maintenance calories. Do that and you'll lose weight.

    Will try tightening up my measuring! i am using cups at the minute is a scale better?
  • bubblefreakkerry
    bubblefreakkerry Posts: 11 Member
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    oiqv0t1rtvml.jpeg
    if it comes up this was brunch this morning. in thr mug is matcha green tea. this is pretty standard but i don't always have the cranberry juice!
  • wkwebby
    wkwebby Posts: 807 Member
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    bubblefreakkerry wrote: »
    jemhh wrote: »
    Weigh solid food with a digital scale. Measure liquids with a measuring cup. Log accurately using usda or food label info. Eat below your maintenance calories. Do that and you'll lose weight.

    Will try tightening up my measuring! i am using cups at the minute is a scale better?

    Yes, scale is better. Cups have a larger margin of error (heaping scoop, flat scoop, mounded scoop, etc.).
  • CollieFit
    CollieFit Posts: 1,683 Member
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    I use a digital scale and find it helpful.

    5 stone in a year is a stack of weight to gain. I'm assuming you were in a rugby team when you were at Uni and trained regularly, so until then you never had to think about food?

    Are you still injured or can you train again? I mean beyond swimming & yoga?
  • bisky
    bisky Posts: 994 Member
    edited February 2016
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    Make sure you don't "drink" your calories too, water is great and tea...esp. green tea in Japan! I agree with healthy eating but I don't think there is anything wrong with setting a goal to look good...just don't go on a crazy diet...walk, try to fill up with fruits, veggies and lean meats. I love rice but it loves my hips. And measure! You can do it. One thing I found, and this is crazy but really long walks, hikes or slow running...esp. if you can find hills helps me with break plateaus. Especially if I am eating right. No need to starve. You can easily lose at least 20 lbs... and you will look and feel much better about yourself.YOU CAN DO IT!!!
    Go Bubblefreak!

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