Best fat loss plan to follow for a 6 week challenge

slimbettie

Hi there,
Instead of doing random Google searches, I thought it best to ask you guys what you suggest as the best plan to lose as much fat as possible during a 6 week weight loss challenge. I am about 70lbs overweight, so do have a lot to work with
I don't like cutting out entire food groups and be too drastic, BUT for the sake of this challenge I can do ANYTHING for 6 weeks right? It is only 6 weeks, and not my entire life.
Thanks very much for all your input.
(I will post this question in a few categories).

diannethegeek

I'm a fan of this one: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

slimbettie

Cool! Thanks Dianne.

2011rocket3touring

I'm not sure what your "challenge" is but your goal should be to make healthy changes that you can live with as opposed to "lose as much as you can; then gain it all back and then some, rinse and repeat ".
I have about as much to lose as you do, but I set my plan for 1lbs a week. I don't go hungry and I eat some interesting food. I'm in this for the long haul because I never want to go back to square 1.

SideSteel

Fundamentally I think you'd first want to ask yourself if it's a good idea to take an approach where you're going to do something for 6 weeks that isn't necessarily representative of what you are going to for the other hundreds of weeks that occur after those 6.

Now I DO think there are SOME people, in some situations where trying to lose fat at a somewhat fast pace is warranted and possibly even preferable. But often times it's not a good idea. Ultimately it depends on the person, the approach, and what they're able to do when the aggressive period ends.

Typically people don't think this far into it, and after the "crash diet" is over they experience weight regain because they haven't actually figured out what to do, or how to eat, or how to develop better and more sustainable habits.

So to make a long story short, are you sure this is a good idea to begin with?

If you DO think it's a good idea, I'd select an approach that does some sort of habit development along the way so that you have a chance at integrating some of those concepts into the post-6-week-period.

I'd probably want the approach to consist of you eating almost entirely whole food sources with a lot of produce (heavy vegetable content for food volume and satiety) and barring any medical concerns I'd probably want you to be eating a pretty high protein intake such that each meal is built around primarily protein and large quantities of vegetables to promote satiety while keeping energy intake low.

From there you'd figure out how restrictive you need to be with dietary fat to cover essential fatty acid needs for general health purposes, and then finally how much (if any) additional carbohydrate to add in based on energy needs (to control rate of weight loss) and for adherence purposes.

So for example from a habit standpoint you might do something like add a serving of starchy carbs to X number of those meals per day to bring calories up as needed.

I'd also note that I'd take a similar approach even if you aren't trying to lose rapidly. The only difference would be the additional flexibility you'd have with the occasional indulgence, and/or the addition of greater portions of fat/carbohydrate to bring calories up a bit higher.

slimbettie

@2011 Thanks for your reply. I've been on MFP for 3 years now and have lost 110lbs so far. Since January I've been stalling though and actually gained some of my weight back. I joined the challenge to kick my butt back into gear of some sorts... I just could not master up the motivation to get myself back on the right path with my eating and exercising. But I agree with you whole heartedly. I've manged to lose 110lbs because I did not cut out any food groups and just sticked to my calories and moving more.

slimbettie

@Sidesteel thanks very much for a very detailed response. As I read through your reply I was nodding my head and thinking - yeah all practical and makes perfect sense. Sound advice and really do-able. Thanks so very much!!

slimbettie

I don't want to crash diet for 6 weeks and then just gain it all back.. what's the point in that? Naaah, pass...

Seffell

slimbettie wrote: »

BUT for the sake of this challenge I can do ANYTHING for 6 weeks right? It is only 6 weeks, and not my entire life.

It's great that you decided to make a change and lose some weight. However I don't agree with HOW you want to go about your changes. 6 months is in fact a lot of time and is quite enough for your hair to start falling for example from malnutrition if you start eating too little for the sake of the challenge.
Also what you'd want to do is LEARN how to sustain your new weight after you lose some.

The best thing to do is use MFP as it is supposed to be used and as most of us use it successfully. Set a goal of 1lbs/week (1.5lbs/week at most) - this is what most people here do if they have around 70lbs to lose. Then start measuring all your food with a digital scale and logging it in the diary here and make sure you don't eat more than the goal MFP has set for you for each day.
This is all you can do and all you have to do to lose weight. You can eat everything you want so long as it totals less than your daily goal.

In 6 weeks you can't expect to healthily lose more than 6-10lbs at most. Maybe a bit more from the initial water weight loss the first week or so.

For example I've started a bit overweight 4 months ago and for the last 6 weeks I have lost 3.5lbs while eating 1400cals/day on average. You have a bit more to lose so you can lose a bit more than that in the same amount of time. But not MUCH more.

Anyway, don't give up whatever happens . Just make sure you set your mind for a realistic goal as otherwise you might feel like quitting too soon.

emdeesea

slimbettie wrote: »

It is only 6 weeks, and not my entire life.

Er... well, it kind of IS your entire life.

Anything you do has to be sustainable or it's going to be a crash diet, which you've already said you don't want. So I'm not exactly sure what it is you're looking for.

slimbettie

@emdeesea. thanks for your input. to answer your question I am looking for advice. And I am getting it, Thanks!

lorrpb

Congrats on your 110 loss! I suggest that you continue doing what you did to achieve that. Obviously, it worked well for you. Reenter your stats into MFP to make sure you're targeting the correct calorie goal. Keep it going!

Seffell

I think I'm starting to understand what you're looking for. A challenge, like you said at first. Maybe to lift your spirits again I suppose. To spice things up?
How about you set a workout challenge instead of a diet one? Eat by the MFP rules (i.e. at the limit it gives you) and increase your energy burns? Does your health allow for this?
There are a lot of groups here in MFP for different monthly challenges. Have you tried these yet?

slimbettie

@lorrpb Thanks for the kind words. I do intend to stick to what I've been doing to lose the 110lbs for the rest of my life. Otherwise I KNOW I will simply just regain it all back...and that I don't want.
The reason why I asked here for the best plan for fat loss was to get different perspectives from people who did something similar.
The internet can be a nightmare when you try to research these kind of things. One says High Fat, the one says only whole foods plants based, the other says 900 calories a day.

slimbettie

@Gebeziseva YES!! That is exactly it! I will look into the groups challenges. Thanks for your advice.

DaniCanadian

Slim, do you do much strength training? I stalled at 155 lbs (down from 185) after my first baby but then changed my goal to fitness goals rather than weight. I started doing mainly strength training (I do body weight stuff cause I hate weight lifting so push ups, squats, etc). My goals would be to do a full push up, then 5, then 10, and so on. The scale wasn't moving but my friends were commenting that it looked like I was losing weight.
If you're stuck right now, that might be a good boost to get yourself going again.