Is 3 lbs. a week doable for 8 months for an obese person?

1tfitz2

I'm a big guy. 295 lbs. @ 5ft. 8 inches tall. 49 years old. I'm thinking about doing an 8 month betting challenge to lose 100 lbs. Putting forth money to motivate myself.

I know those last pounds can be hard to lose, but I'd still be at 195 at the end of the challenge. Still about 30 lbs overweight. To accomplish this, I'd have to lose 2.9 lbs. per week for 34.5 weeks.

Also, if I go for this, outside of eating correctly, should I do cardio only, or cardio and weights. I know muscle is heavier than fat, but I've also read that muscle helps burn fat. Thought/ideas?

enyagoboom

Ok, so you're on the right track kind of, but you have to be aware that losing more than 2lbs a week can be unsustainable - and weight loss is not linear - so you may lose 5lbs one week, and then the next three lose ounces only (or in my case, spike a bit and lose again).

I have done the money challenge and it was not enough to motivate me a couple years ago. I just lost money

As to the muscle/fat burn, you burn calories after a weight workout so yes, that is true.

Whatever you do, good luck. If this motivates you, awesome, but depending on how much money you're kicking into it, you have to be okay with losing the money if you don't lose enough of the weight.

enyagoboom

also, are you really prepped for what it will take to lose that kind of weight? do you understand what your base maintenance calories are and what your deficit needs to be? have you been tracking your food? I guess what I'm saying is if you go the betting route, make sure you get everything else in a row beforehand to set yourself up for success. Otherwise, the casino adage of the house always wins is doubly true here. Seriously, good luck though.