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MyFitnessPal Community

Weight loss Advice

qsjtv2c6xf

Hey Guys!

I’m a young bloke looking to get into shape a bit. I need to cut down about 20kg to get into a upcoming job in the next 2 or so months.

Just wanting some help on how to do some food prep.

I’ve really cut down on all sugary drinks and caffeine and looking at turning purely to only water in the upcoming weeks.

For reference I am 19, 6ft and 145kg. I’m built quite stocky with muscle but have grown a gut over the last few years.

Is the better option to look into skipping breakfast & lunch (or possibly doing meal replacement) and having a prepped dinner of X, Y and Z in regards to calories?

Or keeping 2-3 meals but cutting the portion sizes down?

I appreciate all the help ahead of time

Replies

Lietchi

How you spread your calories over the day is pretty much irrelevant for weight loss. So choose a method that works best for you with regards to hunger etc. with an appropriate number of calories.

If you want to lose the weight and actually keep it off, the better choice would be the one that teaches you how and how much to eat for when you reach maintenance.

By the way: I hope you're not aiming to lose all those 20kg within a 2 month timeframe? That would require eating 2500 calories less than maintenance level each day for 60 days. (One kg of fat is around 7700 calories) That would be starving yourself, which is guaranteed to result in muscle loss and perhaps even greater health risks. It's recommended to lose 0.5-1% of your bodyweight per week.

cmriverside

Yeah, you're not going to lose that much weight in two months and still maintain your health. Maybe 5kg...

sollyn23l2

Lietchi wrote: »

How you spread your calories over the day is pretty much irrelevant for weight loss. So choose a method that works best for you with regards to hunger etc. with an appropriate number of calories.

If you want to lose the weight and actually keep it off, the better choice would be the one that teaches you how and how much to eat for when you reach maintenance.

By the way: I hope you're not aiming to lose all those 20kg within a 2 month timeframe? That would require eating 2500 calories less than maintenance level each day for 60 days. (One kg of fat is around 7700 calories) That would be starving yourself, which is guaranteed to result in muscle loss and perhaps even greater health risks. It's recommended to lose 0.5-1% of your bodyweight per week.

Agreed. I think this would be a bit fast.

cwolfman13

qsjtv2c6xf wrote: »

Hey Guys!

I’m a young bloke looking to get into shape a bit. I need to cut down about 20kg to get into a upcoming job in the next 2 or so months.

Just wanting some help on how to do some food prep.

I’ve really cut down on all sugary drinks and caffeine and looking at turning purely to only water in the upcoming weeks.

For reference I am 19, 6ft and 145kg. I’m built quite stocky with muscle but have grown a gut over the last few years.

Is the better option to look into skipping breakfast & lunch (or possibly doing meal replacement) and having a prepped dinner of X, Y and Z in regards to calories?

Or keeping 2-3 meals but cutting the portion sizes down?

I appreciate all the help ahead of time

It doesn't matter how you spread your calories out...but you're not going to lose 20Kg in two months and attempting to do so would be incredibly unhealthy. My initial weight loss was 18 Kg and that took around 8 months. 20 kg in two months is beyond unrealistic.

ldaltonbishop

What kind of food prep are you interested in doing? Do you want to cook meals in advance and figure out how to record them accurately? Do you just want to stock up on healthy-ish grab-and-go choices? There are so many different ways to answer. At 19, are you in a dorm situation or still at home with someone else cooking, or do you have control over your own meals?

If someone else prepares your food, try reducing your portions of starchy foods and increasing the green vegetables. If you don't add high-fat/calorie ingredients like salad dressings or lots of cheese, you can basically eat as much veg-only salads as you can stand. You can buy bagged salads if you don't want to prep. I'm a big fan, too, of buying frozen vegetable blends. Six ounces of frozen vegetables microwave, plain, in three minutes. I just add pepper, but you could add a protein or light sauce. You can eat a lot of raw carrots for very little carbs; they are filling and nutritious, if not exciting.

If you are a meat and potatoes bloke, you could prepare several portions of chicken ahead of time and use them for sandwiches, wraps, salads, or stir-fries. Try to choose lean protein -- chicken white meat is leaner than dark, for example; round steak is leaner than rib-eye. Pork loin is leaner than shoulder. Small changes add up! Small potatoes microwave quickly and are pretty healthy if you limit added fats. Sour cream (by the teaspoon, not the quarter cup) is a healthier choice than butter. I like sweet potatoes because they're good plain, and microwave quickly also (three minutes for about four ounces). If you can't live without crisps/chips, measure out or buy the one-ounce portions and stick to just that much per meal or snack.

You can, as Lietchi says, portion your calories throughout the day to suit yourself as long as you are tracking accurately and eating less than you need to maintain your current weight. If I skipped breakfast and lunch, or both, I'd be plenty grumpy. Don't be grumpy. You can't sustain any plan if it makes you miserable.

kshama2001

qsjtv2c6xf wrote: »

Hey Guys!

I’m a young bloke looking to get into shape a bit. I need to cut down about 20kg to get into a upcoming job in the next 2 or so months.

Just wanting some help on how to do some food prep.

I’ve really cut down on all sugary drinks and caffeine and looking at turning purely to only water in the upcoming weeks.

For reference I am 19, 6ft and 145kg. I’m built quite stocky with muscle but have grown a gut over the last few years.

Is the better option to look into skipping breakfast & lunch (or possibly doing meal replacement) and having a prepped dinner of X, Y and Z in regards to calories?

Or keeping 2-3 meals but cutting the portion sizes down?

I appreciate all the help ahead of time

I really regret the crash dieting I did to get into the military and make weight while in there at your age. This set me up for a life time of yoyoing.

You probably have more agency than you think about that 2 months deadline. Get a more realistic one.

Stasi14

I am using Haya Labs All Natural Whole Protein for meal Replacement. I have replaced 2 meals with semi-skimmed milk mixed with a Protein.