HELP!! I need weight loss tips for 18lbs by Xmas - worked my

sahramel

I really need your help.

I've been trying to lose weight for what feels like months now. Although I've lost some on my measurements, my weight hasn't changed. I've been going to the gym at least 5 times a week for pretty much two months. Although I'm glad my measurements are changing, I need my weight to drop.

I'm 160lb and really need to get to - or as close to 147lb as possible by Xmas, but would love to shed about 10lb this month.

Does anyone have any 'healthy' tips.

I have porridge with banana every morning for breakfast, I only drink coffee or water, or herbal tea.

My tea is always cooked by my dad and it's always something like home made shepherds pie with veg, or he's done lamb for tomorrow with veg, or it could be home made mince pie with veg. The point is - it's healthy, and there's lots of veg.
If I'm working over lunch I'll take a sandwhich and it's ALWAYS on multigrain brown bread, and can be anything from egg or cheese, to salad depending how long I had to make it.

I really didn't want to resort to fad diets, but I need to see these results.

Please help.

miqisha

Are you eating in between your main meals, meaning a snack between breakfast and lunch and then between lunch and dinner. I didn't see you mention that, your system needs food every couple hours or so, to keep your metabolism moving fatser, which aids you in burning calories more effeciently. So, if you are only eating 3 times a day, you need to increase that to 5-6 times a day, can be fruits or veggies, or a healthy snack.

Try never to skip meals, not a good thing. Ensure your sodium intake is low, around 1500mg or less if possible.

Goodluck

fdgrafius

I just started P90X last week and I have lost 6 pounds! It's pretty intense and by no means can I do all the exercises with perfect form or for the full duration, but so far I love it. As far as diet goes, I'm cutting out fried food, fast food, and soda; limiting my carbs; and maintaining 2000/day calorie intake before exercise (depending on how much I burn, I may eat a bit more, though I try not to exceed 2500 overall). I have a long way to go before I reach my overall weight goal, but just in theses past few days, I feel soooo much better! I hope you find a solution that works for you... good luck!

sahramel

Hiya, I did used to eat every 3-4 hours when I was in a routine, but with me not normally getting breakfast till late - it's uaually around 11am after I've been to the gym and showered etc, I tend not to have anything until tea time f I'm home, or if I'm on shift, and I have an afternoon break at say 3pm or 4pm I'll have a sandwich.

I'm just so gutted cos I'm at a stop. I've lost 26lb in total, but that's since about May, and then since I've joined this there's been no change in my weight. I'm only 5ft 4 so I'm still 'overweight'.

sahramel

What's P90X? I've never heard of it.

fdgrafius

Power 90 Extreme (P90X) is a home fitness routine offered through Beachbody Fitness (www.beachbody.com). Judging from your comments regarding "tea," I assume that you live in the UK and not the US, correct? Regardless, P90X is one of those infomercial exercise products that I often skip right past (have you heard of the "Shake Weight?" It's ridiculous!), but in the past few years it has really gained a following here in the states. My father-in-law actually purchased the program for himself, but never did anything with it. I know several people who swear by it though, so when a buddy of mine offered to do it with me, I thought I'd give it a shot.

When you check into it, don't be intimidated. Like most of these kinds of things, the featured models/athletes have crazy-good bodies. My goal initially is simply to do the program to the best of my ability (and trust me, it's not pretty) every day. The weight and inches lost are bonus for me right now. The program focuses on an alternating combination of resistence training, cardio, yoga, stretching, plyometrics, and diet. And many people have had great results... so why not me and you?

The challenge of the program is to stick with it for 90 days. I do not have any delusions of having a "Beach body" in 3 months, but I do have high hopes the improvement of my overall health and fitness level. Again, I'm only a week in, so time will tell... as it always does.


You might also follow this thread on MFP: "TOPIC: 30 Pounds By Christmas 10wk challenge Part 2"

Good luck, again!

soze

It's good to have goals. I would not, however, focus on the 18 lbs. I would instead focus on a weekly goal of 1 to 2 lbs. "The greatest journey starts with but a single step."

Remember, you are doing this for yourself and not for others.

KatWood

Make your food diary public. Are you eating back any of the calories you are burning? Are you changing up your exercise routine from time to time? Do you get a good nights sleep?

There could be any number of reasons why the scale isn't moving.

But if your are losing inches and you look and feel better why the obsession with the scale? Why do you NEED to lose 18lbs by Christmas?

fdgrafius

Just saw this on another thread... This guy is my new hero! http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/131657-p90x-round-2-day-30-pics

sahramel

KatWood - I need to lose it to get back to what I used to be - it's been my goal to get back to my old size and weight by Xmas for personal reasons and if I don't make it I just know I'm gonna be gutted. I can survive missing it by a couple of pounds or maybe 4lbs, but I just can't be the same weight at xmas as I am now. I've also been dared to do something at Xmas by someone as a way of helping boost my body confidence and I just know that I'll wanna chicken out at the time if I don't reach the weight I wanted. I know it's only a figure - but sadly it's one that affects my confidence and I know I'm gonna be held to this dare. It's my fault for saying I'd be where I wanted by Xmas. I wish I'd have said Easter next year now!

Also, I never sleep well, I don't know why but I can't switch my mind off from aspirations, or day to day things. I have had an emotional period lately where I was so drained from the lack of sleep that I asked my doc for some tablets - he said a big FAT no though.

I've hardly seen people as I got so down about my weight and I'd just love to walk out at Xmas, see people, and know that I look good.

fdgrafius - As for being from the UK - Yes I am lol Sorry, I forget that it's an international site and people use different words in other countries lol

soze - you're right, I do know that deep down - but the fact the scales haven't dropped at all is alarming. If it did at least drop a couple of pounds it'd at least be a loss, if that makes sense.

romzana

check out my topics i posted posted so many topics/tips to help people

heres one

1. Weigh yourself and chart it. Each morning, weigh yourself on a digital scale and log it immediately. Your weight, of course, will fluctuate from day-to-day, and your sense of accomplishment or disappointment shouldn’t hinge on your daily weight. However, your weight can be used as a useful feedback system to see what you’re doing right and to motivate you. I’d recommend using the trend-oriented spreadsheet used in the Hacker’s Diet.

2. Plan your meals. This is probably the No. 1 thing you can do to lose weight. First, use a calorie calculator to estimate how many calories you need to maintain your current weight. Now, if you want to lose a pound a week, you’ll want to cut that total by 500 calories per day to hit that goal (3,500 calories equals a pound of fat). If you want to lose weight slower, you can cut your total daily calories by less. I wouldn’t recommend more than a pound a week (which is about 50 pounds a year).

Once you have your target calories per day, you want to allocate them throughout the day. For example, if your target is 2,000 calories, you could allocate 400 calories per meal for 4 meals (7 a.m., 11 a.m., 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. for example) with two 200-calorie snacks. How you allocate your calories is completely up to you — you might want to experiment to find the best distribution.

Now plan each meal so that you fit within the calorie limit for that meal. This might take some time to calculate (try FitDay), but once you have your favorite meals planned, this isn’t too hard. You can have a listing of 400-calorie meals and 200-calorie snacks that are interchangeable. The key, of course, is sticking to the meal plan — don’t let yourself deviate. You’ll get used to it after a few days.

3. Plan healthy snacks. Just as you plan your meals, you should plan your snacks. See the above item on allocating your daily calories to snacks. Instead of just snacking on whatever’s available, or rushing to a vending machine or convenience store when you get really hungry, you should plan to have healthy snacks in between meals. Fruit, veggies, yogurt, dried fruit and similar snacks are all good choices.

Be sure to plan some unhealthy snacks sometimes too. You don’t want to completely deprive yourself — make it a fun thing. Some dark chocolate on one day, some berries on another, and an occasional binge work for me.

4. Find lower-fat alternatives. Take your favorite foods and find lower-fat alternatives. If you love burgers, for example, you can make turkey burgers or soy burgers (there are some good ones, trust me). If you like French fries, make your own and bake them. Bake chicken instead of frying it. Get low-fat milk and yogurt instead of the higher-fat versions. Baked chips instead of greasy ones. While you shouldn’t give up fat completely, and in fact some types of fat are good for you in moderation, it’s important to remember that fat is high in calories (more than twice as calorie-dense as protein or carbs), and lowering your fat intake to a more moderate amount will also lower your calorie intake. Adding fruits and veggies is another good way to lower fat intake, as they take up a lot of space in your stomach without adding too many calories or fat.

5. Eat slowly, and then wait 20 minutes. If you scarf down your meals, you are probably overeating because of it. I know, because I have to slow myself down a lot. The thing is, it takes awhile for our brains to get the message that we’re full. So if we eat quickly, we will actually eat past fullness. You’ve probably had that painful, “I’ve eaten way too much!” feeling, and it’s because of fast eating. The trick is to teach yourself to eat slowly. You’ll get full on less food.

Another trick is to eat a sensible serving (a moderate plate, not stacked up is a good rule of thumb) without eating seconds right away. If you’re still a little hungry, wait for at least 20 minutes before eating any more. Often your hunger will go away.

6. Think long term. You won’t lose weight overnight. Well, you could lose weight quickly, but you don’t want to — it’ll come back just as quickly. What you want is gradual weight loss that stays lost. A pound a week is a good rate — again, that’s 500 calories a day less than you need to maintain your current weight, and it’s about 50 pounds a year. Both are achievable, and both are sustainable. Of course, you’ll need to make adjustments as you go along, in case you’re taking in too little or too many calories, but the main thing is not to try for immediate and quick weight loss, but long-term loss. Don’t worry about the ups and downs every day, but look at trends over weeks and months. It’ll happen, if you stick with it and do it moderately.

7. Stop drinking calories. Calories in soda, coffee, tea, alcohol, juice and other beverages are very sneaky, because you don’t realize how many calories you drink a day. Juice, for example, seems healthy, but really you’re getting none of the fiber of fruit and all of the calories. Eating an orange would give you the same benefits, and make you more full.

Instead, drink water. Lots of it, all day long. Water makes you full, without giving you calories. It’s the perfect weight-loss drink, available at your local tap.

8. Read about weight loss. This might seem like a weird tip, but I’ve found it to be true. If you keep your focus on your goal, you will most likely achieve it. But if you lose focus, you’ll lose motivation, and soon you’ll stop any progress. What you should do is read about weight loss — success stories, tips, etc. — to return you to that focus and motivation. Any time you’re losing motivation, read some articles about weight loss or exercise or eating healthy.

9. Exercise for just 5 minutes. In the grand scheme of things, eating fewer calories is much more effective than trying to burn the calories through exercise. For example, you could burn a few hundred calories with 30 minutes of hard exercise, but you could easily gain those back with a bowl of cereal or some other snack. So if you really want weight loss, you’ll have to focus on what you eat.

However, exercise does help. Burning even 200 calories a day can add up (an extra couple of pounds a month), and you don’t need to exercise too long to do that. And even better, exercise makes you feel good, and feel like you’re getting in shape. It makes you healthier, of course, and will get you toned.

My recommendation is to start with just 5 minutes a day. That won’t get you to 200 calories, but it’s a start, and that’s what’s important. Just do 5 minutes a day for the first week. Any kind of exercise will do — try a few pushups, a few crunches, a few jumping jacks, and a couple minutes of running in place. After a week, increase it by 2 minutes. Do that for a couple of months, and soon you’re doing 20-25 minutes a day. That’s about all you need.

10. Just get through a tough 3 days. If you reduce your caloric intake, as per Item #2 above, you will feel hungry at first. And that’s not easy. Hunger makes us want to give in. But just tell yourself that it’s just for 3 days. After that, it will start to get easier. You’ll get used to it, and it won’t seem like deprivation.

good luck on ur diet : )

sahramel

Hi Hepy,

you give some real good advice on some aspects - eg, I've heard of food diary, but never thought about dividing up my total calorie intake between the meals.

As for exercise, I'm at the gym for 1.5hours around 5 times a week. I spend anything from 30 mins to an hour on the treadmill and the rest on weights or doing sit ups. Now and then I go on the rower, cross trainer or bike but it's usually the treadmill and I'll be dripping in sweat afterwards - you're right in that I feel really good after and that's obviously what's lost the inch this month - but I thought doing the treadmill would lose lbs as well.

I have around 3 cups of coffee a day as my cups a tiny and I only drink half of it, and waste the rest. Then the only drinks I have are water - ZERO CALORIES. I don;t like fizzy pops and don't buy fruit juice so if I have one it's once in a blue moon.

My calorie intake shouldn't be more than 1200 a day. Porridge is around 30g made only from water, no sugar, and I have banana chopped on it. That's really filling.

romzana

hi coffees not really good for health people say its actially good for losing weight but the truth is its not i was a coffee adict and then constantly had headaches went to my dr said coffee is bad for you why not try juice instead of coffee or water

also swimming is really good for you you lose alot of weight by swimming or if you dont want to go why not put some weights in a backpack and and go walking youll lose alot of weight hope this helps gud luck

elainegsd

hi coffees not really good for health people say its actially good for losing weight but the truth is its not i was a coffee adict and then constantly had headaches went to my dr said coffee is bad for you why not try juice instead of coffee or water

also swimming is really good for you you lose alot of weight by swimming or if you dont want to go why not put some weights in a backpack and and go walking youll lose alot of weight hope this helps gud luck

Interesting. My doctor is delighted that coffee is my drink of choice, and that I don't consume all the sugar/empty calories in juice. I certainly wouldn't replace water with juice as you propose above.

sahramel

Hi,
in response to the coffee thing, I used to think it was good for slimming but it's not. It keeps you awake if you have too much - which I've done in the past in boring office jobs. It also dehydrates the skin badly. That's why I only have about 3 small cups - and they are small. They're like childrens size cups lol. Then I have water.

I think fruit juices are ok in small doses and if it's fresh juice - not from concentrate - or any of these dilute pops. I'm just not a big fan, and living on a budget I can't afford them anyway, whereas water is free and has no sugar in at all to rot the teeth.

I think different people have a different outlook, but I think moderation is key to juices and coffee.

Averell

i'd say do the food diary and count your calories - you might be shocked. at least i was. and i don't believe that it will be only 1200 calories for you

i finally after many years realized that losing weight is simple: eat less calories than you burn. that's it. nothing else.

works great for me

sahramel

It's def only 1200 calories, although I admit there's days where I crave chocolate and I do add it all into my food diary - but I also go to the gym too and have really good workouts.

In terms of burning more than you eat, you must burn a hell of a lot of calories lol How long do you go to the gym for at a time? Are you really fit? (health wise not looks lol)

KatWood

Wait. You are only eating 1200 calories a day and you work out for an hour and a half? :noway: How many calories are you burning? Probably somewhere around 600-800. Your body needs more fuel! And probably a break!

I would recommend cutting back bit on your workouts. At the very least you should give your muscles a 24hr break between weight training. Also, you simply need to eat more. I know that sounds counter intuitive but it is the truth. Otherwise your metabolism and weight loss will slow down. And even worse once you start eating more you will gain the weight back quickly.

This shouldn't be about losing weight quickly. It should be about living a healthy sustainable lifestyle.
And weighing less does not necessarily equate to being healthy or happy.

I have a lot of unhealthy skinny friends. I may weigh more than them but I am healthier and stronger.

KatWood

And weighing yourself every single day is a horrible idea!:noway:

Our weight can naturally fluctuate by up to 5 lbs based on the time of day, hormone levels, hydration levels, etc.

You will drive yourself crazy if you weigh yourself every day.
Once a week is more than enough and even then you should only be focusing on the general trend not the week over week numbers.

sahramel

KatWood - thank you for your in put. It does sound odd that I should eat more - but this calorie thing on here actually set it to that automatically so I've just been sticking to it. I'm not perfect and some times I go over - but then with the workoutrs it works out within range, if that makes sense.

sahramel

Looks like KatWood could be right. I've cut back on the workouts this week. In fact, I didn't go all last week other than Sunday and Monday, then again this Saturday - partly cos I'm feeling so totally drained and run down from working my late shifts - and today, one week later, I've lost 2lb. That's good enough for me. At least it's finally another drop and hopefully will keep happening. If I could get another 2lb this week it'd be great.

KatWood

Congrats!
We all need a break sometimes. I would just say make sure not to cut back on your workouts too much. I find I have to stick to a fairly consistent routine and make it a habit or I end up getting away from it. I try to work out 4 times per week. I have recently started adding Yoga back in to my regime. I hope that helps with the stress and gets me back on track.

sahramel

I'm back on track with my workouts now. I had a terrible week in that my whole body lacked energy and was aching. I just wanted to sleep all week. However, after a good break I went yesterday for a short session before popping to my friend's and managed to jog more, and I went again today and did ok. Still not as strong as I'd like with the jogging tho.

Hopefully next week weigh in will see another drop.