Is it possible to lose 12 pounds in a month ?

Allyice

I did, but my diet used to contain ALOT of salty and junk foods. I cut the lot of the junk out and dropped alot of water weight the first week.

kimosabe1

it's never happened 4 me even busting *kitten*. My record in 30 days is 5 pounds......

mogletdeluxe

Your body loses weight in chunks, not linear. I have found that you can do everything right and your weight loss seems to plateau but if you are patient and keep exercising and eating at a deficit (however slight) you will lose it, it will suddenly "whoosh". There are so many variables for the scale; water retention, digestion, hormones, allergies, sodium, carbs, water intake, DOMS, inflammation, the list goes on. People mistakenly think they lose or gain weight when they eat more or less because of these fluctuations.

Losing weight requires tremendous patience. You will not lose it when you want it or where you want it. The body does its thing. Some apparent plateaus can last a month or so. You cannot make it happen faster. You must focus on two things; calories and exercise. Nothing else matters. Scales and metrics don't matter. The day in and day out grind of exercise and calories are all that matters. It is not very exciting until things fall into place. You get your victories and you ride one victory to the next.

The scale is a trend tool. The scale is good but put it away and only check once a week and only use it as a trend tool. It will fluctuate, it does not matter. Take front side and back progress pictures at least once a month. You will see differences that the metrics won't tell you and it's that little bit of NSV that will keep you going until the next victory.

Too many changes at once can be hard on some people. I've always eaten healthy so it easy for me to simply eat less. Eating at a calorie deficit is hard on people; even a small deficit puts your body in a state of flux with hormones and such. Everyone is different. Some people can handle a deeper calorie deficit than others, this is not right or wrong, it just is. Stress in your life affects your hunger hormones; lack of sleep, fatigue, job stress, family stress, financial stress, etc. Add in emotional eating issues and it gets even more complicated. Most people can only handle so much change/stress at once, they try to do too much and fail. Sometimes it might be a better strategy to eat at maintenance and make some small changes first, it really depends on how much stress you are taking in at the moment.

One of the best posts I have read on here for a while.

ETA: OP, take it from me. Crash-dieting, and losing that amount of weight in a month (and the associated changes you will have to make to accomodate it) - in my experience, that way madness lies. I tried a very low-carb diet before a holiday earlier this year, and while the weight fell off me (albeit not at the rate you want) I was moody, tired and irritable.

Generally very low calorie diets are just not sustainable. As others have said before me, you may very well lose the weight but come December (and all of the delicious goodness Christmas brings), it'll go back on and them some because your body will fall to its knees and scream "oh thank God" and hang on to every. Last. Calorie.

As others have also said, just focus on being dedicated in November. Put plans into action that you can keep to long-term - you won't lose 12lb, not by a long shot, but your body will thank you and you will 100% feel better than if you crash dieted - regardless of what the scale says.

shaleyn

I'm down 16 in 2 weeks, but I have about 120 total to lose and went from eating what I calculated as 6-9000 calories daily down to 1300. Feels good to see the number on the scale, but what I see in the mirror and the energy I now have mean more to me than a "big drop".