5 Months to lose 50???

I have never really had a whole lot of luck sticking with a healthy eating lifestyle. I have about 5 months to lose 50 pounds and could use a little help. I have joined a gym and bought a Health Rider for my home. My goal is to eat only lean proteins, fruits and veggies, and some grains/fiber. What can I do to stick with it long enough to make it part of my lifestyle? Please Help!!!

For starters, you should not set a DEADLINE date. MFP is about a lifestyle change. Small goals to start.

Try just counting calories to start. Everything else will fall into place as you go.

10 pounds a month may be possible in the beginning, but weight loss slows as you get closer to your goal weight. It's best not to put a big time limit on your weight loss. I'm betting you didn't gain the weight in 5 months, you shouldn't expect to lose in that amount of time either. 1 pound per week is a healthy and sustainable way to lose. If you set yourself up with a really aggressive schedule, chances are you will get discouraged very quickly. Set yourself up with healthy habits that you can live with long-term. That's really the only way to lose weight and keep it off.

Google JUDDD (Johnson's Up Day Down Day diet). I know its sounds crazy, but try it with any diet your are planning already and it will supercharge it. My DH is losing about 12-15 lbs a month doing it and I'm losing about 8 lbs a month (He's 6'2 and 260 lbs). It doesn't mess up your metabolism like a regular diet does and it keeps things interesting (higher calorie food every other day if you want it).

I have to fully disagree with the statement that 10 pounds per month is unhealthy and that if you do lose 10 pounds per month you'll put it back on later. Well duh! If you go back to bad eating habits then no matter what you do you'll put the weight back on. I dropped 30 pounds in 3 months. I never starved myself, so the statement that the "Only way to lose as much as you wanted to is to basically starve yourself" is FALSE, and I never dropped below 2000 calories per day, some days were 2400 calorie intake days during that time. I've dropped 50+ pounds and kept it off. But more importantly I changed my lifestyle. What you have to remember and understand is that dieting is NOT A LIFESTYLE, it's temporary. Change your lifestyle (eating habits, exercise) and the weight stays off. ejean86 is correct that the first weight that will drop will mostly be water weight which could account for a huge drop on the scale during the first week or month.

I've helped many people safely and effectively drop weight and keep it off. One client has dropped 75+ pounds in less than 10 months and has eaten 2200-2500+ calories per day on average, not starving in any way shape or form.

Stick to small goals and stay consistent with your plan that you have in place with going to the gym and track EVERYTHING you eat and make sure you are actually eating enough. MFP calorie calculation is very low. I highly recommend finding a good calorie calculator to determine where you need to be.

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

It is possible, especially if you're that much overweight. 7 years ago, I lost 80 lbs in 5 months. And yes, if you don't adopt lifestyle changes (ie you go back to eating the crap that got you fat) you will gain it all back as I did. I don't consider that unhealthy at all (the weight loss. Gaining it all back is unhealthy 2s hell!). Learning to control the emotional eating/drinking is a huge part of it.

You can do it man !