Is It Possible?

JennaHathcock
JennaHathcock Posts: 3 Member
edited November 19 in Health and Weight Loss
Hello! I have been using MyFitnessPal for about 11 days now. It has helped me realize how much food I eat, and I have been trying my best to do whatever exercise I can!

I just want to know if my goal is possible. I am going to get married October 2016. I want to lose 50 lbs+ by then BUT I'm not so much caring about the weight as I just want to lose inches, tone up, etc. Is it possible to reach that goal in a healthy way? I know at most you should lose 1 lb/week, but I'm not sure if I can keep with with 1 lb/week... more likely to be 0.5 lb/week depending on my level of exercise.

Is it possible? I have only lost 1 lb. so far. I am 5'7" and weigh 195 lbs. I gained so much weight since I moved and haven't been working. I want to get down to at least 150 lbs! Any tips and motivation would REALLY be appreciated. I'm so new at this. I've never steadily worked out in my life, but this is the heaviest I have EVER been. Last year I was 165 lbs. I have let myself go and want to get back into shape for my wedding day or sooner!!

Please provide tips. What's the best exercises to do if I want to lose weight?

Replies

  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
    Eat a calorie deficit and you will lose weight.

    Look into a lifting program. Lifting will change your inches in amazing ways.
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/977538/halp-heavy-lifting-made-me-supah-bulky/p1

    Even if you lose .5 lbs/week that's still about 34 lbs before your wedding... which is pretty significant.

    I think you have a pretty attainable goal.
  • evileen99
    evileen99 Posts: 1,564 Member
    If you want to tighten up and lose inches, I recommend lifting heavy weights.
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
    50 lbs by October 2016 is certainly do-able.

    Just be sure you're accurately measuring (weighing preferably) and logging all your food. Set a reasonable calorie deficit, and work in exercise when you can. Cardio for heart/lung health and weight lifting for body shaping.
  • peleroja
    peleroja Posts: 3,979 Member
    Put down (the fork) and push (your chair away from the table.)

    It's going to be a lot easier to lose the weight by paying attention to your diet and ensuring that you eat fewer calories than you burn. Exercise is great for your health and strength training is a very good idea if you want to maintain as much muscle as possible while you lose weight, but it's waaaaaay easier to create the calorie deficit necessary for weight loss through diet alone or a combination of diet and exercise than through exercise alone.
  • JennaHathcock
    JennaHathcock Posts: 3 Member
    Thank you guys soooooo much for your responses! I never really thought about weight lifting since I was always told that cardio was the way to go. But I will DEFINITELY be lifting now when I go to the gym on my free days. :smile:
  • TheLegendaryBrandonHarris
    TheLegendaryBrandonHarris Posts: 502 Member
    The best exercise is the push-back. lol, push back from the table.
    If you cut the number of calories you eat to below the level you need to maintain your weight and then bump up the calories you burn in a day, you'll lose weight.

    Let's do the numbers. One pound of fat is ~3500 calories. 3500 / 7 days in a week means eat 500 calories less per day than your maintenance level and you'll lose one pound a week. So, losing half a pound a week would be just 250 calories fewer than maintenance per day. Not bad! If you can keep that up for a year, that's 26 pounds without much effort, and, seriously, not even exercising.

    Then add in exercise and it'll really accelerate.

    So, to answer your question, Yes. Absolutely. It is possible for you to lose 50 pounds before Oct. 2016.
    Brandon
  • fairy2b
    fairy2b Posts: 126 Member
    I have similar stats as you and started at at about 196. I am now 152.

    The first 20lbs came off just through diet improvement. The rest came off with MFP and tracking calories and exercise.

    Once I started using the app, I was losing on average 2lbs a week. I never realized how simple it is. Eat LESS and move MORE.

    People have lost weight just through diet. Many folks will say diet is for weight loss, exercise is for fitness. I achieved the best results doing both. I ate about 1200 net calories a day (more like 1600 on workout days) and I did 50 minutes of cardio 5x week and circuit training 2x week.

    All you need to do is create a calorie deficit. As long as you stick to that, you WILL lose inches before your wedding. In 4 months you could potentially safely lose 32 lbs...but keep in mind, the closer you get to your goal weight, the more slowly the weight will come off.

    I am about 10lbs away from my goal and my loss has decreased to .5-1lbs per week.

    Also remember weight loss is not linear. Some weeks you will lose more. Some weeks you will lose less. Other weeks you wont lose at all. Don't let this discourage you, it is normal!

    Feel free to add me or message me if you want any other specific info! The forums are great for searching previous posts too.

    Good luck!

  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    JennaHathcock wrote: »
    Hello! I have been using MyFitnessPal for about 11 days now. It has helped me realize how much food I eat, and I have been trying my best to do whatever exercise I can!

    I just want to know if my goal is possible. I am going to get married October 2016. I want to lose 50 lbs+ by then BUT I'm not so much caring about the weight as I just want to lose inches, tone up, etc. Is it possible to reach that goal in a healthy way? I know at most you should lose 1 lb/week, but I'm not sure if I can keep with with 1 lb/week... more likely to be 0.5 lb/week depending on my level of exercise.

    Is it possible? I have only lost 1 lb. so far. I am 5'7" and weigh 195 lbs. I gained so much weight since I moved and haven't been working. I want to get down to at least 150 lbs! Any tips and motivation would REALLY be appreciated. I'm so new at this. I've never steadily worked out in my life, but this is the heaviest I have EVER been. Last year I was 165 lbs. I have let myself go and want to get back into shape for my wedding day or sooner!!

    Please provide tips. What's the best exercises to do if I want to lose weight?

    I could almost cry reading this. A person with a reasonable weight loss timeline. You're like a unicorn.

    Yes, it is absolutely possible. You may lose more in the beginning and then your weight loss will likely slow. I started at 202.5 on 1/1/14, hit 30 pounds lost by 4/27/14, and then from then until 4/25/15 I lost about 26 pounds. So it was pretty much like 2 pounds a week at first and then tapered off to an average of .5 per week. But some weeks were slightly more, some slightly less, and some were stagnant.

    Exercise-wise, stick with what you enjoy and will do long term. You don't *have* to exercise for weight loss but for health and body composition, it is recommended. I like a combo of cardio (walk and run for me but we all like different things) and weightlifting. I started out doing a 50/50 mix and now do 4 days weights and 2 days cardio. You'll likely try different things and change along the way as your goals and abilities and interests change.

    Good luck!
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