1stDay Again...3weeks 8lbs loss possible?

I would suggest an intake of no less than 1,000, as it is important to eat well during weight loss (otherwise you risk screwing up your metabolism!). I'm 5' 6" and ~150lbs and shooting for a 2lb-a-week loss, so my intake is ~1200 a day, if that gives you a sort of ball-park of what you want to shoot for. Since you're exercising so much on a daily basis, you're going to want a higher caloric intake to balance out what you're burning. If you're accurate about how much you're burning every day, then I should think 1,500 calories a day might be a good goal to shoot for a day. I am not a professional, though. Just remember that while an excess of calories is still and excess of calories, what matters is what you're eating. The general rule when exercising is to load up on complex carbs beforehand and then eat a high-protein snack afterwards to help repair the muscles that were used during your routine.

What are your maintenance calories

ok its actually simple, the difficult part will be you keeping it off after the wedding!! short goals force you to jump out of your long term plan and into a short term plan and can negate your current progress.. just fyi, if you do it, do it without derailing your current diet or work out routine.. for example, if you work out for 1hr, increase your reps or distance in that hr. if your eating 5 oz of meat, eat 4oz and sub the last ounce with fruit. in other words enhance your current plan not dismiss it..

I'm 5'2" 160. I started on Jan 5 at 168 (still 5'2" ) but I stuck to around 1300 cals a day and about about 300 cals of exercise 5 days a week. It took about 4 weeks for me

OP, I'm going to be a bit of a downer, but I want you to get a different perspective from the replies you've already gotten. With so little to lose, 3 lbs per week is an aggressive goal. A healthy weekly weight loss goals for people who aren't very obese is 1-2 lbs per week.

Regardless, there is really no way to tell how much you can lose in such a short time. In order to attempt to lose the weight quickly, you will probably have to make significant changes to your diet and exercise. These changes can trigger swings in water weight and changes in digestion, which will affect the number on the scale. These issues will even out in the long run, but you haven't given yourself enough time to get there.

My personal opinion when the target date is so soon is to go out and by a nice pair of Spanx to deal with the event, and to meanwhile start a sensible long term plan to lose the weight for good, so you don't have to go through this again the next time you have a big event coming up!

If you want to try for 8 lbs in 3 weeks, by all means go for it, but your net calories (calories eaten minus exercise calorie) should not drop below 1,200. Also try to avoid foods that typically make you bloat or retain water to avoid any extra puffiness. And I'll bet that whether you lose 1 lb or 10 lbs by the wedding, you will look awesome and will be able to have a blast regardless. Best of luck and have fun!

Bawler, this is all pretty good advice so far, are you using your phone or the website for MFP? I'm not sure how to do it on your phone, but on the website, under the my home tab is a section called goals, you can set your own particular information and what you want to d and the website will help you set realistic expectations of how many calories to consume daily, ect to reach your goals. if you have trouble, I'd be more than glad to help...the main thing is to log your food accurately, daily