40 lbs in August

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anewlife4me8610
anewlife4me8610 Posts: 91 Member
in Motivation and Support
August is the American Cancer Society 100 mile challenge!!!! So I am using this month to shape up and loose 40 lbs AND quit smoking!!! So I have 12 cigarettes left and I am ready to stop smoking and get to my goal weight with a 40 lb loss in 31 days!!! So I figure 3.5 miles a day is like a little over 108….. it’s going to be hard going from sedentary to VERY active but I’m determined to do this. So… I’ll post daily how many miles I hit and I’m hoping for 40 lb weight loss too!!!! Whoot whoot!!!

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  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,114 Member
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    In October 2018 you set out to lose 30lbs in 2 months. How did that turn out for you?

    You're here now with a more extreme goal (40lbs in 1 month). And a very unhealthy one at that, unless you weigh well over 500lbs (but saying you'd reach your goal weight with that loss suggests you don't weigh that much. Trying to lose that fast is likely to result is either giving up or health issues.

    It's good to set goals, but setting a crazy fast weight loss goal AND stopping smoking at the same time AND going from sedentary to active is just setting yourself up for failure, don't you think?
    Radical changes don't tend to stick very well.
    I would suggest just quitting smoking and walking, that will be plenty challenging already.
  • mgalsf12
    mgalsf12 Posts: 350 Member
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    Forty pounds in a month is extreme and unrealistic. Four pounds a month might be more realistic. Good luck on not smoking, get out and walk whenever you have a craving.
  • Mercenna42
    Mercenna42 Posts: 11 Member
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    Good luck on your goals - especially quitting nicotine. There are lots of resources to help (gum, patches, ect)! :)
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,147 Member
    edited August 2023
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    Let's do the math: 40 pounds in one month is 40 divided by 30, or 1.3 pounds per day. To lose 1.3 pounds per day, you have to burn about 4,666 calories more than you eat. (There are about 3500 calories in a pound of fat, times 1.3 pounds, is 4,666 calories.)

    Fortunately, we burn calories just being alive, then some more doing daily life stuff, then potentially even more doing some exercise.

    You don't say how old/tall you are or what weight now, but lets assume your daily life calorie burn is around 2000 calories, before exercise. That's a good middling number for women.

    So, to lose 40 pounds in 30 days, all you'd have to do is eat zero calories every day for a month, and do about 2,666 calories worth of exercise every day.

    I've been active for over 20 years (starting when I was still obese), so I'm reasonably fit. For me, an hour of pretty intense exercise might burn as many as 400 additional calories. So, 2,666 calories one needs to burn, divided by 400 calories per intense exercise hour, is going to require something around 6.6 hours of intense exercise every day. I couldn't keep that schedule up, and I'm reasonably fit.

    You're essentially saying you want to do something like that, on top of keeping up a daily life routine, while eating zero. Of course, you could exercise more hours, in order to eat something. You get maybe one slice of hearty bread with peanut butter (or equivalent calories) for each additional hour of exercise above 6.6 hours daily.

    This is not realistic. This is not healthy. Please reconsider.

    I like to see people succeed, but what you're describing is not a path of thriving. Absolutely, quit smoking. Sure, start walking. (I'd recommend phasing it in gradually, not going from zero to 3.5 miles a day every day.) Get well-rounded nutrition. Set yourself up in MFP to lose about a pound a week, not well over a pound a day. That would be a better plan.

    Best wishes, sincerely. Do not wreck yourself.

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