what is the best way to lose 20 pounds in about 2 months?

Question

i would like to lose weight before school starts agian. and i would like for people to see a change in me. i have lost 35 before i weighed 175 and now im 140 and i would like to finish what i have started... i would like to lose about 20 to 15 pounds before school starts. whats the best way??

Answer 1

If you want to do this it is for life so you need to totally change your way of eating and exercising. This is not a diet rather than a healthy eating plan for life. So no more talking diet cause it means time limit.

Here are the golden rules:
Initially cut down to 1200 calories women & 1500 men
Exercise 6 times per week for 1 hours a day. Do three weight sessions and three cardio sessions. No gym involved.
Don't eat carbs after 4pm, never eat carbs within 2 hours of exercise or within 1 hour of exercise.
Drink 3 litres of water per day. You can have a green tea at the end of the day.
Limit your fruit in take to 2 pieces per day.
Never eat dinner after 6pm.
Adopt of low GI eating plan this is sustainable for life!
Make low fat dairy choices
All food choices need to be low fat
Don't make food a big deal and don't socialise using food

Follow this menu plan as a suggestion:
Breakfast 7am - 1 cup hot water w lemon
20 minutes later have a bowel of oats w water (no honey) OR
fruit salad w low GI soy yogurt
Snack 10am - pear or apple (both low GI)
Lunch 12.30pm - multigrain sandwich w 50g tuna/lean meat & salad (no butter)
Snack 3pm - low GI yogurt OR skim berry smoothie (no honey or banana) plenty of ice, 1/2 cup skim milk & 1/4 cup yogurt
Dinner 5.30pm - 120g-150g grilled lean meat/fish/prawns/tofu patties (not fried) w spinach salad & mixed vegies (no whites, carbs) OR 3 egg white/soy omlette with ham, cheese and tomato
Snack - 1 scoop of low cal low fat ice cream (if hungry)

Exercise is must be intense. Refer to www.bodybuilding.com for your weights routine. Never do weights two consecutive days have a cardio day in between.

Cardio needs to include running, go hard up stair wells and cycling. You get the most benefits from exercise when your body is totally fatigued and this is when you see changes.

To maintain you can increase calories to 1500 women & 1800 men and reduce exercise sessions to 3-4 times per week. If weight creeps up again due to holiday period etc.. go back to 1200 cal and 6 sessions again.

Good luck it worked for me it can work for anyone.

Answer 2

Well, I congradulate you on that weight loss. Take this not the wrong way, but 20 pounds a month, well, is quite a drastic weight change in such a short amount of time. The only possible way of losing 20 pounds of weight in that timeframe would be practicly starving yourself, and drinking nothing other then water. (Which I do not recomend because its not healthy) You need food to provide you with fuel so you have energy.. so unless you were stranded on a deserted island, that wouldn't be an easy task. A more achievable goal would be about 10 pounds in two months. Losing weight is not complicated BUT that doesn't mean it's easy to do... To healthily lose weight, all there is to it is eat healthy, preferbly 3 medium meals a day, rather then less meals, but bigger in quantity, and cardiovascular exercise. I cannot stress enough on the cardiovascular, because you need to burn more then you take in. With that said, i wish you good luck!

Answer 3

In 10 months I have lost 115 lbs... so here is what I did (dr. supervised)
I stopped eating so many carbs, no junk food, no soda, no coffee, nothing with caffeine, I ate 65 or more grams of protein per meal. I didn't drink until 30 minutes after the meal was over and no water an hour before the meal took place. Then I started exercising. In between meals I ate protein, or if I had to have a carb I was only allowed 15 grams 3 times a day--- don't do it all at once...
My daughter is doing this as well and has lost 45 lbs and she looks great and feels better good luck to you! I hope this helped.

Answer 4

The best way to loose weight is to exercise, drink water, and just cut your eating portions in half. Try to go lightly on carbs, but don't do away with them totally.

Do NOT skip meals. That puts your body into a "starvation" mode and you may loose weight quickly; however, when you begin to eat again, it will pack it on as fat because your body will be afraid of "starving" again, so it was some reserves for when that happens again.

What I found that helps a lot because my metabolism is very messed up from yo-yo dieting (and my body does what I mentioned above) is one day I'll eat a little more and the next a little less and then another day eat normally. I can't get into a "fixed" routine though because my body will figure it out. The next week I may eat less for 2 or 3 days and then eat a little more the next and then go back to less. I think you get the idea.

Good luck with the continued loss and Congratulations of what you've accomplished already. You don't mention your height, so I hope you are not trying to get too thin for it. take care!

Answer 5

Weight loss is a numbers game. It is a simple mathematics equation. It is the ability to stick to it that is the issue. I suggest going to the following sites. www.globalrph.com Look down on the page and locate the diet calculator. It will ask you a variety of questions such as age weight and activity level. Then it will tally the amount of calories you need and the amount you need to lose weight.
Take the number that it suggest and try to stick to that number as much as possible. I suggest you look at www.calorieking.com to see what some of your favorite foods contain calorie wise. Many places have nutrition information on their websites but this should be a good start. A nice exercise program is nice to follow but that that is an entirely different issue. Just remember if you don't put it in you dont have to lose it. There is alot of information about there such as nutrients etc, however if you use these calories toward a balanced diet you should be ok.

Answer 6

Only eat when you're hungry. Stop eating when you're satisfied. That's what's worked for me. I used to be obsessed with my weight... and was yo-yo dieting for 3 years of college. I finally decided I was done with that. I would loose 20 pounds then gain it back and plus some. Now I eat what I want, when I want.. Until I'm satisified. Just because you're craving a McDonalds burger, doesnt mean you have to eat the whole thing! Eat half and throw the rest away!! Also... don't necessarily focus on the number on the scale. If you're working out, you'll gain muscle which weighs more than fat anyways. So focus more on inches. Measure your waist and hips once a week. Good luck!

Answer 7

I found the book to be very informative and easy to read.

I've lost 17 pounds in 12 days, I'm just concerned that I'm losing too much weight, too quickly. I will admit I haven't followed the guide exactly. I'm not sticking perfectly to the listed foods and meal plans (but mostly) and doing very little exercise, but the weight keeps flying off.

It clearly works and if I'd followed it exactly I think it would scare the living daylights out of me because of the amount that I'd lose. So thanks again for the information. I've never purchased anything like this before because they are usually full of trash, but 3WD has been a pleasant surprise.

Get started today!

Answer 8

Your best bet is to continue doing some of the same things you have already been doing. This time step it up in the gym and do circuit training. Pick ten to twelve machines and go from one to another without rest until you get finished with one cycle. Rest a good three minutes, drink some water and go through it again. After that is done do some cardio exercise for 30-45 minutes. Also make sure you are eating a sensible diet the whole time.

Answer 9

It is a known fact that eating breakfast and several small meals during the day will cause you to lose weight on a consistent basis. In addition to that, make sure you drink plenty of water to flush out stored body water and to rid your body of toxins that may inhibit weight loss. You want to make sure that you eat your carbs during the day so that you will burn it off by the time you are ready for bed. Also limit yourself to only two carbs a day (the pastas and breads are the ones to stay away from, replace those with good carbs such as fruits and baked potatoes or cauliflower and broccoli). Make sure that you eat your last meal before 7pm. It is a fact that your metabolism slows down towards the end of the night to prepare for bedtime, causing your food to be processed slower by the body, in return causing you to gain or store excess weight. I hope that these small tips help you, and know that you are not alone. I'm trying to lose 30 in the next 3 months!

Answer 10

Why, why in two months? Why before school starts? Do you also plan on starting your program (workout/diet) on a Monday? Why on Monday? Why does your goal revolve around the start of school? Why are you not trying to simply be healthy? If you do not make the 20 pounds are you going to give up? Why is it so important to you others see a change in you (or the way you look)?

Please ignore all answers on this question and focus on what the real issues are.

Answer 11

The right way. If you want to keep it off for more than a week, lose slowly.

Your Answer: Look there are no short cuts. Just do it right. Exercise and cut your calories.

The minimum number of calories a woman should consume is 1200, a man 2000. That is for a completely sedentary lifestyle. The more active you are, the more calories you need, --even if you're dieting. Basically, you need to provide your body with enough calories to maintain your ideal weight for your given activity level (note: “Ideal” being the weight you want to weigh and is healthy for you given your height and build at the end of your diet.). Too many calories and you gain weight. Too few, and your body goes into starvation mode, hording fat and calories, preventing you from losing weight. There is a formula I used that I got from WebMD: Evaluate your metabolism from 13-15, 13 being the slowest. Multiply that number by your ideal weight. The resultant figure is the number of calories you should take in per day.

No low-carb bologna, either. But, do stay away from un-natural sources of sugar(i.e.: corn syrup, cane sugar--fruit, as a nutural source, for example, is acceptable), white flour, saturated and trans fat. It is also good to avoid foods where sugar is listed in the first three ingredients. Note: CORN HAS NO NUTRITIONAL VALUE. Popcorn diet = malnutrition.

A certain percentage of your calories should come from all three sources: protein, carbohydrates and fats. Try a mix of 40%Protein, 40% Carb and 20% fat.

Get a balanced exercise routine. Weight training builds muscle which increases metabolism and cardio burns calories. So start a mixed exercise routine of weight training and cardio. Also, exercise a hour before any meals. Note: your muscles may burn and shake. That’s good. It’s a indication your on the right track. Push though it to complete muscle failure. You don’t have to go that far everyday; but sometimes, push through it.

NO energy drinks. Calories are energy. You want your body to burn the energy stored around your wastline, not what you just drank in.

Drink at least 64 oz of water per day.

Eat lots of smaller meals instead of 3 squares. AT THE TABLE–not in front of the TV.

At least in the beginning, keep a journal/ nutrition count of what you're eating daily to be sure you're eating the right amount of calories and giving your body proper nutrition.

Resolve to be hungry. Your body is used to a certain amount of food and calories. If you don’t give it what it’s used to, I thinks it still hungry. Go see your doctor before starting any of this, get checked out, and ask for a prescription strength appetite suppressant. That should help curb your hunger somewhat while your body gets used to its new routine.

Also, and this is important. Get a hobby. Find something else you enjoy doing other than eat. Build RC cars, boats or planes. Learn to design and program your own computer games. Take pictures. Write or read. Paint. Sculpt. Whatever. Busy yourself and curb your boredom and you’ll be surprised how easy it is to skip that candy bar or other snack..

AND TURN OFF THE TV. Don’t allow yourself more than 2 hours of tv per day. Trust me. Not only is TV a sedentary activity, it constantly reminds you of food commercial after commercial.

DO NOT GET GASTRIC BYPASS surgery. Gastric bypass is only a suitable option for those who for medical reasons can not lose weight by any other means. All you need is a little discipline, determination and persistence and you can do it!!

BTW, I was 5' 3", 230lbs and, on my own, lost weight and got down to 125 lbs and 11% body fat. I went from a size 24 to a size 4-5.



BTW, Demun is right too!