how can i lose 4 inches off my waist in about a month?

Question

I want to enlist in the military at the beginning of next month but have to lose about 4 inches off my waist beforehand (that's with sucking it in as much as possible). I was thinking about possibly one of those bodywraps right before i go enlist? i was also wondering if its possible to actually lose the 4 inches in a month by working out? thanks for any tips or ideas

Answer 1

There is no site specific way of losing fat... the old myth about working your abs to burn belly fat isn't true. To get rid of love handles, you need to lose overall fat. That happens with exercise and watching your diet. More on that below.

On Yahoo!Answers I find certain questions being asked repeatedly which is simply a reflection of new people participating. A couple of common question amounts to "How do I lose weight," or more specifically, "How do I lose abdominal fat?" I have gotten very positive responses from my answers when I paused to reply (and now beginning to get "It works!" emails that are very gratifying. I like helping people)... so have recently decided to put a good solid answer on my Yahoo!360 Blog (September 10) that I can point people to. These are my thoughts as a physician and athlete.

Don't target losing more than about 2 lbs per week. If you try to lose faster, your body will go into "starvation mode" and get very stingy about burning calories while at the same time very efficient about storing any calories that you do provide. And it will make you feel awful.

The most effective way to lose fat is aerobic exercise in the "moderate" fat-burning range, ideally first thing in the morning before you eat. When you wake your body is ready to burn fat and your levels of growth hormone are highest at that time. Later in the day it can take up to 30 minutes just to put your body into a fat-burning mode.

Another overlooked way to burn fat is by lifting weights. Skeletal muscle has very high caloric needs... almost twice that of adipose (fat) tissue. Put on a little muscle and you will burn calories all day even at rest. Be aware that skeletal muscle weighs more, so with this approach you may see your weight increasing while your body fat is melting away. Not realizing this often stresses folks who think they should be losing weight as a measure of fitness. Forget the scale, look in the mirror and you will be happy.

To lose a pound of fat, you need to eliminate about 3500 calories. You can do this by burning more with exercise or by modifying your diet to reduce intake. If you do a Google search on say, "swimming calories" you will quickly find a website with tables of calories burned for a given exercise. You can use such lists to estimate how many calories you are burning up with your routine.

For diet, keep a diary for a couple of weeks counting calories, grams of protein, and grams of fat intake. It is easy with online sources of nutritional information (type the name of the food and calories into the Google search engine) and packaging labels. That will let you quickly figure out where the fat is coming from in your diet.

Fat gives you 9 calories per gram. So take the number of grams of fat, multiply by 9, then calculate what percentage the fat calories are of your total daily calories. Restricting the calories from fat to about 20% of your total intake is ideal for a maintenance diet... that isn't overly restrictive. Of note, you need some fat in your diet. For instance, the body uses fat to produce hormones. Once you have a picture of how to modify your diet, you can drop the diary and just go back to it occasionally if you are wanting to tweek things further.

There is a subset of questions that goes further and asks about "How to get a six-pack?" The answer is the same. Six-packs are 20% abdominal exercise and 80% diet. There is one caveat... abdominal muscles will form in the position that you work them, so be certain to pull them tightly toward your spine while doing crunches, etc. Also, during most lifting, the "core is active" which means that you should be stabilizing with contracted abs then too. Fail to do this and the abs will form, but bulging outward and the result is not attractive.

If you are trying to build muscle as a way to lose fat, then you may need to increase total calories and specifically your protein intake. I target about 0.8 g of protein per pound of body weight each day when actively building. That is far more protein than most people need in their diets.


Aloha

Answer 2

Yes, it would actually be quite easy to work that off. I lost many inches around my waist just in two weeks by running a mile everyday. Actually, I walked most of it and ran part of it each day. By doing that for a month, you can lose weight. Also, try doing some crunches (50 per day or so), and eat right. Stay away from the foods high in sodium, sugar, and fat. I hope this helps you out!

Good luck on getting into the military. My sister was 250 pounds, and she lost over 100 pounds from all of the training she did, and now she's more healthy than she's ever been in her life.

-Lella^_^

Answer 3

Yeesh. I'm not sure how many pounds would be equivalent to 4 inches.. so it's hard to guess.

Umm.. I know you normally (and in a healthy way) can lose 1-3 pounds max a week from a good diet and exercise.

Seeing as you are probably (hopefully) in better shape than most and have more endurance, maybe you can lose it a bit faster (5lbs a week). So maybe a total of15- 20 lbs in a month if you are lucky and try hard. As far as how many inches that is, I have no clue.

The bodywraps are okay. Those make you lose water weight, so you'll be less bloated (if you are a guy, you probably aren't as bloated to begin with). Just drink more water and stay hydrated and you won't retain water (get bloated) and won't need the silly wrap.

Answer 4

Try this it was invented by a dietitian for obese people who need an operation in two weeks time.
There is enough for one week so freeze half freshly made to last the week.
I cheated and did it for a whole month every other month went from a 40in waist to a 32in without to much effort.

Operation Soup

Ingredients.

3 large onions
1 large or two small green peppers
1 bunch of celery
½ head of green cabbage
1 leek
2 tin chopped tomatoes
1 packet of French onion soup (any brand)
3 vegetable stock cubes (I use oxo)

Cut all vegetables into bite size pieces if your not going to liquidize.
Place all in a large pot add enough water to cover.
Simmer until vegetables are cooked add more water if necessary.

NOTE
To be eaten as a two meal replacement (largest and the smallest).
You can still have a light lunch or light evening meal.
Should not exceed 5 days at a time and 10 days a month.
You will pass more water so make sure you keep up your water intake.

Answer 5

Okay honestly you need to eat breakfest, snack, lunch with salad, snack (fruit) dinner, Snack (dessert). If you eat this schedule with small portions you will be able to loose weight. Add in excersise at least 30 mins a day will help you loose more weight. No pop if you are serious or coffee. You can do this. just watch porportions. And for the dark circles there is actually a product I use from MaryKay cosmetics and it is awesome. It also helps with bags. It instantly sucks them in. Awesome for those brides who go out drinking the night before the wedding. For your chubbiness crunches work wonders. Do them in bed so your back won't hurt as much as if you used the hard floor. Good luck.

Answer 6

don't know if u want to try the product that i am selling on internet???? It costs AU$30 per bottle for one month supply. I am on this product as well and i don't have any side effects. I was 55kg a week before and lost 5kgs in 2 weeks. I've got good feedback from all of my clients and they all stay in sharp now. u can contact me if u are interested. I always look up for good diet pills that works and introduce to the people who wants to be slim as i was fat when i was young. i understand how painful everytime when u look at the mirror and u see all the unwanted fat hanging around u.

Answer 7

Don't use weightloss pills, okay!!! Stay active by eating the right food , exercising ,and staying active with sports that involves moving.

Answer 8

south beach diet, and work out every day. since you don't have a job (from my understanding) you should have lots of time to work out.

Answer 9

read tips on weight loss and exercise programs to better help you on this site

Answer 10

starve yourself..... i mean go on a diet and work out.... but mostly starve yourself

ps. dont starve yourself!