Is losing 46 pounds in a little over 4 months a lot?

Question

I want to lose about 46 pounds by the leap year day which is Feb. 29, 2008 because I'm borderline overweight. Can I accomplish this if I stick to my diet/exercise regimen?

Answer 1

Okay, my answer isn't nearly as detailed as the first person's, but I'll throw in my personal experience. I did Weight Watchers, and properly.. I lost just over 40 pounds in about 4 1/2 months. (the first month I lost A LOT, then it regulated after that). If you really hit the diet and exercise it should be possible, but don't push yourself too hard. Goals are great because they give you something to look forward to. Do your best, follow your program, and you will succeed no matter what.

Answer 2

It sounds reasonable, to me. The important thing isn't that you diet, but that you form good food habits -- like having fruit for dessert instead of ice cream, or eating more veggies. Also, that you form good exercise habits. Then, even if you don't make your goal by Leap Year Day, you still have these good habits you formed to help keep you healthy.

Be flexible. If your diet/exercise regimen is not giving you the results you want (2 pounds off a week), then pump up the exercise, and/or substitute more low-calorie foods for high-calorie foods. The results you get the first week or two should be phenonmenol, because your body is losing water as well as fat. The results will slow down in week three, but losing 2 pounds a week should still be reasonable. If you are losing more than 2 pounds after week three, you might consider adding in some healthy "treats" -- it'll make your diet more interesting, and also prevent skin flappies from losing weight too quickly. Good luck!

Answer 3

Losing 46 pounds in 4 months seems to be a reasonable goal. In college and graduate school, I was always taught by nutritionists and exercise physiologists that losing 2-3 pounds per week is the optimal goal for a nutritional/exercise regimen. A person who loses more than this weight is generally losing a significant amount of muscle mass, which would not be healthy. If you are serious about losing this weight, make sure you write down your goals and stick to them religiously. In order to maintain muscle mass while significantly changing your diet, it is advised to begin a resistance exercise program in addition to an aerobic program. I can tell you from research done at University of Maryland (my alma mater) and many other research universities, that walking OR running one mile will burn, on average 100-110 calories. Running will burn the same amount only faster. Do not expect to burn more than 500 calories a day simply exercising. You also need to realize that significantly changing your diet abruptly will not be effective for a while. Meaning that your metabolism will drop, and weight loss will probably not be experienced initially. In order to maintain metabolism levels while dieting, you should eat up to 5 small meals per day, especially breakfast. This will maintain the rest and digest mode of your body, and will promote metabolism. Metabolism is tricky and you might want to do some searching for further answers. The human body burns more calories simply through processes of living than any other exercise you can do (on average a human will burn 1200-1300 calories a day simply by being awake). In order to determine the amount of calories burned per day, add 1200 to however many calories you burn through exercise (including activities such as simply walking to your car and even getting up to turn the TV on, as these activities obviously burn calories as well). Drink plenty of water, and remember the bottom line for weightloss: burn more calories than you ingest, and you will lose weight.

Answer 4

You can probably get close.

Okay...Here we go!

This is my theory and this is what works for me. Everyone is different so it may need to be adjusted to your own personal needs.

Energy In/Energy Out

Food Intake: 1,200 Per Day

One Pound equals 3,500 Calories

To loose one pound per day, You need to burn your food intake plus your one pound of fat

1,200 (intake) + 3,500 (Outtake) = 4,700 Calories Burn

You must burn at least 4,700 Calories everyday to loose one pound at least. It is very easy to go up and beyond 4,700 calories each day.

Best way to do this is to track your progress on a calorie counter monitor watch. If you do it by the numbers you can loose the weight. It is just a matter of changing the way you think about weight loss.

Once you start wearing your calorie counter you can see the numbers increase and you fill find yourself doing extra things in your day, like tapping your foot while waiting at the light in your car, chewing gum, singing out loud and so on onto of your workout routines. You begin to see that everything you do in your day contributes to the overall numbers needed to loose that pound.

I, myself, have done this recently. Two weeks later, I lost one pant size and 10 pounds. And that is just my current progress. I have used this method previously after childbirth and have gone from 168 to 127 pounds with in two months.

I personally burn 1,000 calories by Walking in my community for one hour in the morning and I also burn 1,000 calories by simply using a stationary bike while playing xbox. I get so involved in playing xbox that I completely forget I am pedaling or working out. Think about it..How many hours have you spent playing video games..why not burn calories while you are doing it.

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Water Intake/Less Storage

Most people do not get enough water in their system. Water is your body's principal chemical component, comprising, on average, 60 to 80 percent of your weight. Every system in your body depends on water. For example, water flushes toxins out of vital organs, carries nutrients to your cells and provides a moist environment for ear, nose and throat tissues.

Lack of water can lead to dehydration, a condition that occurs when you don't have enough water in your body to carry out normal functions. To determine if you are getting enough water use this simple formula.. Take your weight, for example 150 pounds and divide by 2. Take your answer which is 75 lbs and change it to ounces, in this case 75 ounces. That is how many ounces of water you need a day. Your body performs mostly on water. If you make sure you get enough water everyday your body will perform at top notch and your body will no longer have the cravings of junk food. You will have a better performing body system to help you work out and feel better thru out your day.

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Good Food

My favorite things to eat:

Avocado Wraps

Simple: Low Carb Tortilla, Half Avocado sliced, alpha sprouts, lettuce, soy bacon...Just wrap it up and eat. You can vary the things you put inside so long as you keep it to approx 4 or 5 items. You want to make sure they are fresh, low calorie and filling. Avocado and mushrooms can replace meats in your meal and still have great taste.

Special K Cereals are fantastic. They have that sweetness that one craves and is so good for you. Calories are low. Great for even just dinner.

First thing in the morning...A Glass of Chocolate Milk. Yup!! Chocolate Milk. We all crave that "got to have" item in the morning. Milk is the best thing you can have for yourself while working out. The chocolate (and you can use Carnation Instant Milk for this but I simply use Nestle dry mix) will give you that sweet "snack" that you need. If you give your body a little bit of it and its in a control way, you will not crave sweets and junk the rest of the day.

Lean Cuisines

Fantastic food! Each meal is approx 180 t0 380 calories per box. So think about your calories. 1,200...You can still have several of these meals a day and still be under your intake requirements.

It’s all about the numbers and watching what you take in and what you burn out. And you know what..If you go over your 1,200 mark for food intake...that’s okay...you simple up your total calories burned for the day by what you took it. So long as you burn off the over all calories to be more than your food intake. Just make sure you stick too it so you can reach your weight loss goals.

Fruits and Veggies

All you want on the schedule listed below.
Bananas are my favorite. They are very filling and can make a meal all on their own.

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Vitamins

My favorite is ONE A DAY WITH ENERGY...I am in love with this vitamin because I am just like everyone else who loves those quick fix energy drinks. But what people do not realize is that energy drinks can contain 120 to 440 calories in just ONE Can. If you think about it..That is HALF of your allowed calories for food intake. The best alternative I have found is One a day with energy vitamin. Easy to spot, it is packaged in a green label bottle. Just One vitamin a day will give you as much energy as approx. 1 1/2 cans of red bull...WITHOUT the calorie intake.
WoW..now your making progress already because you have made more room in your intake calories for actual healthy food.

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Soda/Carbonation

Carbonation is terrible for your system because it bloats your stomach. And when your stomach bloats, your jeans just don't fit. You can drop one pant size simply by NOT drinking any carbonated drinks all together..Take away the bloat and you have instantly just made it one pant size lower. Besides, Sodas dehydrate you and with that One a Day Vitamin, you won't need the Caffeine in the soda and it will also cut out those extra calories that you don't need.
So remove that soda and the energy drinks and just think how much calories you just instantly removed from your daily intake. I normally consume what...four sodas and two energy drinks in one day...that is a total of .... 900 calories. Of what??? Nothing...Those are horrible calories and calories that can be replaced by food which will fuel your body for your day and your workouts.

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Your Body

Your body is like a computer. You must program your body to do what it is suppose to do so it won't crash and leave you with a virus. Your stomach is only the size of your fist. So think about it right now, Look at your hand and close your fist. Not very big is it. That is how much food you actually ONLY need to eat, each time you eat for every meal. If you eat anything more than that, you will stretch out your stomach which causes overeating and overweight.

What you need to do is eat every three hours, approx 5 to 7 times everyday around the same time. If you are always giving your body healthy and better food choices (the size of your fist) every three hours, your body will know you are giving it food. It will use that food properly. It will not go into starvation mode or store food away for later because it knows...it will get more in three hours. So what does your body do...it flushes everything out of your system because it doesn't need it.. Now it knows...you wont' forget about it and that food is on its way.

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Walking Buddy

This is the best thing especially for woman. Get a walking buddy. One hour everyday. Just think about how much talking, venting and laughing two woman can do together while walking and yup, you guessed it...it just burns more calories and reduces your stress. You now are more relaxed because you can talk and free yourself of whatever is frustrating you while getting into shape.

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By: My own experience/Joyceeleann