How much can I expect by Christmas??

Assuming I can get my act together and stop binging every weekend, how much can I expect to lose by Christmas??  I'm on the verge of giving up.  I'm getting tired of "starting my diet".

depends on your plan... you can easily lose 2 lbs a week healthily.  What are your stats?

37

5' 5'

177 lbs

Morganbclaw is right...depending on your plan and your metabolism, you should be able to lose 2 lbs/wk, which should put you in at about 15lbs.  However, that means you have to really eat well and start exercising more.  In order to lose 2 lbs a week, you need to burn 1000 calories more a day than you consume.  Realistically, you need to eat around 1200 calories and burn 2200.  This is because one pound is equal to 3500 calories.  If you eat 3,500 calories more than your body needs, you will put on about 1 pound. If you use up 3,500 calories more than you eat, you will lose about 1 pound in weight...In one week, to lose 2 lbs, you need to burn 7000 calories over your intake amount.  I am the same height at you  and weight about 150.  I am just starting to try and lose 2lbs per week until Christmas too...GOOD LUCK!  :)

I'd suggest you stop 'starting a diet'.  It's obviously not working for you so - rather like the fly that keeps bashing itself against the window-pane trying to get outside - find a different way rather than repeating the same mistake.  Starving yourself all week is the best way to binge all weekend.... so the 1000 cal deficit suggested above is a terrible idea.  (Sorry maringrl but you're going to crash and burn with that plan)  Don't set a weight-loss goal for Christmas, that only adds to the pressure.

I'd suggest something less draconian than& nbsp;slashing calories to get the ball rolling and that would be to aim for a healthier lifestyle instead.  I don't know what your particular bad habits are but that's the place to start.    Simple things like.... eating 5-a-day fruit and veg..... eating fewer sugary snacks and more fruit....  eating breakfast every day..... drinking less alcohol and more water..... thinking about how to manage your weekend ahead of time instead of falling into the same old behaviour pattern..... getting half an hour of activity into your day. 

If you try to replace a bad habit with a better one and make small changes consistently then you'll feel a lot more enthusiastic and you'll notice your weight will come down steadily and permanently.  If you keep 'starting a diet', you'll get nowhere.  

I agree with gi-jane.

As much as I'm really starting to despise the term "healthy lifestyle" due to hearing it ad nauseum, it's worked for me.

I've lost about 12 pounds since the end of last January. That's a whopping 12 pounds in 9 months or so, and I'm thrilled with the results. As I wasn't very heavy to begin with, relatively speaking (I started at about 168 and 5'8"), it came off slowly. I exercise, do strength and cardio, and I eat healthy. However, I just cannot restrict my food too much. I love cooking, I love eating the food I cook.

This is what has worked for me. I know that I can last about a week on a "diet," and I'll be miserable the entire time. Now, I eat a balanced diet at about 1800-2000 cal/day, run a minimal deficit, but I've been happily able to stick to it for the better part of a years. Hope this helps.

That's fine and all GIJane...However, the question posed was not how to lose weight...it was if I get my act together how much can I lose by Christmas?!  Everyone knows that you need a "healthy lifestyle" to lose weight...as there are a million news articles about it everytime you turn around.  This site tells you that losing 2 lbs a week is "healthy" and in order to do that you have to burn 7000 calories over what you intake per week.  It is just math and a biological fact...as 1 lb = 3500 calories.  Sure, you can eat 2000 calories, it doesn't have to be 1200 a day, but then you need to burn 3000 calories a day to lose that 2 lbs a week that this web site tells you to lose safely.  Of course, as always, there is no quick fix and the only way to maintain a goal weight is to change your lifestyle.  Once you reach it, figure out how many calories/day you burn and then eat that many during the day.  Don't give up everything you love, moderation is the key.  The biggest deal is will power.

Technically, the most weight you can safely lose per week is 1% of your weight rather than the blanket 1 or 2 pounds a week.  So, if you weigh 150, you can't safely lose more than 1.5 pounds a week.  Similarly, if you started at 300 pounds, you'd actually be okay to lose 3 pounds a week.

I am 5'7 158 pounds 32 years old.  Would anyone tell me how much weight I would be able to lose by christmas and how I can do that safely?