Is it possible....?
I really, really want to loose 15 pounds in the next 5 and a half weeks. That would mean I would need to loose about 3 pounds a week. In the past two and a half weeks I have lost about 8 pounds.
I have done this by eating healthy and exercising almost every day. Generally, my diet looks something like this:
Breakfast:
-egg beaters scrambled with spinach & tomatoes OR a yogurt
-small bowl of fresh fruit
-coffee with fat free half & half
Lunch:
-salad with chicken and oil & vinegar dressing OR half a sandwich with turkey american cheese, roasted red peppers and lettuce
-an orange OR grapes & strawberries
-diet coke
Dinner:
-a lean cuisine OR
-a sandwich (like the one listed above) OR
-small bowl of pasta with homemade pasta sauce (tomatoes, garlic, basil, olive oil)
At the gym I usually do the elliptical for about 45 minutes to an hour, getting rid of anywhere from 400-600 calories.
Also, I drink a ton of water. Usually about 10-12 glasses per day.
So if I continue this will my weight lose of 15 pounds (actually want it to be by March 25th) be possible??
Would appreciate any advice...
-K
3 pounds per week? Unlikely.
You can try that plan and expect to lose a pound and a half a week I'm guessing.
3 pounds a week is a little high. I'm keeping mine at 2 a week which is what is recomended. Also what I've learnt from previous experiances is loss tends to slow down after a month or so. There will also be weeks that you gain which was last week for me and this is because of that monthly nightmare called my period. I always gain about 2 pounds the week leading up.
Jenny: Do you loose that 2 pounds and then some after? Or does it just level out?
This is my first 'real' diet, so I'm pretty new on all this stuff.
Also, I had heard that 2 pounds is the healthy amount to be loosing per week, but why in the past 2 weeks have I lost 8 pounds already then? And I did it just by the following what I wrote above...
The human body confuses me!
First, the 8 lbs you have lost is probably partly water weight. Second, it sounds like you are not eating anywhere near enough. What's your age/weight/height? You can lose a lot of weight fast by starving, but you will put it back on (and then some, most likely). A crash diet means depriving your body so it then reacts by clinging to every morsel of food by shutting down nont-essential functions and doing other baqd things. If you want to lose weight permanently, you need to figure out (using the "tools" here) what you burn as a minimum for your age/ht/wt, figure out how many more cals you burn with activity, and then eat about 500-1000 cals less than that. No female adult should eat fewer than 1200 calories, but that is far too few calories for a healthy, sustainable weight loss for most (and no female teen should eat fewer than 1500 cals).
A healthy amount is about 1% of your body weight so unless you already weigh over 200, a healthy loss is likely to be less than 2 lbs/week. There is no FAST permanent and healthy way to lose; there is a healthy way to lose permanently and it is not really "fast" (relatively speaking).
Original Post by karinalee:
Generally, my diet looks something like this:
Breakfast:
-egg beaters scrambled with spinach & tomatoes very good OR a yogurt not as good
-small bowl of fresh fruit good, but try to limit your fruit to 100 calories a day and eat with protien only (like the eggs) to minimize insulin response
-coffee with fat free half & half
Lunch:
-salad with chicken and oil & vinegar dressing very good OR half a sandwich with turkey american cheese, roasted red peppers and lettuce good, eat the whole sandwich though and skip the condiments and cheese - use whole wheat bread
-an orange OR grapes & strawberries again, try to limit fruit to 100 calories a day. Substitue fat free yogurt maybe instead of the fruit.
-diet coke
Dinner:
-a lean cuisine OR bah .... not real food
-a sandwich (like the one listed above) OR good, but skip the cheese and if you had a sandwich for lunch don't eat bread again
-small bowl of pasta with homemade pasta sauce (tomatoes, garlic, basil, olive oil) pasta and bread cause a higher insulin response than say brown rice or sweet potato, so you'd be better to actually cook a meal that includes a lean protien, brown rice, and fiberous veggies
So if I continue this will my weight lose of 15 pounds (actually want it to be by March 25th) be possible??
Would appreciate any advice...
-K
3 pounds a week is a pretty tough goal - it can be done, but I wouldn't recommend it as a long term weight loss strategy. Keeping your blood sugars stable is thought to promote weight loss, couldn't hurt to watch the sugars.
I'm 5'8 and currently weigh 160 pounds. Really wanted to get down to 145 by the end of March since it is my 22nd birthday and I'm going away to Miami for it with friends and my crush...I know how I'm dieting isn't super healthy, but I thought I was doing OK because I am eating nutritiously and I surprisingly have not been feeling overly hungry. Plus, I really feel if I get down to the weight I want to be at, that I will be able to maintain it since I would feel so good about myself. I should have started this diet sooner, but it has just been recently that things in my life have settled down enough to be able to have a proper schedule...
Also, I am fairly sedentary (at my job I'm sitting in a cubical most of the day), but I do do cardio for 45 minutes every day.
Like others have said, 3 lbs a week is a pretty lofty goal. I actually don't think if you lost it that fast you would be able to maintain it just because you were happy about the way you look.
Basically when you're too restrictive when dieting, you will be more inclined to have days when you just can't control your eating and end up undoing all the hard work. I mean denial is never an easy thing to live with...
And yes, the first few pounds usually come off fairly easily because it's water weight. On a more positive note, it's good that you're up for losing the 15. Just keep up the healthy eating and exercise plan and I'm sure you be lighter when you go to Miami-- maybe not 145 though :)
Maybe try not to be so concerned about the numbers. I know easier said than done 
Even if you only lost another 8 lbs (a more healthy goal), that is really a lot when you don't have all that much to loose, and you would feel great. If you push yourself to extremes to make a deadline or a specific number, I think it would likely be what the others said and even if you did make the goal it would be hard to maintain.
What about finding other ways to have a healthy goal? Sounds like you work out a lot, have you taken your measurements? A lot of time people see more changes in inches than numbers.
At 5'8 160, you are just barely outside your healthy range. I bet you are beautiful as you are. Be kind to yourself in this process. 145 is just a number. 
Not sure if you'll loose that much in that time frame. As others have said, it's not healthy to loose that much so fast. But on the other hand, I've been doing my best to follow the calories CC has told me to shoot for (1650), and I've been working out atbout 4-500 calorie burns at the gym 5 days a week....and atop that I also do one of my DVDs every day (20-30 min) and on the weekend too (30-50 min). In 6 weeks time I have lost 22 lbs. Which averages slightly more than 3 lbs per week but it was not my intention. (though, I had lost 8 lbs my first week-as my diet was changed so severely I am sure to have been consuming 3-4K cals a day prior, and I got badly sick for a week so that made me get another boost in my loss--but I didn't regain that weight amazingly enough) You may need to up your cals a bit if you are working out. Try those South Beach High Protein Cereal bars after your workout or before lunch, and maybe add a fruit after dinner! I know it makes no sense, but like they say if you are not taking in enough and working out too much which would make your deficit over 1000 per day, your body will go into starvation mode and not let you loose anything despite all your efforts! I would concentrate on just doing the best you can. Your best effort will at least produce some results, and that itself is great. You may not be exactly where you want to be when you want to be there, but you will get to that goal soon enough. It's not far off. Just get busy and see what you can do! :)
Karina...sounds like you're heading towards the right track...it is really hard to hit 3lbs a week..
Healthy weight loss is like 1-2lbs a week. I just changed up my routine and I started hitting some high numbers last week, that I wasn't expecting.
But I think that may help is like someone else said look under tools "Calorie Target" that will tell you how many Calories you need a day to hit your goal. But you also do need a minimum intake on Calories Women 1200 and Men 1500. If you don't at least get your min you could be burning muscle. But from the diet above you're heading in the right direction. I would just try to get some more protein in your diet. You could also try oatmeal in the morning...
Also make sure you're changing up your routine. Doing the same routine everyday you can easily plato because your body is now used to what you are doing. Classes really helped me with that cuz the instructor really changes it up...I go to a power flex and step class and spin class...Spin class really helps you burn lot.
So just some advice...
