How can I lose 14 pounds in a month?

[meatmona20]

In 5'6 and 170 pounds and I would like to know how I could lose this weigt I always try to eat healthily but when I eat a chocolate or something sweet I just keep eating more and more so can anyone help me to try and keep motivated and tell me what is the best way to lose this weight? Thanks

[anunitu]

Re: How can I lose 14 pounds in a month?

Throw out the chocolates first thing,if you can't control your consumption. To lose weight I would say moderation in everything. Even eating to much of healthy food will cause weight gain.

[thalassa]

Re: How can I lose 14 pounds in a month?

Well, first of all...losing more than 2 lbs a week isn't really healthy. Realistically, if you are aiming for 2 lbs a week loss (which is medically the max recommended), you would need at least 7 weeks. In which case, you need to track what you eat--specifically HOW MUCH you are eating and how many calories as well as how much you are exercising. Sometimes its good to just track what you are actually eating for the week, just to see where you are...before trying to stick to the calories you need for weight loss. Then you need to figure out how many calories you should be eating to maintain your weight, for your height, gender and age...theoretically, one pound=3500 calories, or 500 calories less than what your daily calorie intake is to maintain your weight... And then, you need to exercise, because the average person can't reduce their ideal calorie intake by 1000 calories and still be healthy (though most people eat too many calories in a day because they underestimate portion size, in which case, cutting 1000 calories a day from your actual intake of food generally isn't that hard). I have found that TRX and running shed weight and do some awesome toning...even though I hate to run.

[Jembru]

Re: How can I lose 14 pounds in a month?

Well, first of all...losing more than 2 lbs a week isn't really healthy. Realistically, if you are aiming for 2 lbs a week loss (which is medically the max recommended), you would need at least 7 weeks. In which case, you need to track what you eat--specifically HOW MUCH you are eating and how many calories as well as how much you are exercising. Sometimes its good to just track what you are actually eating for the week, just to see where you are...before trying to stick to the calories you need for weight loss. Then you need to figure out how many calories you should be eating to maintain your weight, for your height, gender and age...theoretically, one pound=3500 calories, or 500 calories less than what your daily calorie intake is to maintain your weight... And then, you need to exercise, because the average person can't reduce their ideal calorie intake by 1000 calories and still be healthy (though most people eat too many calories in a day because they underestimate portion size, in which case, cutting 1000 calories a day from your actual intake of food generally isn't that hard). I have found that TRX and running shed weight and do some awesome toning...even though I hate to run.

This! Seriously, take Thal's advice. The temptation to lose a lot of weight quickly, is hard to resist, and there are crash diets that can deliver faster results, but trust me, you will end up finding it harder and harder to keep the weight off. I crash dieted for years and my metabolism is f****d. I have unsightly stretch marks on my thighs and hips from rapidly losing then gaining weight and I was recently diagnosed with hypothyroidism, most likely a result of my obsession with weight control. This causes me to have dry brittle hair and nails and to constantly feel cold. It is quite possibly also the cause of my irratic and painful periods. A sluggish thyroid also means you gain weight more easily and have to work a lot harder to stay slim (to maintain my weight, I have to exercise daily and I can't eat more than 1,450 cals a day, which is the right amount for my height and build, and I am still not skinny).

If I had only done as Thal has suggested, and lost weight slowly, this damage could have been avoided. I wouldn't be obsessively counting the calories I consume, or worrying that I won't have time to exercise. I wouldn't have to wear a jacket, even in the summer, or be self-conscious in a swimming costume because of those horrible silver lines on my legs.

Take Thal's advice.. lose the weight slowly and never ever be tempted to eat less than 1,200 cals a day. Sure, it could take 6 months, maybe a year, before you reach your desired weight, but you'll be healthier and less likely to pile the pounds back on.

As for the cravings, I've recently been experiementing with some techniques called 'EFT' and 'Havening'. They're slightly different, but both involve tapping points of your body. I'm using it to treat dysmorphic thoughts, in particular those that cause me anxiety when I am in public, but I've noticed that tapping is a popular technique for dealing with food cravings. It looks and feels kinda silly, but I must say, so far it seems to be working for me at least. Give it a try...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9kJN6ZVBco

[volcaniclastic]

Re: How can I lose 14 pounds in a month?

Everything above is all sound advice, but I just thought I'd mention that if you remove wheat and sugar from your diet, you'll lose weight. (I know, I know, I'm the bloody 'no sugar' advocate now!)

Wheat + sugar = carbs. Carbs in the diet get turned into glucose in the body, excess glucose turns into visceral fat. You gotta do it healthy though. Getting rid of wheat and sugar is great, but you need to replace those calories with something. I eat lots of good fats and protein (LOTS of protein) ...and I'm actually losing weight this way. And I feel healthier, to boot.

#sugarnazi

[Jembru]

Re: How can I lose 14 pounds in a month?

I'd only advocate avoiding sugar and wheat if you replace them with other 'healthier' carbs. I'm quite vocally against low carb diets, especially the Atkins crap. Cut out ANY food group, and you're gonna lose weight, because your body then has to manufacture whatever it is you've cut out, from something else. Of course, cutting out protein would be extremely dangerous, which only leaves carbs and fat.

Low carb diets are like any crash diet, in that they cause the body to dehydrate, giving the impression of rapid weight loss in the first few weeks. It also depletes glycogen in the body which is extremely harmful for muscles (and can cause muscle loss, which in turn reduces your metabolism, leading to issues pretty much the same as I am facing). I've also heard, although I'm not sure what the mechanism behind it is, that low carb diets lead to depression. I imagine it would be very hard to get enough fiber on a low carb diet too.

I'm not disagreeing with volcaniclastic though.. she's right, cutting out refined carbs (sugar, white bread etc..) and reducing wheat intake, ARE very good ideas. I just wanted to warn against cutting out ALL carbs, in case that's what you thought she meant.

[Dez]

Re: How can I lose 14 pounds in a month?

On the flip side, there are some very legitimate medical conditions for properly done low-carb diets. If it is almost impossible to stop eating sugar and carbs when you start, And loosing weight under normal circumstances(more exercise, less food) is abnormally hard, you might want to get checked out by a doctor and make sure you aren't having insulin/pre-diabetic issues.

[Siloh]

Re: How can I lose 14 pounds in a month?

By posting here, I risk sounding extraordinarily pedantic. I apologize in advance. My suggestions will be voiced with authority, but you should see if this works for you or not; I'm not a physician, and I'm certainly not your physician.

-Water
You should be drinking approximately 60 oz. of water a day. If you drink dramatically less than this, start slowly. I suggest drinking 8 oz. of water in the morning after waking and about every two hours after that, but that must be balanced with regular meals (don't wash out your system without providing more nutrients). If you drink coffee, try to drink 4-6 oz of water for every mug of coffee; it dehydrates you immensely. Tea also. I also recommend drinking your water before eating something, even a snack.

Depending on how your water habits stand right now...
If you drink maybe 30 oz a day now, I recommend starting slowly. Try to drink 1-3 of your daily glasses fairly quickly, while you may want to use the others to sip on instead of having excessive snacks. When I start feeling peckish, I will try to drink a glass of water first, and wait a bit after I finish it to decide whether or not I am actually hungry.

If you drink about 50 oz a day, push yourself a little. Get comfortable with drinking water more quickly and staying hydrated throughout the day. Eventually shoot for over 60 oz depending on your overall lifestyle (taking food and exercises into account.

Unless you are drinking Gatorade/Powerade in tandem with water because you aren't able to sustain your electrolytes through your diet, I recommend not drinking anything as a replacement for water, such as soda or juice, unless it is a very small glass that you are counting among your sweets for the day.

-Diet
I recommend looking for information on macrobiotic diets. The Kushi Institute has a website that would be very reliable. Pay close attention to food pyramids/percentages of food categories present in a balanced meal. The basic premise is unprocessed, local, seasonal. That means meat and dairy are out. I did very well simply monitoring my cheese intake carefully and steering clear of the direct use of milk and butter, using substitutes when necessary or otherwise just being very conscious and careful with those foods.

In terms of meat. Fish once or twice a week, wild caught, is recommended. I would say this stands for poultry as well, depending on your resources.

-Food to Rouse the Metabolism
This may sound a little crazy, but here are foods that can help boost your metabolism.
Celery
Grapefruit
Daikon radish

I recommend including celery in salads, eating grapefruit with a modest drizzle of honey as a morning snack, and getting dried daikon radish. It looks hairy. Add it to soups; it's particularly good in red miso for breakfast.

-Overall special notes
Remember to eat your pickled food and attempt to incorporate many kinds of greens and stick to whole grains.

Don't rush yourself. Incorporate lifestyle/dietary changes one at a time, and pair these changes with regular exercise (especially before meals) such as walking, even if just going up and down some available stairs while you're waiting on something, such as cooking food. I also used to like incorporating short high-intensity (push-ups, sit-ups) or long low intensity (look up the "Superman" pose or static leg lifts) exercises into my TV/Internet/lounging time or intermittently while I was studying (helps with brain power!).

Good luck and take it easy!

---------- Post added at 09:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:36 PM ----------

Note: I disregarded your time goal. I lost quite a lot of weight pretty darned quickly through these and other methods, but I also messed some things up sometimes by being too extreme, and it's really no good. Today these are my basic principles for feeling healthy and maintaining my figure. They may not work equally for you. And I wouldn't set such rigid limits on such a process. Our bodies need time to adapt to any changes we make daily.

---------- Post added at 09:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:40 PM ----------

Oh, and chocolate is okay in moderation. I recommend springing for the super dark kind or getting chocolate covered almonds for the healthier options. Just commit to a stipend based on any other treats you feel are important in your life (such as soda, juices, butter, cheese, etc).

[volcaniclastic]

Re: How can I lose 14 pounds in a month?

A point I hadn't noticed. Maybe you want to post an introduction to this forum, instead of just coming here and seeking weight loss advice. There are other forums for that.

[Jembru]

Re: How can I lose 14 pounds in a month?

A point I hadn't noticed. Maybe you want to post an introduction to this forum, instead of just coming here and seeking weight loss advice. There are other forums for that.

You don't suppose that maybe what he really wanted, was some kind of spell or potion that would do the work for him? If only!!! ^^

[Juniper]

Re: How can I lose 14 pounds in a month?

Everything above is all sound advice, but I just thought I'd mention that if you remove wheat and sugar from your diet, you'll lose weight. (I know, I know, I'm the bloody 'no sugar' advocate now!)

Wheat + sugar = carbs. Carbs in the diet get turned into glucose in the body, excess glucose turns into visceral fat. You gotta do it healthy though. Getting rid of wheat and sugar is great, but you need to replace those calories with something. I eat lots of good fats and protein (LOTS of protein) ...and I'm actually losing weight this way. And I feel healthier, to boot.

#sugarnazi

This!!! I'm walking proof that this works. I've been on a diet for 2 months and I've cut out 95% wheat products, sugars and even dairy. I've not only lost weight, but I FEEL a hell of a lot better (and more attractive, even without people noticing the weight loss). My skin is better, too, which is a direct result of the no-wheat thing. I had some fish and chips the other day though, and the next day, I break out. So, I support V's comment 1000%.


Also, if you haven't already done so, make sure you drink LOTS of water.

[Shahaku]

Re: How can I lose 14 pounds in a month?

Some things to consider when you start drinking lots of water:

I've heard that water thins out the acid in your stomach and this makes sense to me. When the acid is thinner your stomach breaks down food less efficiently and you get less nutrients from the food you eat. This also makes sense to me. So, when you eat something with a lot of nutrients and/or substances that you don't want to absorb, drinking water while eating will help you lose weight. However, when you're eating "good" food (whole fruits and vegetables, lean meats, whole grains, etc) you want to absorb as many of those good nutrients as possible so avoiding drinking water then helps your body get the things it needs.

Also, drinking a large glass of water when you first wake up usually takes away much of the morning hunger. Many people confuse hunger with thirst. If you feel hungry but have ate what your body needs, try drinking water to get rid of the hunger pains.

Another thing: eat small meals often. Eating only three times a day, with no snack between, could potentially make your body feel like it is back in hunter-gather mode in which food is less available and therefore make your body feel like it needs to store up more fat. If you eat six small meals a day, of three meals with snacks between, you can avoid this.

[Jembru]

Re: How can I lose 14 pounds in a month?

Some things to consider when you start drinking lots of water:

I've heard that water thins out the acid in your stomach and this makes sense to me. When the acid is thinner your stomach breaks down food less efficiently and you get less nutrients from the food you eat. This also makes sense to me. So, when you eat something with a lot of nutrients and/or substances that you don't want to absorb, drinking water while eating will help you lose weight. However, when you're eating "good" food (whole fruits and vegetables, lean meats, whole grains, etc) you want to absorb as many of those good nutrients as possible so avoiding drinking water then helps your body get the things it needs.

Also, drinking a large glass of water when you first wake up usually takes away much of the morning hunger. Many people confuse hunger with thirst. If you feel hungry but have ate what your body needs, try drinking water to get rid of the hunger pains.

Thanks for this information. I often worry that my body won't absorb nutrients and anything I can do to help it is good. I always drink water with meals, but I think I'll stop that now.

[thalassa]

Re: How can I lose 14 pounds in a month?

Water doesn't really thin out your stomach acid... Sure, it adds some volume (but even 8 oz of water is less in volume that the amount of food most people eat), but mostly it just raises the pH of your stomach acid (as does all the food you eat), which isn't a big deal because your stomach just produces more acid--its part of digesting food, period. And digestion happens from the time you start chewing--when sugars are converted to starch, and then in the stomach--where enzymes and acid break protiens apart...but nutrient absorption actually takes place in your small intestine, where different types of bacteria specialize in digesting different types of food. How well you absorb nutrients (or not) and which ones you absorb actually starts with your personal bacterial makeup of your gut. Water really doesn't affect this, since its all one big soup going though your gut anyhow (and if anything, most people with typically western diets don't have enough water because of all caffine and sodium they imbible anyhow).

[Jembru]

Re: How can I lose 14 pounds in a month?

So I should just continue drinking water with meals?

There was actually a cool experiment carried out on a TV I saw recently called 'Ten things you should know about losing weight'. They took a group of soldiers and fed half of them soup and the other half, the same ingredients as in the soup (meat and veg) in solid form, but with a drink of water instead of the water being added.

They then sent the guys off to do some training and at different intervals, brought them back for a scan to measure the volume of their stomachs. Even though they had both consumed the same basic ingredients, those who'd had the soup were full for considerably longer. It was really strange because I'd have assumed liquidising the food gave the stomach a head start. Apparently it doesn't, it just makes it take up more space in the stomach while it is being digested, so it takes longer to feel hungry again. The whole show was pretty cool because you got to actually watch the experiements and see the results. It's much easier for me to accept information about diet and nutrition, if I can actually see the evidence. It is such a flakey science; a field jam-packed with people who got their qualifications in a fortnight via the internet.

Really, I think it matters very little what kind of diet one follows. No matter what the 'science' is claiming, if you burn more calories than you eat, you're gonna lose weight sooner or later and vice versa.