Author Topic: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?  (Read 10772 times)

MrsSpendyPants

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Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« on: April 25, 2020, 07:59:38 PM »
Ah, tried on some work clothes today and realized I had gained a ton of weight during quarantine - 17lbs!  I cannot buy a new professional wardrobe plus I'm partially in sales so I need to get back to my old weight asap.  What is the best way to lose a minimum of ten pounds by the end of May?  I've been trying the eat once a day fasting for the last week and don't seem to be budging.  30 year old female.

Things I can't do:
-Can't eat a lot of fresh things since we only grocery shop once a month during the quarantine.  We do have frozen vegetables though.
-I have absolutely no time for exercise as I am working full time but I walk around my twenty acres for at least an hour chasing my toddler around.  I'm pretty winded after having to carry him around up hills when he gets tired.
-I can't do something not feasible like not eating for multiple days in a row.

Things I can do:
-I can do keto/intermittent fasting/eat a low variety of diet.  I can do anything needed for a month to lose the weight and then hopefully by then we're back at work and I can go back to my usual routine.  What is the healthiest and most efficient way to get this goal accomplished?
-I have a lot of frozen chicken and meat and we have chickens/ducks so lots of eggs available.
-My choice of liquid is green tea with stevia so I don't drink any calories.

Suggestions?  Help?

Thank you!

GuitarStv

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #1 on: April 25, 2020, 08:53:30 PM »
Go for bike rides.


In the summer I ride 3-400 km a week and struggle to keep weight on and pretty much eat as much as I want of whatever I want.

SunnyDays

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #2 on: April 25, 2020, 09:20:12 PM »
Eating only one meal a day is not the best approach, because your metabolism actually increases when you eat, plus you want to keep your blood sugar stable.  So, 3 smaller meals per day is better.  Eat high protein, with low glycemic veggies (look it up if you don't know what these are) and only small amounts of complex carbs.  No fruit (too much sugar), and nothing sweet, even stevia, because your body can mistake it for sugar and produce insulin to deal with it, which creates weight gain and hunger.  Don't eat in the evening.  Limit yourself to 1200 - 1500 calories per day. Exercise as much as you can.  Depending on your current weight, you should be able to lose 1 - 2 pounds per week.  Losing more than that, unless you're seriously overweight, isn't really healthy.  Good luck.

Villanelle

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #3 on: April 25, 2020, 10:11:50 PM »
10 pounds in a month is a lot, especially if you are not overweight.  You might consider also purchasing some Spanx (or cheaper offbrand) which can help your clothes fit slightly better while you continue to get the weight off. Or buy one pair of inexpensive generic black pants that fit you, and wear those nearly every day to buy yourself another 2-3 weeks.  (and likely some of your current clothes fit better than others, if only due to stretch of cut, so try on everything and note the few pieces that you can make best work.)  That's not to say you shouldn't try to lose the weight, but it might prevent you from doing it in such a dramatic and maybe unhealthy (and certainly uncomfortable) way.  10 pounds in 2 months is assertive but reasonable. 

That said, you can set a very low calorie intake, which is easier to do if you eat foos with lower calories per density.  IOW, something that fills your stomach's volume with not many calories.  Most vegetables are going to be good for this (not not as much sweeter things like corn and carrots).  Canned green beans come to mind.  And running around after a toddler isn't really burning enough calories to make much of a difference at all.  Exercise is great for getting healthy, but not a great way to lose weight.  You can try to put more movement into that hour, but this isn't going to be where the bulk of that loss comes from, especially since it sounds like you can just do full on exercise for that hour.

If you are truly determined to try to lose 10 pounds in a month--which again may not be likely, especially healthy, or sustainable, basically, you'll need to slash drastically what you eat.  And the fact that you can't fall to fresh leafy greens isn't going to help.  I'd aim for 1200 calories a day as a max. 

2Birds1Stone

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #4 on: April 26, 2020, 12:12:27 AM »
Easy come, easy go.

The good news is, if you gained 17 lbs in the past 6 weeks or so, it's more than likely that not all of this is fat. A lb of fat requires roughly 3,500 surplus calories in your diet over a period of time (not that simple, but dumbing this down for illustration). In order to gain 17 lbs of fat you would have had to stuff a surplus of ~60,000 calories down your gullet during quarantine.

If you did, then congratulations! That's quite an accomplishment and "I don't have time for ANY exercise" will not be the mindset that reverses course.

If you didn't consume a surplus of 60,000 calories then there is a good chance that some of that weight is excess glycogen, inflammation, and water (which binds to excess carbs/salt), and some of this weight will come off rather quickly, making your goal of 10 lbs very possible with 5 weeks to do it.

I would roughly track your caloric intake and restrict it to 10-12x body weight (in lbs) to start. So if you're 150 lbs  1,500-1,800 calories would be a good start. Try to consume unrefined food that's higher in protein, fiber, and healthy fats. Avoid junk that's loaded with added salts, sugar, etc. This will help you from getting hungry and reverse any addiction to sugar/salt/fat you may have developed during this difficult period of life.

Additionally, exercise will help a LOT. Your health is wealth, and if you gain another 17 lbs that could be more dangerous than what you're trying to avoid by quarantining yourself. I don't buy that you have absolutely no time for exercise. There are ~120 waking hours in a week, spend 2 of them exercising, it will help with both the weight as well as your mental and otherwise physical health.

Good luck!

Metalcat

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #5 on: April 26, 2020, 06:07:37 AM »
As someone who had lost a lot of weight, it's usually best to start with the very very basics, and it's very similar to managing your finances: track your calorie consumption, and then make a calorie "budget", meaning that you calculate how many calories you can afford to eat in order to reach a certain weight loss goal by a certain point.

One of the most proven and effective diet approaches is simply logging what you are eating in an accurate way. The same way tracking your spending opens your eyes and makes you cognizant of what you are doing each day.

The more drastic you go, the more likely your plan will fail. Start with baby steps, get the basics under your belt, and then tweak from there based on how you respond.

Some people do well with skipping meals, some people do well with eating lots of small meals, some people do well cutting carbs, some people do well cutting animal products, some people do well not cutting anything but aiming for moderation, some people do well focusing on exercise, while others do well just focusing on diet.

As was noted already though, if you've been eating poorly, chances are you'll get a quick ~5-10lb bonus loss of reducing bloating right away. This is nice, but it often works against people as they get discouraged when the losses rapidly slow down and they think their approach has "plateaued" or has stopped working.

rothwem

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #6 on: April 26, 2020, 06:34:05 AM »
10 pounds in a month is a lot...

I’ll echo this. You might want to adjust your expectations a little bit. People that lose more than a pound or two a week will likely end up yo-yo-ing unless they’re super overweight.

I’m not a dietitian, so I won’t try to tell you how to eat to lose the weight. There’s so many different strategies out there for dropping weight, but I think something important is to focus on your health rather than the weight. Your weight will improve when your health improves.  I think that trying to fit to a certain size is going to sabotage you hard.

So yeah, expectations.

Metalcat

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #7 on: April 26, 2020, 06:49:14 AM »
10lbs may be a lot, it may not be.

It depends on how much of the weight is bloat. It's pretty wild how much some people, especially women, can puff up like puffer fish when their diet is not great for awhile.

But yeah, it is very important to grasp the magnitude of what 10lbs of fat loss in one month looks like. That would require a calorie deficit of over 1100 calories every single day.

That's pretty doable if the person is extremely large, but not at all doable for a medium sized person who probably only burns 2000 calories a day, and needs a minimum of 1200-1400 to function.

When I was obese, I could lose 5-10lbs just by contemplating it, now that I've been lean for a long time, 10lbs would probably take me upwards of a year.

Loretta

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #8 on: April 26, 2020, 08:39:23 AM »
Use fitness pal.com to log everything you eat, everything.  Set a weight loss goal in fitnesspal and it will tell you how many calories to consume to get there.  It’s free to use.  More protein and fat will fill you up and maybe make you feel better overall.  More physical activity could help you feel better but it takes awhile.  I’m all for an enthusiastic Dance Party in my livingroom, for example. 

seemsright

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #9 on: April 26, 2020, 08:59:30 AM »
I am up in weight too. My best suggestion is to not add the must lose 10 pounds to the todo list as it will make your stress level go up even more.

I know my patterns. Life gets stressful, my stress management tools get taken away (the gym, my dance class, my trainer) I go into a deep hole. It has been bad. To combat this cutting my calories is not a answer. I am instead journaling more,  drinking more water, more tea and trying to do more yoga. A long walk yesterday (walked a half marathon) was the best way to burn off all of that stressful energy.

Stress can make my weight jump 10-20 pounds easy. It is like my body goes into a reserve all things mode. I know that I have not been eating the calories to cause that...yes there has been more junk but not that kind of junk. This is the body trying to protect itself.

My suggestions yoga, and meditation.

OtherJen

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #10 on: April 26, 2020, 10:22:52 AM »
10lbs may be a lot, it may not be.

It depends on how much of the weight is bloat. It's pretty wild how much some people, especially women, can puff up like puffer fish when their diet is not great for awhile.

Good point. A diet that is lacking in fresh foods is probably also high in sugar and salt, and both can cause water retention and bloating. Often, the first few pounds that come off during a diet are water weight.

2Birds1Stone

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #11 on: April 26, 2020, 11:54:35 AM »
Echo echo ;)

wenchsenior

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #12 on: April 26, 2020, 12:31:55 PM »
Eating only one meal a day is not the best approach, because your metabolism actually increases when you eat, plus you want to keep your blood sugar stable.  So, 3 smaller meals per day is better.  Eat high protein, with low glycemic veggies (look it up if you don't know what these are) and only small amounts of complex carbs.  No fruit (too much sugar), and nothing sweet, even stevia, because your body can mistake it for sugar and produce insulin to deal with it, which creates weight gain and hunger.  Don't eat in the evening.  Limit yourself to 1200 - 1500 calories per day. Exercise as much as you can.  Depending on your current weight, you should be able to lose 1 - 2 pounds per week.  Losing more than that, unless you're seriously overweight, isn't really healthy.  Good luck.

Agree. ETA: except I wouldn't focus on reducing calories quite that much, for health reasons.  Of course, reducing calories less makes you lose weight more slowly, but IMO it's better to shift back to sustainable eating patterns (less processed food, less sugar, etc) and make the weight loss permanent than to try to rush the loss with unsustainable eating patterns.  Having said this, when I slightly increase exercise (esp any kind of interval exercise) and cut high-glycemic food, weight drops off me frighteningly fast. 
« Last Edit: April 26, 2020, 12:35:50 PM by wenchsenior »

iris lily

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #13 on: April 26, 2020, 12:48:02 PM »
You are home and can run to the bathroom every hour.  So, drink tons of water. It truly helps.

BPA

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #14 on: April 26, 2020, 12:57:33 PM »
I second myfitnesspal.com.

red_pill

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #15 on: April 26, 2020, 02:40:57 PM »
1. Track everything you eat on myfitnesspal app.  Everything

2. Do not eat between dinner in breakfast. No more evening snacks.

3. Zero sugar or alcohol. Zero

4. Breakfast is protein and fats. Eggs and nuts. No carbs until lunch.

5.  Exercise.  Your “I have no time” is total BS.  Running around after a toddler is activity, not exercise and don’t pretend it is.  I suspect you are applying this excuse based mentality to your eating habits as well.  That said, it is possible to diet yourself around a lack of exercise. It isn’t ideal, but it is possible.

6. Your once a month grocery trip is probably a bit on the paranoid side. Wear a mask and gloves and wash your hands.




GreenQueen

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #16 on: April 26, 2020, 02:47:04 PM »
MY SO lost 15 lbs in his first month of intermittent fasting without any other major adjustments. He does a moderate elliptical run1-3 times per week. He stopped eating between 4pm and 8am. His energy level went up a ton too! Make sure to drink enough water no matter what you do and good luck!

Metalcat

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #17 on: April 26, 2020, 04:10:48 PM »
Eating only one meal a day is not the best approach, because your metabolism actually increases when you eat, plus you want to keep your blood sugar stable.  So, 3 smaller meals per day is better.  Eat high protein, with low glycemic veggies (look it up if you don't know what these are) and only small amounts of complex carbs.  No fruit (too much sugar), and nothing sweet, even stevia, because your body can mistake it for sugar and produce insulin to deal with it, which creates weight gain and hunger.  Don't eat in the evening.  Limit yourself to 1200 - 1500 calories per day. Exercise as much as you can.  Depending on your current weight, you should be able to lose 1 - 2 pounds per week.  Losing more than that, unless you're seriously overweight, isn't really healthy.  Good luck.

Agree. ETA: except I wouldn't focus on reducing calories quite that much, for health reasons.  Of course, reducing calories less makes you lose weight more slowly, but IMO it's better to shift back to sustainable eating patterns (less processed food, less sugar, etc) and make the weight loss permanent than to try to rush the loss with unsustainable eating patterns.  Having said this, when I slightly increase exercise (esp any kind of interval exercise) and cut high-glycemic food, weight drops off me frighteningly fast.

Depends on the person. I routinely eat under 1200-1500 calories in any given day, that sustains me at a BMI of 19-20.

pecunia

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #18 on: April 26, 2020, 06:00:45 PM »
The black cat is absolutely correct.  Metabolism is different for everyone.  I don't eat lunch.  I don't need it.  My co-worker has to nibble mid morning, eat lunch, snack in the afternoon and eat an evening meal.  If I ate like that, I'd quickly gain weight. 

SotI

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #19 on: April 26, 2020, 08:44:28 PM »
Don't have any advise to add, just wanted to say how timely this thread is. I just had the same realization this weekend.
So, I am feeling you, MrsSpendyPants.

Good luck with it! I will also follow some of the suggestions here (and yes, I can puff up substantially on carbs, so going low glycemic foods makes a lot of sense here).

Metalcat

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #20 on: April 27, 2020, 05:31:24 AM »
The black cat is absolutely correct.  Metabolism is different for everyone.  I don't eat lunch.  I don't need it.  My co-worker has to nibble mid morning, eat lunch, snack in the afternoon and eat an evening meal.  If I ate like that, I'd quickly gain weight.

Yep, everyone is different and each person really does need to learn how their own body works. DH does well with IF, meanwhile I'm not safe to drive if I skip meals. DH is also a snacker, I never snack. My BFF always goes to paleo when she needs to lose weight, meanwhile carb heavy vegetarian works well for me, but so did an unintentional keto diet I used to have, as did eating crap years ago, but closely monitoring calories. Well...the last one technically "worked" in that I lost weight, but I felt like garbage, was always starving, and gained back everything I lost plus extra.

It is pretty universal though that the faster one tries to lose weight, the more likely the whole endeavor is to fail (and result in regain). So as someone who has gone from obese to lean, my only specific piece of advice is to not put a deadline on it, especially not an unrealistic one.

Car Jack

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #21 on: April 27, 2020, 06:43:09 AM »
Have small meals 3 times a day.  Plan them.  Limit, but don't eliminate carbs.  Don't fast.  Your body shuts down and saves the fat when you do that.  Just stop it.

Your phone likely has a number of steps function.  My iPhone has it in "health".  It's always on because the Apple mother ship collects data on everyone whether you give them permission or not.  Don't set a goal for number of steps beyond "more than yesterday".  So don't start with a 20k step target because it won't work.  If you did 5000 steps yesterday (history is in your phone), then do 5001.  Keep that up.

As mentioned, drink lots of water.  Especially between meals, but really all the time.  It makes you feel full, so you don't eat when you don't need more. 

I've lost 40 pounds in 6 months.  The first 10 is not difficult.  Continuing to lose and keep it off is what's hard.  To the above, I changed my diet to add salads before all meals (I hate vegetables) which helps fill me up.  And of course, water.  I was in a job where lots of co-workers biked at lunch, so I'd be out with the mountain bikers a few days a week and with the tri-athletes on road bikes the other 2 days.  If you do that, do it in addition to the walking.  Start very easy.  Like a mile on level roads and up it from there as you can.

You say you don't have time to exercise.  If that's really true, you're destined to gain more.  As you get older, it gets harder to lose or maintain.  There's no magic, easy way to lose weight.  Any "system" that says they're easy is a scam.

GuitarStv

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #22 on: April 27, 2020, 08:18:34 AM »
Metabolism is different for everyone.  I don't eat lunch.  I don't need it.  My co-worker has to nibble mid morning, eat lunch, snack in the afternoon and eat an evening meal.  If I ate like that, I'd quickly gain weight.

Mini-rant here.

Metabolism really just a way of saying 'the calories your body burns'.  If you carry more muscle on your frame, you will burn more calories even when at rest.  If you exercise you will burn more calories.  If you are regularly in a cold environment your body will burn more calories.  If you are bigger, you will burn more calories simply because of your size (more energy required to pump blood/oxygenate body).  Some people have little nervous tics/habits that add up to burn more calories in a day.

When you're younger, you burn a lot of calories as your body grows and develops.  Most kids are significantly more active than adults.  Usually some time around the late 20s - mid 30s people stop exercising.  This comes with a loss of muscle mass . . . and an increase in fat.  Because fat doesn't burn as many calories just doing nothing . . . it seems like metabolism has just slowed down because of age.  In reality it's just your sedentary life catching up to you.

If you see someone eating more than you and not gaining weight, it's because they're burning more calories.  Not because a magical metabolism fairy has wished away the fat.  If you want to have a higher metabolism, gain muscle mass and do cardio.  It's that simple.

ender

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #23 on: April 27, 2020, 09:06:24 AM »
Metabolism is different for everyone.  I don't eat lunch.  I don't need it.  My co-worker has to nibble mid morning, eat lunch, snack in the afternoon and eat an evening meal.  If I ate like that, I'd quickly gain weight.

Mini-rant here.

Metabolism really just a way of saying 'the calories your body burns'.  If you carry more muscle on your frame, you will burn more calories even when at rest.  If you exercise you will burn more calories.  If you are regularly in a cold environment your body will burn more calories.  If you are bigger, you will burn more calories simply because of your size (more energy required to pump blood/oxygenate body).  Some people have little nervous tics/habits that add up to burn more calories in a day.

When you're younger, you burn a lot of calories as your body grows and develops.  Most kids are significantly more active than adults.  Usually some time around the late 20s - mid 30s people stop exercising.  This comes with a loss of muscle mass . . . and an increase in fat.  Because fat doesn't burn as many calories just doing nothing . . . it seems like metabolism has just slowed down because of age.  In reality it's just your sedentary life catching up to you.

If you see someone eating more than you and not gaining weight, it's because they're burning more calories.  Not because a magical metabolism fairy has wished away the fat.  If you want to have a higher metabolism, gain muscle mass and do cardio.  It's that simple.

This is pretty much in the face of a ton of research about how metabolism works.

Are you saying that the only thing that impacts weight loss is activity? And that 100% of people will experience the same weight loss with the same lifestyle/calorie consumption, regardless of genetics?

What you are saying is the controllable factor. But to imply metabolism is entirely non-genetic is... well, not really supported by any research.

FIRE 20/20

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #24 on: April 27, 2020, 09:41:11 AM »
Metabolism is different for everyone.  I don't eat lunch.  I don't need it.  My co-worker has to nibble mid morning, eat lunch, snack in the afternoon and eat an evening meal.  If I ate like that, I'd quickly gain weight.

Mini-rant here.

Metabolism really just a way of saying 'the calories your body burns'.  If you carry more muscle on your frame, you will burn more calories even when at rest.  If you exercise you will burn more calories.  If you are regularly in a cold environment your body will burn more calories.  If you are bigger, you will burn more calories simply because of your size (more energy required to pump blood/oxygenate body).  Some people have little nervous tics/habits that add up to burn more calories in a day.

When you're younger, you burn a lot of calories as your body grows and develops.  Most kids are significantly more active than adults.  Usually some time around the late 20s - mid 30s people stop exercising.  This comes with a loss of muscle mass . . . and an increase in fat.  Because fat doesn't burn as many calories just doing nothing . . . it seems like metabolism has just slowed down because of age.  In reality it's just your sedentary life catching up to you.

If you see someone eating more than you and not gaining weight, it's because they're burning more calories.  Not because a magical metabolism fairy has wished away the fat.  If you want to have a higher metabolism, gain muscle mass and do cardio.  It's that simple.

This is pretty much in the face of a ton of research about how metabolism works.

Are you saying that the only thing that impacts weight loss is activity? And that 100% of people will experience the same weight loss with the same lifestyle/calorie consumption, regardless of genetics?

What you are saying is the controllable factor. But to imply metabolism is entirely non-genetic is... well, not really supported by any research.

Agreed.  These misconceptions have been thoroughly debunked.  Two people can have the same body composition (muscle/fat ratios) and activity levels but gain or lose different amounts of weight even eating exactly the same food. 

Here's just one of a bazillion links on the subject:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK154098/
From the article:  "...the most interesting finding of the study was that conventionally raised mice had more body fat even though they were consuming fewer calories. This was true for both female and male mice and across multiple genetic backgrounds."

To the OP - I would suggest reconsidering the "no exercise" rule.  Weight lifting can reshape your body really quickly, and contrary to most views women aren't likely to significantly bulk up even if they do a *lot* of weight training.  Rather, weight training will tend to have a toning and slimming effect unless it's taken to extremes for the vast majority of women.  If I wanted to try to transform my body shape in 4 weeks I'd do most of what's already been suggested - zero alcohol, zero extra sugar or fake sweeteners, but add plenty of weight lifting. 

Wolfpack Mustachian

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #25 on: April 27, 2020, 09:52:50 AM »
Metabolism is different for everyone.  I don't eat lunch.  I don't need it.  My co-worker has to nibble mid morning, eat lunch, snack in the afternoon and eat an evening meal.  If I ate like that, I'd quickly gain weight.

Mini-rant here.

Metabolism really just a way of saying 'the calories your body burns'.  If you carry more muscle on your frame, you will burn more calories even when at rest.  If you exercise you will burn more calories.  If you are regularly in a cold environment your body will burn more calories.  If you are bigger, you will burn more calories simply because of your size (more energy required to pump blood/oxygenate body).  Some people have little nervous tics/habits that add up to burn more calories in a day.

When you're younger, you burn a lot of calories as your body grows and develops.  Most kids are significantly more active than adults.  Usually some time around the late 20s - mid 30s people stop exercising.  This comes with a loss of muscle mass . . . and an increase in fat.  Because fat doesn't burn as many calories just doing nothing . . . it seems like metabolism has just slowed down because of age.  In reality it's just your sedentary life catching up to you.

If you see someone eating more than you and not gaining weight, it's because they're burning more calories.  Not because a magical metabolism fairy has wished away the fat.  If you want to have a higher metabolism, gain muscle mass and do cardio.  It's that simple.

This is pretty much in the face of a ton of research about how metabolism works.

Are you saying that the only thing that impacts weight loss is activity? And that 100% of people will experience the same weight loss with the same lifestyle/calorie consumption, regardless of genetics?

What you are saying is the controllable factor. But to imply metabolism is entirely non-genetic is... well, not really supported by any research.

Agreed.  These misconceptions have been thoroughly debunked.  Two people can have the same body composition (muscle/fat ratios) and activity levels but gain or lose different amounts of weight even eating exactly the same food. 

Here's just one of a bazillion links on the subject:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK154098/
From the article:  "...the most interesting finding of the study was that conventionally raised mice had more body fat even though they were consuming fewer calories. This was true for both female and male mice and across multiple genetic backgrounds."

To the OP - I would suggest reconsidering the "no exercise" rule.  Weight lifting can reshape your body really quickly, and contrary to most views women aren't likely to significantly bulk up even if they do a *lot* of weight training.  Rather, weight training will tend to have a toning and slimming effect unless it's taken to extremes for the vast majority of women.  If I wanted to try to transform my body shape in 4 weeks I'd do most of what's already been suggested - zero alcohol, zero extra sugar or fake sweeteners, but add plenty of weight lifting.

Even with varied metabolism (i.e. discounting his last paragraph), this is not to say that you can't lose weight by eating less if you eat enough less. In general, there can be varied metabolisms out there, and some people might be "lucky" in our current environment where calories aren't really an issue to procure and have higher metabolism, but the advice above is sound. Exercise to burn more calories and create a body that in general keeps burning more calories with the additional idea, of course, to eat less to take in less calories - it will result in losing weight. There are of course, though, psychological factors contributing to your ability to maintain it, and you can, of course, have underlying conditions that make calorie reduction problematic for a variety of reasons.

GuitarStv

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #26 on: April 27, 2020, 10:11:42 AM »
Metabolism is different for everyone.  I don't eat lunch.  I don't need it.  My co-worker has to nibble mid morning, eat lunch, snack in the afternoon and eat an evening meal.  If I ate like that, I'd quickly gain weight.

Mini-rant here.

Metabolism really just a way of saying 'the calories your body burns'.  If you carry more muscle on your frame, you will burn more calories even when at rest.  If you exercise you will burn more calories.  If you are regularly in a cold environment your body will burn more calories.  If you are bigger, you will burn more calories simply because of your size (more energy required to pump blood/oxygenate body).  Some people have little nervous tics/habits that add up to burn more calories in a day.

When you're younger, you burn a lot of calories as your body grows and develops.  Most kids are significantly more active than adults.  Usually some time around the late 20s - mid 30s people stop exercising.  This comes with a loss of muscle mass . . . and an increase in fat.  Because fat doesn't burn as many calories just doing nothing . . . it seems like metabolism has just slowed down because of age.  In reality it's just your sedentary life catching up to you.

If you see someone eating more than you and not gaining weight, it's because they're burning more calories.  Not because a magical metabolism fairy has wished away the fat.  If you want to have a higher metabolism, gain muscle mass and do cardio.  It's that simple.

This is pretty much in the face of a ton of research about how metabolism works.

Are you saying that the only thing that impacts weight loss is activity?

No, not at all.  That's why I mentioned five different factors that change your metabolism.  Exercise is one of them though.


And that 100% of people will experience the same weight loss with the same lifestyle/calorie consumption, regardless of genetics?

No, there are certainly some small differences that genetics play as well.  People have certain genetic predispositions towards the type of muscle fibers that they carry on their frame and my understanding is that the type of muscle fiber actually burns calories at slightly different rates.  The folks who have more fast twitch muscle fibers tend to be better at weight training type exercises and therefore can put on more muscle more easily . . . which will increase their metabolism.

But if you're asking me if two people of the same weight, height, ratio of muscle/body fat, exercise level and choice . . . then yeah . . . they're likely going to have very similar metabolisms regardless of genetic background.


What you are saying is the controllable factor. But to imply metabolism is entirely non-genetic is... well, not really supported by any research.

Metabolism isn't really genetic, but genetics control how your body will respond to training (and how you metabolize certain foods - although much that I've read in this area still seems to be pretty hand-wavey).  So for example one person might do better with a weight training regimen rather than an aerobic one for genetic reasons, so success in burning calories might be best achieved in a different way for different people.  A 6' person who weights 200 lbs can eat more to maintain that weight than a 5' person who's 100 lbs simply because more flesh requires more fuel - and genetics control your height/frame size.
 
But that's very roundabout.  There's no 'slow metabolism' gene.

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #27 on: April 27, 2020, 10:19:57 AM »
A ton of things can impact your metabolism though, and some of the less obvious ones include hormone levels, prior diet (spending too much time in a deep caloric deficit can inhibit base metabolic rate quite a bit ( @Malkynn made a point about how she maintains her weight on 1200-1500 calories a day) which could be her "normal" or the result of having lost a ton of weight and spending prolonged times in a deficit.

You can build your base metabolic rate back up, and adding lean body mass is certainly one way. You can also do it through the strategic manipulation of calories and macro/micronutrients.

As a coach I had clients come to me over the years who were prepping for a physique competition and at a point where they already stalled on weight loss consuming <1000 calories/day. It was necessary to get metabolic activity back to healthy levels before resuming a caloric deficit and attempting to reach low bodyfat levels.

I've personally lost 120+ lbs in my life at one point, competed in 9 drug free physique competitions over a period of 6 years, and coached over 100 athletes and "gen poppers" for various sport/physique competitions. Learned a ton along the way.

One of the biggest mistake people make, is following advice from everyone.

There is sound advice above, but you can't follow *all of it*......

MilesTeg

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #28 on: April 27, 2020, 10:29:11 AM »
Ah, tried on some work clothes today and realized I had gained a ton of weight during quarantine - 17lbs!  I cannot buy a new professional wardrobe plus I'm partially in sales so I need to get back to my old weight asap.  What is the best way to lose a minimum of ten pounds by the end of May?  I've been trying the eat once a day fasting for the last week and don't seem to be budging.  30 year old female.

Things I can't do:
-Can't eat a lot of fresh things since we only grocery shop once a month during the quarantine.  We do have frozen vegetables though.
-I have absolutely no time for exercise as I am working full time but I walk around my twenty acres for at least an hour chasing my toddler around.  I'm pretty winded after having to carry him around up hills when he gets tired.
-I can't do something not feasible like not eating for multiple days in a row.

Things I can do:
-I can do keto/intermittent fasting/eat a low variety of diet.  I can do anything needed for a month to lose the weight and then hopefully by then we're back at work and I can go back to my usual routine.  What is the healthiest and most efficient way to get this goal accomplished?
-I have a lot of frozen chicken and meat and we have chickens/ducks so lots of eggs available.
-My choice of liquid is green tea with stevia so I don't drink any calories.

Suggestions?  Help?

Thank you!

It's always, always, always about net caloric intake. Don't buy into fad diets they are all crazy. To lose that much weight in a month you need a 1250 Calorie a day deficit. That's pretty hard to maintain unless you are a huge person.

The most popular fad diet right now seems to be "keto". Keto diets "work" because they keep you from eating simple carbs (refined sugars) which are extremely calorie dense and don't fill you up so you eat more. You don't need to go keto crazy to avoid refined sugars and processed/refined foods. You just.. avoid sugars and processed/refined and only eat healthy complex carbs and plant based sugars (fruits, veggies, whole grains, legumes, etc.)

Eat balanced meals, get moderate exercise at least 30 minutes a day. Balanced means about 40-50% from carbs (complex carbs not refined sugars) about 30-40% from protein (preferably plant sources, so legumes, etc.), and about 20% from healthy fats (anything other than saturated and trans fat).

Make sure you include high fiber foods. Fiber provides no Calories but fills you up. Fiber is the real "wonder food". In addition to filling you up helping you eat less, it absorbs bad things in your food like cholesterol. Just.. ramp up slowly or you will have tummy troubles, hah.

Wolfpack Mustachian

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #29 on: April 27, 2020, 10:50:41 AM »
A ton of things can impact your metabolism though, and some of the less obvious ones include hormone levels, prior diet (spending too much time in a deep caloric deficit can inhibit base metabolic rate quite a bit ( @Malkynn made a point about how she maintains her weight on 1200-1500 calories a day) which could be her "normal" or the result of having lost a ton of weight and spending prolonged times in a deficit.

You can build your base metabolic rate back up, and adding lean body mass is certainly one way. You can also do it through the strategic manipulation of calories and macro/micronutrients.

As a coach I had clients come to me over the years who were prepping for a physique competition and at a point where they already stalled on weight loss consuming <1000 calories/day. It was necessary to get metabolic activity back to healthy levels before resuming a caloric deficit and attempting to reach low bodyfat levels.

I've personally lost 120+ lbs in my life at one point, competed in 9 drug free physique competitions over a period of 6 years, and coached over 100 athletes and "gen poppers" for various sport/physique competitions. Learned a ton along the way.

One of the biggest mistake people make, is following advice from everyone.

There is sound advice above, but you can't follow *all of it*......

I just want to clarify, I'm assuming these people that were eating less than 1000 calories a day and weren't achieving weight loss were not in the obese/overweight category? This was to attain something specific to the physique competition you were talking about? It's very hard to wrap my mind around anyone truly eating, say 800 calories a day and not losing weight if they were above a certain threshold.

FIRE 20/20

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #30 on: April 27, 2020, 12:30:09 PM »
A ton of things can impact your metabolism though, and some of the less obvious ones include hormone levels, prior diet (spending too much time in a deep caloric deficit can inhibit base metabolic rate quite a bit ( @Malkynn made a point about how she maintains her weight on 1200-1500 calories a day) which could be her "normal" or the result of having lost a ton of weight and spending prolonged times in a deficit.

You can build your base metabolic rate back up, and adding lean body mass is certainly one way. You can also do it through the strategic manipulation of calories and macro/micronutrients.

As a coach I had clients come to me over the years who were prepping for a physique competition and at a point where they already stalled on weight loss consuming <1000 calories/day. It was necessary to get metabolic activity back to healthy levels before resuming a caloric deficit and attempting to reach low bodyfat levels.

I've personally lost 120+ lbs in my life at one point, competed in 9 drug free physique competitions over a period of 6 years, and coached over 100 athletes and "gen poppers" for various sport/physique competitions. Learned a ton along the way.

One of the biggest mistake people make, is following advice from everyone.

There is sound advice above, but you can't follow *all of it*......

I just want to clarify, I'm assuming these people that were eating less than 1000 calories a day and weren't achieving weight loss were not in the obese/overweight category? This was to attain something specific to the physique competition you were talking about? It's very hard to wrap my mind around anyone truly eating, say 800 calories a day and not losing weight if they were above a certain threshold.

This is likely due to metabolic adaptation.  In essence, after losing a significant amount of weight the body significantly slows a person's resting metabolism.  As a result, even at extremely low calorie intake levels and/or high activity levels, the body is vastly more efficient at using calories to do work.  This effect can last for years.  There was an NIH study of "Biggest Loser" contentestants that showed that they burned about 500 calories a day fewer than could be explained by their body mass, age, activity, level, etc.  Even if they ate a low calorie diet and exercised, the body would hold onto any calories they ate. 

See this link for the study:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4989512/

"Weight loss is accompanied by a slowing of resting metabolic rate (RMR) that is often greater than would be expected based on the measured changes in body composition. This phenomenon is called “metabolic adaptation” or “adaptive thermogenesis” and acts to counter weight loss and is thought to contribute to weight regain"

"Mean RMR (resting metabolic rate) after 6 years was ~500 kcal/d lower than expected based on the measured body composition changes and the increased age of the subjects."

GuitarStv

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #31 on: April 27, 2020, 12:38:12 PM »
A ton of things can impact your metabolism though, and some of the less obvious ones include hormone levels, prior diet (spending too much time in a deep caloric deficit can inhibit base metabolic rate quite a bit ( @Malkynn made a point about how she maintains her weight on 1200-1500 calories a day) which could be her "normal" or the result of having lost a ton of weight and spending prolonged times in a deficit.

You can build your base metabolic rate back up, and adding lean body mass is certainly one way. You can also do it through the strategic manipulation of calories and macro/micronutrients.

As a coach I had clients come to me over the years who were prepping for a physique competition and at a point where they already stalled on weight loss consuming <1000 calories/day. It was necessary to get metabolic activity back to healthy levels before resuming a caloric deficit and attempting to reach low bodyfat levels.

I've personally lost 120+ lbs in my life at one point, competed in 9 drug free physique competitions over a period of 6 years, and coached over 100 athletes and "gen poppers" for various sport/physique competitions. Learned a ton along the way.

One of the biggest mistake people make, is following advice from everyone.

There is sound advice above, but you can't follow *all of it*......

I just want to clarify, I'm assuming these people that were eating less than 1000 calories a day and weren't achieving weight loss were not in the obese/overweight category? This was to attain something specific to the physique competition you were talking about? It's very hard to wrap my mind around anyone truly eating, say 800 calories a day and not losing weight if they were above a certain threshold.

This is likely due to metabolic adaptation.  In essence, after losing a significant amount of weight the body significantly slows a person's resting metabolism.  As a result, even at extremely low calorie intake levels and/or high activity levels, the body is vastly more efficient at using calories to do work.  This effect can last for years.  There was an NIH study of "Biggest Loser" contentestants that showed that they burned about 500 calories a day fewer than could be explained by their body mass, age, activity, level, etc.  Even if they ate a low calorie diet and exercised, the body would hold onto any calories they ate. 

See this link for the study:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4989512/

"Weight loss is accompanied by a slowing of resting metabolic rate (RMR) that is often greater than would be expected based on the measured changes in body composition. This phenomenon is called “metabolic adaptation” or “adaptive thermogenesis” and acts to counter weight loss and is thought to contribute to weight regain"

"Mean RMR (resting metabolic rate) after 6 years was ~500 kcal/d lower than expected based on the measured body composition changes and the increased age of the subjects."

This is almost always directly related to loss of muscle mass.  Your BMR is heavily dependent upon the amount of it that you're carrying around.  When dieting (any sort of diet), muscle is usually the first thing to go . . . it's very hard to lose fat without losing a large amount of muscle along with it.  If a person leads a typical (predominantly sedentary) life, they will not regain the muscle that they lost - it's something that you must train (along with maintaining a caloric surplus) to get back.  I'm disappointed that the study talks about 'body composition' changes without looking at changes in muscle mass, I strongly suspect that this would have cleared this up.

This is one of the reasons that it's not a good idea to focus on the number of lbs you are, rather than focus on how you perform (what can you lift, how far can you run, etc.) as a measure of health.

mm1970

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #32 on: April 27, 2020, 12:59:37 PM »
As someone who had lost a lot of weight, it's usually best to start with the very very basics, and it's very similar to managing your finances: track your calorie consumption, and then make a calorie "budget", meaning that you calculate how many calories you can afford to eat in order to reach a certain weight loss goal by a certain point.

One of the most proven and effective diet approaches is simply logging what you are eating in an accurate way. The same way tracking your spending opens your eyes and makes you cognizant of what you are doing each day.

The more drastic you go, the more likely your plan will fail. Start with baby steps, get the basics under your belt, and then tweak from there based on how you respond.

Some people do well with skipping meals, some people do well with eating lots of small meals, some people do well cutting carbs, some people do well cutting animal products, some people do well not cutting anything but aiming for moderation, some people do well focusing on exercise, while others do well just focusing on diet.

As was noted already though, if you've been eating poorly, chances are you'll get a quick ~5-10lb bonus loss of reducing bloating right away. This is nice, but it often works against people as they get discouraged when the losses rapidly slow down and they think their approach has "plateaued" or has stopped working.
+1. 

In general, I do better when I buckle down and make a plan with rules and stick to it.  It totally depends on where I am in my life as to what works.  Not just time, amount of brain power, how many kids, how old are the kids, how old am I, how much work I am doing, etc. etc.

What I've done various times in the past to lose weight:
1.  Weight watchers.  Counting, basically, but less overall counting than calories.
2.  Counting calories.
3.  21 day fix.  Basically calorie counting, but less counting.
4.  Rules: a few times, when in weight loss mode, I gave up wine, wheat, sugar, and fried food for a month.  Every time, my weight loss went from 2 lb a month (I was close to goal) to 7 lbs in a month.  It's important to note that I didn't actually eat very much of any of those things.  Maybe a total of 3-4 servings a week of all combined.  (Now I realize that it was probably just the wheat, as I react badly to it.)

5.  Exercise - not necessarily to lose weight but to keep me motivated.  Probably the thing that I did once that was the best motivator was a pushup/squat/crunch/burpee challenge, over a single month.  It was short, and do-able, and the burpees revved me up.  Like, start with 10 and end at 50-100 of each.  I never worked out for more than 10 minutes at a time for this.  (I was doing other exercises though).

wenchsenior

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #33 on: April 27, 2020, 01:42:28 PM »
The black cat is absolutely correct.  Metabolism is different for everyone.  I don't eat lunch.  I don't need it.  My co-worker has to nibble mid morning, eat lunch, snack in the afternoon and eat an evening meal.  If I ate like that, I'd quickly gain weight.

Yep, everyone is different and each person really does need to learn how their own body works. DH does well with IF, meanwhile I'm not safe to drive if I skip meals. DH is also a snacker, I never snack. My BFF always goes to paleo when she needs to lose weight, meanwhile carb heavy vegetarian works well for me, but so did an unintentional keto diet I used to have, as did eating crap years ago, but closely monitoring calories. Well...the last one technically "worked" in that I lost weight, but I felt like garbage, was always starving, and gained back everything I lost plus extra.

It is pretty universal though that the faster one tries to lose weight, the more likely the whole endeavor is to fail (and result in regain). So as someone who has gone from obese to lean, my only specific piece of advice is to not put a deadline on it, especially not an unrealistic one.

Agree with all of this. I've lost weight on keto/carb-heavy/eating like crap, too. Though the fastest and most effortless for me is low-glycemic for sure.  When I noted not cutting calories too much (above), I should have been more specific...I agree with your last sentence, and was concerned the OP might cut too many calories too quickly relative to her overall needs.  Each person's specific calorie needs certainly differ.

FIRE 20/20

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #34 on: April 27, 2020, 02:42:10 PM »
<Trimmed lots of quotes>

This is almost always directly related to loss of muscle mass.  Your BMR is heavily dependent upon the amount of it that you're carrying around.  When dieting (any sort of diet), muscle is usually the first thing to go . . . it's very hard to lose fat without losing a large amount of muscle along with it.  If a person leads a typical (predominantly sedentary) life, they will not regain the muscle that they lost - it's something that you must train (along with maintaining a caloric surplus) to get back.  I'm disappointed that the study talks about 'body composition' changes without looking at changes in muscle mass, I strongly suspect that this would have cleared this up.

This is one of the reasons that it's not a good idea to focus on the number of lbs you are, rather than focus on how you perform (what can you lift, how far can you run, etc.) as a measure of health.

The study looked at this and found the reduction in RMR was not due to loss of muscle mass.  See the sections on Body Weight and Composition, Total Energy Expenditure (TEE), and Resting metabolic rate and metabolic adaptation for details.  Again, from the paper:

"Weight loss results in a suppression of resting metabolic rate (RMR) that is often beyond what is expected due to changes in body composition – a phenomenon called “metabolic adaptation”."

Metabolic adaptation, microbiome composition, and genetics all play significant factors in resting metabolic rate.  All three have substantial evidence for their impact on how efficiently people's bodies use the calories they intake.  It is unquestionably true, based on an abundance of scientific research, that two otherwise identical people can have the same calorie intake and activity levels yet have very different weights.  That's not to say that intake and expenditure are unimportant - they absolutely are.  But simplistic (i.e. not including the above factors) "Calorie in / calorie out" models have been completely debunked. 

EDIT:  In case it isn't clear, when the paper talks about "body composition", it *is* talking about muscle mass, along with fat.  That's what they measured in the "Body Composition" section of the paper. 
« Last Edit: April 27, 2020, 02:48:20 PM by FIRE 20/20 »

koshtra

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #35 on: April 27, 2020, 03:06:04 PM »
I lost 70 lbs three years ago, and have kept it off since. I dropped the weight at about a pound & a half per week, so it took me over a year. I did it by restricting calories, and being very draconian and persnickety about it. I am still very draconian and persnickety. It sucks, but being fat sucked more.

If you go the calorie-restriction route, my main two pieces of advice would be: 1) Track your eating *without changing it* for a few days to get a baseline measurement of how many calories you're eating now: it's probably much more than you think it is. And 2) be aware that what a bathroom scale tells you is maybe accurate within two pounds, and random variation of body weight (due to water-weight, etc., especially at first) adds another couple pounds' uncertainty.

People typically oversteer in response to random variations in the measurement of their weight, panicking or overindulging in response to illusory gains and losses. Really, losing weight is a pretty straightforward matter of eating less. But if your intake measurements are vague, and you're getting bogus information from your scales, you'll veer wildly from eating too little to eating too much, until eventually you end up in the ditch.

I think ten pounds in a month is wildly ambitious! I wouldn't be able to do it, but that doesn't mean you can't. Good luck!
« Last Edit: April 27, 2020, 03:08:32 PM by koshtra »

Kem

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #36 on: April 27, 2020, 03:32:23 PM »
I've lost just over 10# in the last month by:

Nutrition & Exercise

Tracking Micros (vitamins & minerals) and Macros (carb, fat, protein)
I log using MyFitnessPal & a $10 kitchen scale
For my current body composition/age/genetics 90 carbs, 40 g fat, 245 g protein --- and a LOT of water works well for cutting

For my exercise I am currently not lifting due to inadequate sleep with newborn.
I am
2 weekly taekwondo sessions (1 hour each, intense cardio)
Pushups, pullups, and air squats 3 days/week (20 minutes each)

I've dropped from 250# of sedentary fat to 165# lean (crossfit type exercises mostly)
Then built up to 215# and packed on a goodly amount of muscle (starting strength lifting mostly)
And now I'm leaning back out - I sit at 190#.

You'll want to be careful about cutting overly fast, and about cutting quickly without strength training habits in-place to offset the muscle loss.  It is REALLY easy to loose a handful of pounds only to gain waist size.
« Last Edit: April 27, 2020, 03:43:26 PM by Kem »

GuitarStv

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #37 on: April 27, 2020, 03:37:02 PM »
<Trimmed lots of quotes>

This is almost always directly related to loss of muscle mass.  Your BMR is heavily dependent upon the amount of it that you're carrying around.  When dieting (any sort of diet), muscle is usually the first thing to go . . . it's very hard to lose fat without losing a large amount of muscle along with it.  If a person leads a typical (predominantly sedentary) life, they will not regain the muscle that they lost - it's something that you must train (along with maintaining a caloric surplus) to get back.  I'm disappointed that the study talks about 'body composition' changes without looking at changes in muscle mass, I strongly suspect that this would have cleared this up.

This is one of the reasons that it's not a good idea to focus on the number of lbs you are, rather than focus on how you perform (what can you lift, how far can you run, etc.) as a measure of health.

The study looked at this and found the reduction in RMR was not due to loss of muscle mass.  See the sections on Body Weight and Composition, Total Energy Expenditure (TEE), and Resting metabolic rate and metabolic adaptation for details.  Again, from the paper:

"Weight loss results in a suppression of resting metabolic rate (RMR) that is often beyond what is expected due to changes in body composition – a phenomenon called “metabolic adaptation”."

Metabolic adaptation, microbiome composition, and genetics all play significant factors in resting metabolic rate.  All three have substantial evidence for their impact on how efficiently people's bodies use the calories they intake.  It is unquestionably true, based on an abundance of scientific research, that two otherwise identical people can have the same calorie intake and activity levels yet have very different weights.  That's not to say that intake and expenditure are unimportant - they absolutely are.  But simplistic (i.e. not including the above factors) "Calorie in / calorie out" models have been completely debunked. 

EDIT:  In case it isn't clear, when the paper talks about "body composition", it *is* talking about muscle mass, along with fat.  That's what they measured in the "Body Composition" section of the paper.


The measurements done for 'body composition' only measured fat vs non-fat.  They didn't directly check changes in muscle mass.  I would be interested to see a similar study where this was done, because this study doesn't account for the non-calorie burning skeletal mass (extremely heavy loading of the skeleton in obese people actually builds much denser and thicker bones for example*, leading to greater weight) but in the study linked they use average numbers for their calculations of metabolic rate rather than taking this into account.  ( This was in the mathy bit - RMR(kcal/d) = 1001 + 21.2 × FFM(kg) + 1.4 × FM(kg)−7.1 × Age(y) + 276 × Sex )  I'd expect the participants to have lower than average lean muscle mass due to this alone - which would explain the baseline discrepancy observed.

I don't know if this mistake made by the testers is enough to invalidate the test, but as mentioned - I'd have preferred to see one where lean muscle mass was measured.



* https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25400253

"Obese adults have higher BMD, thicker and denser cortices, and higher trabecular number than normal adults. Greater differences between obese and normal adults in the older group suggest that obesity may protect against age-related bone loss and may increase peak bone mass."

FIRE 20/20

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #38 on: April 27, 2020, 06:15:33 PM »

The measurements done for 'body composition' only measured fat vs non-fat.  They didn't directly check changes in muscle mass.  I would be interested to see a similar study where this was done, because this study doesn't account for the non-calorie burning skeletal mass (extremely heavy loading of the skeleton in obese people actually builds much denser and thicker bones for example*, leading to greater weight) but in the study linked they use average numbers for their calculations of metabolic rate rather than taking this into account.  ( This was in the mathy bit - RMR(kcal/d) = 1001 + 21.2 × FFM(kg) + 1.4 × FM(kg)−7.1 × Age(y) + 276 × Sex )  I'd expect the participants to have lower than average lean muscle mass due to this alone - which would explain the baseline discrepancy observed.

I don't know if this mistake made by the testers is enough to invalidate the test, but as mentioned - I'd have preferred to see one where lean muscle mass was measured.



* https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25400253

"Obese adults have higher BMD, thicker and denser cortices, and higher trabecular number than normal adults. Greater differences between obese and normal adults in the older group suggest that obesity may protect against age-related bone loss and may increase peak bone mass."

Thanks for the link!  Based on the abstract I don't think it counteracts the vast literature that supports the conclusion that metabolic adaptation is a real phenomenon, but I haven't read the full paper yet.  I could post plenty of links to papers on the reality that metabolic adaptation exceeds what could be expected from muscle mass differences alone, but I think I've derailed the thread enough and they're simple to find for anyone who's interested. 

pecunia

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #39 on: April 28, 2020, 04:38:29 PM »
How about the Ketosis thing?  Last year I was working with a guy who said, "Look at me.  I used to be a life guard."  I didn't think much of it.

This past Summer I ran into him.  He said he felt great.  He had a lot of energy.  It was a Tuesday and he said he hadn't eaten since the previous Saturday.  He had lost a lot of weight.  His body was burning its stored energy, i.e. fat.

In doing some reading, I learned that ketosis kicks in after 16 hours or so.  It varies with individuals.  The feeling of hunger will diminish and the energy that is spent on digestion is available to you.  Supposedly, you can actually gain energy.  I tried it for a couple of days and didn't really seem to feel weak or light headed, but temptation of good tasting food was too much.

It seems to make sense.  You store the energy as fat until you need it.  You never need it if you keep fueling the gas tank.  The reserve fuel is never needed.


jamesbond007

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #40 on: April 28, 2020, 05:01:56 PM »
That's a lot of weight to lose in a month no matter which approach you take. Having said that, I was 186lbs around Christmas 2019. I started intermittent fasting (20:4) and didn't particularly watch my diet when I was eating. I am a vegetarian though so no meat. I got an RMR test and my BMR is 1550 calories. I started running in December and on March 15th ran my half marathon. I was running approximately 35-50 miles a week. I was always an avid cyclist so fitness was never an issue for me. I wanted to lose wight to become faster climbing hills. After my half marathon, I weighed 173 lbs. Then I switched to 16:8 and some days 18:6 intermittent fasting, still eating whatever I come across during the eating window. Never counted calories. Just made sure I burn at least 600 cal per exercise session. Now I ride my bike 100+ miles indoor on Zwift to keep it going. I have been able to maintain 173 lbs over the last month.

I am not recommending that it would work for you but just putting it out in front of you as an option.

JoJo

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #41 on: April 28, 2020, 05:03:39 PM »
It's amazing you mention eggs.  I have unfortunately been a big yo-yoer but there is one diet that makes me lose weight like crazy yet not feel hungry, and it involves eating lots of eggs.

I called it the "3E diet" and wrote it all down here:     https://thehotflashpacker.com/the-3e-diet-weight-loss-for-travel/


I've lost 15 pounds since isolation started in March, and I had lost a bunch of weight before that too.  I'm super motivated to make 2020 the year I hit my goal, and then really work at maintaining it.

eyesonthehorizon

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #42 on: April 28, 2020, 11:17:14 PM »
I'm going to echo the weightlifting suggestions based on the main goals I'm hearing:
  • size loss
  • short turnover
  • loss maintenance + pressure to look a certain way (wardrobe, sales job)
  • little time available
This makes weightlifting ideal. We're in the same approximate demographic, though I haven't had kids; I had to do something similar a couple years ago. Walking is many kinds of beneficial, but unfortunately for your goals, is also what we evolved to do all day long, so we do it very efficiently: we barely sip calories to make it happen. You need strenuous work against resistance to build lean muscle mass, and the extra bulk will stay off if you then simply maintain that muscle mass, unlike a crash diet: I bet 99% odds the issue is not that you're eating too much.

The great thing is that you only need weightlifting in little bursts that may not even add to your schedule: just fifteen or twenty minutes, including rests, done every other day.

Possible example: Try two minutes on, two minutes off, for the first quarter hour of your usually-scheduled playtime, and let the kiddo set an egg or phone timer himself so he feels that great sense of power kids love when they get to tell their parents what to do. For the first two minutes he runs circles around you while you exercise, alternating with the next two minutes when you rest and play patty-cake or phone games or whatever toddlers do these days. While he circles for two minutes (how many circles can he do? can he do silly walks? how many different animal walks? can he sing a different song each time? etc.) you do a round of lifts. Next circle round, you do weighted squats (until 15 minutes have passed, or you're too tired to keep on). Just the first quarter hour of playtime, and just every other day (unless he insists otherwise, I suppose).

Be aggressive, but prudent (don't get injured!) with your weight goals; fewer, heavier, slower reps at a safely-challenging weight - maybe start with the equivalent of one-toddler-plus-ten-pounds, half in each hand - is more effective than lots of lighter vigorous exercise for the effect you want. If you push your body to do a lot of work, it will quickly try to build lean mass, which is going to increase your resting metabolic rate a ton - literally you'll lose weight while you sleep. If you have no weights, start with two one-gallon milk jugs of water. Add a handful or two of pebbles or play sand each on-day to increase weight. Challenge the kid to find pebbles pirate treasure for you (it's not child labor if it's a game!)

You'll want to keep your other good diet habits, but I tend to agree that single meals per day raise odds of slowing your metabolism and making your body want to hunker down and prevent changes. For many people nibbling periodically through the day on (portioned) high-protein, high-fat foods plus your stash of vegetables at meals (brushed in olive oil, broiled, & lemon-peppered is always a flavorful winner) will keep your body relaxed about the easy availability of food, instead of trying to store up reserves because you're hungry. Cut out sweetness if you can - as stated above, even noncaloric sweeteners trick your brain into releasing insulin, stevia specifically included. And as the ever-wise Malkynn points out - bloat and inflammation are real; don't get discouraged when you clean out the sweet stuff in your diet and your initially-brilliant progress seems to stall, because once you have some spare muscle accumulating that progress will snowball like beautiful compounding interest.

Lastly: don't let the scale tell you about your progress, let a camera, or a measuring tape, or the clothes. You may not lose much weight - muscle weighs more - but you will lose inches, and that wardrobe will fit comfortably again. And you'll never have to be that mom who grunts that their kid is "getting so heavy!"

Villanelle

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #43 on: April 29, 2020, 12:00:57 PM »
With a toddler and 20 acres, can you not put him in a stroller, or even a wagon, and jog?  That in and of itself is unlikely to make a huge difference, but it is one more thing to add.  If you can burn an extra 100 calories a day doing that, every single day, it will account for very roughly one pound of your desired 10 pound loss. 

That's probably less than half an hour of jogging (pushing a toddler) per day. 

(All these are very rough estimates and will depend on your current weight, the weight of the toddler, your current condition, and more.)

Throw in 20 minutes every other day of weight lifting and you've probably got another pound toward your goal (plus addition pounds as you see benefits beyond the month.)

Hopefully this post makes it seem a bit more manageable.  Certainly you should be able to get of 5-8 of those pounds in a fairly healthy way, if you are aggressive.  Then you only have a few more weeks of wearing only your loosest pants and/or enduring spanx before you are at your 10 pounds .  Or maybe you get to all 10. 

GuitarStv

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #44 on: April 29, 2020, 12:53:21 PM »
When my son was a toddler I used to put him in one of those baby backpack carriers and go jogging.  After the first 5 minutes, he would usually fall asleep.  :P

PGSD

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #45 on: April 30, 2020, 04:54:25 PM »
Use fitness pal.com to log everything you eat, everything.  Set a weight loss goal in fitnesspal and it will tell you how many calories to consume to get there.  It’s free to use.  More protein and fat will fill you up and maybe make you feel better overall.  More physical activity could help you feel better but it takes awhile.  I’m all for an enthusiastic Dance Party in my livingroom, for example.

I've been using the free myfitnesspal app for the past two months and have lost 12 pounds so far (from 202 down to 190, 1.5 lbs/week, 1500 calories/day). BTW, 1.5 lbs/week is generally considered somewhat aggressive and it hasn't been easy. The app gives you 1500 calories/day and gets reduced as you document what you eat in the app. The bonus, and the only way I've been able to stay on target, is you get to add additional calories for the day by recording exercise (example ~100 calories per mile hiking for four miles = ~400 calories added to the daily 1500 = 1900).

Personally I don't really bother tracking the fat/nutrients/trying to eat "right". Counting calories kind of takes care of that as the good (OK, bad) stuff has too many calories to eat much of and stay in plan for the day.

I'm nearing my goal weight and will then switch to "maintain weight" in the app. That should give me ~2200 calories/day. Tracking those calories should, in time, help me learn better eating habits I can use the rest of my life. Yo-yo dieting is not the goal.

Other helpful tips: the app allows you to enter your weight daily (weigh yourself at the same time daily). While daily is a bit overkill, seeing your weight drop is motivating. Calorie tracking: Sometimes I eat over my "allowed" calories for the day. Sometimes I exercise enough that I don't eat all of my allowable calories. So, I track the weekly over/under total and, sometimes I can have an extra beer Saturday night. Other times I'm working out more than usual Saturday to make up the calories.

Good luck!   
 


 
« Last Edit: April 30, 2020, 05:00:48 PM by PGSD »

cchrissyy

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #46 on: April 30, 2020, 09:51:55 PM »
I am not into diet or exercise.  I just want to say, even though my daily routine has not changed much I've put on a little weight during quarantine too and i think it makes sense that my body is trying to protect me in a dangerous time.  Even though I know my house is safe and I know i have enough food, I think human bodies body adapted to store weight in uncertain times such as when you know there is a disease around you and people talking about  food shortages.

Maybe, when this passes, you will go back to your old normal without even trying.

2Birds1Stone

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #47 on: May 01, 2020, 12:13:18 AM »
Well OP, how's it going? You posted 6 days ago, and if you implemented even half of the sound advice here should have reversed course.



Dave1442397

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #48 on: May 02, 2020, 09:34:24 AM »
I recently decided to get back to intermittent fasting, which worked well for me a few years ago.

After looking at some of the latest research, I decided to do the following:

1) Quit eating most of the junk candy that was lying around (nothing too crazy, but hard candies, gum, etc).
2) Eat three times a day, no snacking.
3) Fast twice a week. I stop eating at 5pm on Sunday, then don't consume anything but water until breakfast at 6:30am on Tuesday. I also stop eating at 5pm on Thursday and then nothing but water until breakfast on Saturday, usually around 7:30am.
4) Exercise has stayed pretty much the same. I do a lot of cycling, and I use a power meter, so the calorie count is pretty accurate. I burn around 650 calories an hour on Zwift three or four days a week, depending. Dog walks are around 10 miles per week.

The spreadsheet pic shows my weight loss since starting this on 4/20.


GuitarStv

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #49 on: May 02, 2020, 08:00:45 PM »
I went on a 160 km bike ride today and lost 8 lbs.  :P