Can I lose two stones in 12 weeks?

[WishfulThanking]

Obviously it is possible, but how do-able is it? I'd like to hear from anyone who has managed this or similar, or who has a similar goal.

I have started my diet today and plan to do a low-ish fat calorie-controlled diet and some home workout DVDs. I am using MFP to track my calories. I'm planning 1200 calories for the first two weeks then will increase it to 1400 and really ramp up the exercise then too. Does this sound do-able?Or just a pipe dream? All tips will be gratefully received.

[charimito]

I think it's near impossible. I've lost 3 at in 6 months! I have a calorie controlled diet (about 1200 a day) and work out for at least 90 mins 5 days a week. I've also gained muscle, so I guess if I had lost muscle mass instead of gaining it i would probably weight one stone less, but that's impossible to know!

[Garnethair]

I think a lot of it depends on how much you have to lose? It takes me a month to lose 5lb at WW because I'm only slightly overweight. I know that those who have a lot to lose can often lose a large amount weekly.

[Ellieboolou27]

Oooh I'm going the same! 2st by July as I'm off on holiday. Using mfp set at 1350 cals, I'm planning to do 1200 soon but need a few more lbs off before I go lower.

Also I'm replacing breakfast or lunch with a meal replacement shake.
Ideally I'd like to lose 3st long term but 2 by July is hopefully achievable!

If I'm not at a stone lighter by end of May I'm going to do the blood sugar diet by Micheal Mosley

[Wolfiefan]

Totally depends on what your weight is now. If you are morbidly obese then I would say yes but if you are a few pounds on the heavy side then no.

[lilyborderterrier]

Join slimming world, it'll support you and change your whole eating habits, I cannot diet ( no will power) and I lost over 1 1/2 stone in about 12 weeks, I did it easily, cooking great healthy meals for me and my family. I had cheat weekends and took up exercise. I maintained the loss and it's only that I'm pregnant that I've stopped doing it, I'll do it again after I've had the baby.

[Hesdeadjim]

Yep, I've just done it :)

well, 22lbs in 10 weeks but as of an unofficial weigh in this morning it's 26lbs with 2 weeks to go until I hit 12 weeks, so im on track to achieve that :)

I weighed 18st 5lbs 10 weeks ago, I'm now 16st 11lbs officially but 16st 7lbs as of this morning ;)

I've done it with a low carb, high fat diet and it's been easy really. No cravings, no hunger at all and bags of energy, so much so I've started running in the evenings other wise i cant sleep

[Hesdeadjim]

SHould have actually said how i did it

Less than 25g carbs per day
70% of overall cals from fat
20% cals from protein

4 litres of water a day

1200 cals there abouts each day.

I use MFP to track it all some weeks but other weeks I'm able to judge it on apatite so dont need to track. Fat makes you feel satisfied so you stop eating much sooner and dont snack at all.

[FatGirlWithChocolate]

www.precisionnutrition.com/?s=Weight%20loss%20calculator This is a great site..You input your details, how much you want to lose and what time frame, and it works out how much you need to tailor your calorie intake to. Really helped me, and has boosted my loss.

[WishfulThanking]

Inspiring, hesdeadjim! Wish I could drink even 1L water a day...I am really bad! I wonder if water really does make a difference?

Thanks for the site, FatGirl (it doesn't feel right calling you that!!). I will check it out as I love these kind of calculators.

I'm not going to join any slimming clubs, Lily, though I agree with you that they are really good at motivating you.I did Rosemary Conley years ago and was really successful. I'm trying to do it for free this time!

Wolfie, no I'm not obese so I know with the max calorie intake I can go down to I won't be able to lose 2lb a week...I was just wondering if it was possible to do it through lots and lots of exercise. Thats making me feel exhausted just thinking about it, so i am going to shoot for 1lb a week loss, but hopefully I will lose 5lb in this first week, so 17lb by 19th July is my goal. I think I will weigh in here every week.

Ellie I'm doing a meal replacement shake for lunch too, just so I have more calories to play with in the evening. Though I forgot it this morning so I don't know what I'm going to do

Wow, charimito, that is a LOT of exercise! Can i ask what you are doing? You've lost approx 1.6lb a week for six months, so that is absolutely awesome and I'd love myself so much if I achieved that!

[WishfulThanking]

Sorry, Garne I missed you off there....yes I agree with you, it's not as quick if you have less to lose, simply because there's a limit to how many calories you can safely cut as the body needs a certain minimum.

[FatGirlWithChocolate]

That's quite alright Wishfulthinking :) - though I am more of a lessfatthanshewasgirlwhohasn'thadchocolateforalongtime now ;)

[WishfulThanking]

Change your username to that!!

[WishfulThanking]

I've just done the calculator and 1200 calories with 30 day shred should get me to my goal, according to it!

I'm just remembering that Rosemary Conley warned never to do 1200 calories for more than 2 weeks at a time. My allowance on that was usually around 1400, and the 1200 was a 'quick start' diet for the first two weeks, or after you'd had a blip or a plateau. She's my dieting god, so I feel bad going against her instructions!

I think I am going to try and stick to the 1200 and see what happens. This is day 3 and I'm not as hungry as I was yesterday or the day before. I seem to remember the first three days being the hardest.

My next job is to try and ditch the tea. I can only drink it with two sugars in , so obviously this takes up far to many calories when my allowance is only 1200. Water, here I come!

[Ellieboolou27]

wishful love rosemary too
Have soup or salad for lunch try to keep it under 200 cals.
I'm going to do 1200 for next two weeks too and take it from there.
Love shred but my hamstring is really bad so just doing loads of fast walks and weights, aiming for 45-60 per day.

[GlitteryFluff]

I've lost just 12lbs since the beginning of April doing low carb. But I was 15st to start off with.

[KindDogsTail]

What Hesded said. Try reading the * Week Blood sugar Diet as you will understand the principles of what you are aiming for then.

If you get the food right, (enough protein and and vegetables and healthy oil) you won't even feel too hungry and you can change your eating habits for the better for good so you won't just put all the weight on again later. That book has 800 calories a day. You would still lose a lot with 1200 like Hesded said.

[GlitteryFluff]

And I agree with 8 week blood sugar diet (though I haven't stuck to calories so would have lost more - if you stick to calories it's doable)

[WishfulThanking]

Wow, Glittery, 12lb is brilliant!

Yes, Ellie, I'm planning soups or a placement shake for lunch. As long as I have a decent breakfast and dinner, I can cope with a very light lunch.

I will look into this Blood Sugar diet. I've heard it mentioned a lot on this board.

[TheoriginalLEM]

I started with mfp at the end of January and ive just lost two stone. I have been less than rigid. i have another 3 stone to go 😲

Slowly slowly catchy monkey

Mfp will give you a suggested weight loss but as you lose it will reduce your calorie allowance.

1200 calories isn't very much - i am on 1390 and its easy to stick to - my aim is one pound a week.

I lost 8 pounds in the first week but that is very common so i consider i have only lost 1.5 stone.

It is doable with exercise - i run and cycle.

Ww and sw are money making schemes you are better off with mfp. I downloaded ww and it was essentially the same as mfp but less user friendly and logical.

[Hesdeadjim]

1200 calories is absolutely fine even long term as long as it's the right kind of calories. If you're eating 500cals a day of empty carbs like bread or pasta etc, then obviously you're going to be hungry because you're not feeding your bodies needs and you're going to spike your blood sugar with carbs.

However, if 10% of those calories only come from carbs, and highly nutrient dense carbs at that, then 20% from good quality protein and 70% from fat, your blood sugar will stay really stable, you wont trigger an insulin response and you can maintain that state of nutritional ketosis indefinitely. The sensation of hunger is our bodies way of telling us our blood sugar levels are dropping, so if you stop that from happening, you're golden :)

It sounds like a really odd way to eat i Know, I was sooo skeptical when I started out but actually, the food is frustratingly normal I'm sure people think LCHF'ers just eat sticks of butter...

Daily food for me looks like this:

Breakfast:
Coffee with 50mls double cream in it

Lunch:
Usually a plate of salad leaves with either:
Smoked salmon gravadlax and avocado
Chicken, parmasan, tomatoes and avocado with ceasar dressing
Bacon, avocado, tomato and full fat mayo
Tuna, full fat mayo and avocado
Egg mayo and avocado
Or, if im in a hurry and need a ready meal, tesco finest cauliflower cheese

Dinners:
Slow cooked lamb shank, asparagus cooked in butter and gravy made from the lamb stock
Steak, creamy stilton sauce and roasted broccoli
Salmon with spinach and lemon butter sauce
Prawns, stir fry veggies and sauce made from a big scoop of peanut butter
Lamb or beef Burgers but instead of a bun, use 2 flat mushrooms with garlic mayo
If it's a takeaway night, kebab (chicken or donar) with salad and mayo without the pita bread
Belly pork roasted with spinach/ kale/ asparagus/ cauli etc
Lamb shank shredded through cauliflower rice with moroccan spices
with plenty of butter in it

I'm a massive foodie so it suits me down to the ground :) Because the meals have a high fat content, they are all super fast to cook or done in the slow cooker. I can have a meal for 2 on the table in 20 minutes most nights :)

[WishfulThanking]

Thanks, LEM, I love reading success stories...they give me the motivation I need.
hesdeadjim, my mouth is watering and those foods are right up my street! Love salmon, Avocado, mayo, lamb...basically everyting on your list. Will pinch some of those ideas. I don't understand the coffee with cream for breakfast, though. What's the thinking behind that?

[Hesdeadjim]

No thinking behind it, it's yummy, filling and quick

I work full time and eat at my desk in the mornings, on the weekend I have scrambled egg and smoked salmon usually with plenty of butter :)

[TheoriginalLEM]

Best advice i gave myself was to cut myself some slack. Bad day at work so scoffed the chocolates that i usually ignore with a will of iron. So today imade dp take me out gor an epic run so left the chocolate on the track somewhere. Im back on it now and thats the beauty of mfp, even if you go over calories you can claw them back with exercise.

[TheoriginalLEM]

I too am tepted by your diet suggestions Hesdeadjim

[WishfulThanking]

It's so true about cutting yourself some slack.

All through my teens I never lasted more than three days on a diet. Looking back, it was because I cut far too many calories and was weak and tired. Now I know that having an extra 50-100 calories snack if I need it is far more effective than rigidly sticking to the allowance and then cracking and bingeing later on. Same goes with exercise...I exercise moderately rather than flat out and it's much more enjoyable and easy to stick to.