Help me lose 1 stone in 1 week!

[Hileni]

I've just deleted my first draft of this post as it was incredibly long and rambling when it really didn't need to be so I'll start again.

I have an appt in 9 days where I'm praying they will book me in for prolapse surgery as I've been left with life altering birth Injuries. They've been reluctant to do surgery as I am only 30 and the surgery lasts about 10 years so will need re doing. Also, because I might add to my family - but I've decided I'm happy with 1 child.

Have been advised the only thing that could help was to keep up my physio for the stress incontinence and try and lose some weight - ideally be in a healthy BMI. I've worked really hard and lost 5st so far. 2 weeks ago I weighed in at 14.6. My target was to be at around 13.12 for the appointment as luckily, I'm very tall so for a healthy BMI, I need to be 12.12 albeit the top end of a healthy BMI Then, at the appointment I can say "Look, my birth injuries are so much worse than last time. They're getting worse everyday. I've lost a lot of weight like you advised. I'm only 1 stone over weight now, please book me in for surgery"

My problem - last weekend I had emergency gallbladder removal surguy (I really am falling apart) and since then I've put on 9lbs. Today I weigh 15.1. A lot of it will be excess fluid from IVs and things but also because I've been eating like a pig the last few days.

I intend to crash diet as a 1 off for a week in an attempt to lose 1st. Please can you help? I'm not sure where to start and I don't have the time to experiment in what might work for me. I need a guaranteed weight loss. Have you lost a significant amount of weight in a very small amount of time? I'm unable to exercise. Anything more than a gentle dog work turns my insides into outsides so it needs to be diet alone.

I fully intend to go back to healthy eating and shift this last 2 stone in a healthy way after the appointment and fully aware this is a short term, quick fix and I'll gain after the appointment when I return to normal eating. But I have to do this. This has been a 2 year battle and I can't miss this opportunity at getting my life back. I can't even have a wee anymore without holding myself and essentially pushing my bladder back in. It's humiliating and dehumanising.

Damn. Still a long and rambling OP. But I needed to get it all out. Please do comment, I'd love for this to carry on for the week as a bit of support throughout.

Sweetheart, with the best will in the world you wont lose 1 stone of fat in a week. You may lose a few pounds of fluid weight through low salt/increased water but not fat.
Crash diets so soon after a big operation wont help your body heal either.
Eat sensibly drink lots of water and see how it goes. Lots of lean fish/chicken, salad/veggies and be mindful of the calorie content of carbs.

That’s really not healthy to lose that much weight thru diet alone in such a small time frame. You will have to starve yourself! You would need to be on a pretty severe calorie deficit to achieve that but I really wouldn’t recommend it. Chances are as soon as you started eating normally again some of it would just go back on anyway.

Crash diets so soon after a big operation wont help your body heal either Ah yes, I didn't think of that

So even with the recent weight gain you've still lost 4 st which is an amazing achievement, and I would expect the consultant to take note of this rather than your current weight.
As PP say, it's much better to eat sensibly this week so that any blood tests etc give a true reading of your health.

There’s a pre surgery diet for exactly this situation. I’ve done it before and lost 12lb in a week (and was only just overweight by bmi so didn’t have loads to lose). I’ll post a link, hang on!

Here you go...
www.vividphotovisual.com/blog/misc/lose-stone-week-menu/

Should say, I went from 11 stone to 10 stone 2 on that plan. Good luck!

Oh dear, this isn’t going to end well!

1. It’s impossible to lose a stone in a week, but you could try drinking water.
2. Well done for the weight loss so far.
3. I had my gallbladder removed, and still remember the first meal I ate after surgery. Steak, chips, banoffee pie, washed down with a glass of red. Oh it was heaven after living on cornflakes with water and black tea! But didn’t put on any weight in the week after (have since though
4. Don’t think ladies with bladder problems are going to be prioritised for ops over all the people needing LIFE SAVING surgery over the coming months (you know, that little Coronavirus thing that’s causing a few problems).

So I say just carry on getting over your op, diet sensibly and get yourself some TenaLady for the foreseeable future.

Please do not attempt to loose a stone in a week. It is ludicrous to even attempt it.

you've done so well with a healthy weight loss. You haven't put on 9lb by over eating, as you said you've just had surgery.

please don't destroy what you worked so hard for with starvation. And to be honest the only way to lose a stone in a week is either a catastrophic infection or amputation, and you don't want either.

just say at the appointment that you just had an emergency operation!

I agree with others. A crash diet would be too much for your body right now. You could try eating lots of veggies and protein. You need both for your body to recover.

My thought would not to eat any straight carbs. Not eating sugar / pasta / rice / potatoes etc will help you to shift that water weight this week as carbs make the body retain water. Drink a teaspoon of marmite in boiling water at least twice a day to replace the electrolytes you will lose by doing this. Lots of water.

You may not get to your pre surgery weight. But you can then tell the doctor you put on x weight after the emergency surgery, which you intend to lose ASAP and to please take this into consideration. You don’t have to tell them you lost y weight in the past week iyswim.

I find 16 / 8 really useful (ie only eating in an 8 hour window). But don’t know if you could possibly do this. I presume you’re napping in the day etc and need sustenance.

Oh and if you want something sugary, remember to eat low sugar fruit like blueberries sparingly and a little 90% dark chocolate.

You’re ridiculous to be thinking of losing 1 stone in 1 week - unhealthy and dangerous.

You may well have your appointment cancelled due to Covid-19 which while annoying given your issues will give you more time for weight loss.

@FrogFairy, I did think that, defenetly worth considering!

@Howmanysleepsnow thanks for posting that, I'll have a look into that.

@Mummyoflittledragon, that's really great advice. Thank you, I will do that. You're right. I'll just eat healthily from now on and so, no I won't lose that stone but I can explain about the emergency surgery - I just don't want them to think it's because I've been lazy or that I don't care!

Thanks for talking some sense into me! I'll up my water and stick to healthy, cooked from scratch meals and go easy on the salt.

“I’ll go easy on the salt”
Yes, that’s right to a certain extent. But if you do this, you are effectively doing a low carb diet. This makes you lose water weight fast, which flushes out electrolytes - the sodium in salt and a bunch of other things our body needs to function - at the same time. This is why I suggested drinking the marmite to counter this loss.

I know salt is given a bad rap. But without any salt at all in our diet, we would literally desiccate. Obviously it’s in lots of foods eg cheese.... but drinking salt is far more effective than eating it for keeping the body hydrated.

I need probably more salt than you due to my specific health conditions. I drink a combi of the marmite and a super saturated salt drink called sole - you only need very very small quantities of the stuff.

It’s not ideal so soon after surgery but I lost 10lbs in a week on Exante (meal replacement, very low calorie). In total I lost three stone in ten weeks on the plan, then went on to lose another stone and a half on Slimming World so it doesn’t necessarily ‘all go back on’ if you eat sensibly afterwards.

1lb of fat contains about 3,500 calories, therefore you would need a calorie deficit of 7,000 a day, for 7 days to lose a stone of fat.

To put it in perspective, at your weight, running at a moderate to fast pace continuously would burn circa 700 calories per hour.

Therefore, you would have to take on no calories whatsoever for a week and just drink water, whilst running constantly for 10 hours per day all week.

A moderate / fast running pace is about 7 mph, so that's 70 miles a day, or 2.7 marathons a day, for a week, on only water.

Forgive the mundane science, but that is the reality of losing a stone of fat in a week.

Good luck. I can vouch for the effectiveness of a a double dental abscess but hopefully somebody will come a long with a much less unpleasant solution.