Can I lose 11lbs in 3 weeks? How?!

[MintyMills]

I need to lose 11 lbs in 3 weeks. I'm having a specific type of surgery which dictates that my weight should really be 11lbs less than it is now for the best possible outcome - I won't go into more details about that really as not relevant but .... eek! How do I do it? As a non egg eating vegetarian, I find low carb almost impossible.

Can it be done?

Do you have a lot to loose? If so it can be easier to loose a lot of weight in a short space of time. If you're already in a healthy BMI range then short of starving yourself in an unhealthy way I'm not sure it's possible - i did weight watchers for 10 weeks to shift a few lockdown lb and didn;t loose that much but people who are a lot more overweight can drop half a stone in the first week.

Can I ask how much you weigh now? It's easier to lose a large amount quickly if you're carrying a lot of extra weight to start with...

Make sure you are having lots of water

Use green veg to bulk out your meals, for example I do a warm salad-y thing for lunch that's well under 200 calories and a massive plate of food by steaming green beans, sugar snap peas, mushrooms, baby corn and asparagus (or any combo of these) then quickly cooking some spring onions in a non stick pan with no oil, chucking it all together, adding a teaspoon of real butter and seasoning. It's tasty, quick and filling.

Make sure you aren't consuming calories in drinks, they can really add up and for the sake of 3 weeks you can manage without lattes, alcohol, sugar in tea and such like.

Fast 800 diet, developed by Dr Michael Mosley

Yes have a look at the FAST800 diet.

Not without crash/starvation dieting and that would be foolish

Yes you can but it'll be touch. Limit your calories to 800 a day and lots of water but to be honest it's not a massively healthy way to lose weight, particularly if you need to be at your strongest for surgery.

What's your approximate BMI at the moment, OP? If you're particularly obese then it's possible, but if you're near to a "normal" weight then probably not.

I don't think starving yourself for 3 weeks prior to surgery will lead to good outcomes. It's not going to help your body heal if you're malnourished and in starvation mode, is it?! (You can be malnourished and overweight.)

I think as a general guide it is safe to lose 2lb per week, so 6lb in 3 weeks.

Although obviously that depends on what your weight is to start with.

I thought fasting was actually really good for healing? Don’t bariatric patients have to fast quite a lot and they discovered they were recovering from surgery really well, or was that just that their diabetes t2 was improving?

There are meal replacement diets that make you lose eight very quickly. 11lb in 3 weeks is possible but it won't be a Healthy way of doing it. Cambridge 1-2-1 plan or lighter life plan for example.

I won't be starving myself but I do think I can come close to it . Ish

I have a BMI of about 28 and a bit. Maybe 29. So I'm overweight yes but no, not hugely overweight so I think weight loss is more achievable than if my BMI was normal.

I think the Fast 800 is a good shout with a few adaptions.

And starvation mode is a nonsense btw, if you google. Nobody goes into starvation mode on the Fast800 or the Cambridge diet

I won't be doing the Cambridge diet or anything like it - purely because I want to focus on nourishing foods

I lost 11lbs in three weeks by giving birth...

New You plan.

Good luck OP. Might be worth running your diet plans by your doctor or consultant just in case.

Definitely recommend the FAST800 cook book if you do it. Really tasty and lots of healthy, nourishing food.

If you eat mainly fruit and veg, fat free yoghurt, babybels and avoid all carbs then yes I think it’s possible

+1 for fast 800. I lost a stone on it (and a 40 minute walk 4 times per week) in 4 weeks. After the first few days it really wasn’t that onerous. My starting stats were similar to yours as well.

Basically fast 800 boils down to skip breakfast (although black tea/coffee is fine) and limit carbs.

Need lots of protein in there and some good fats with FAST800 to maximise fat rather than muscle loss.