I need to lose 5 stone in 5 months… is this doable?

[Heybarbie1028]

I am 17 stone
Want to lose 5 stone by June
Realistic or not?

Nope. Sorry it's not doable unless you eat very little and exercise several hours a day.

Why can't it take a little longer. You could get half of it off in that time which is an amazing achievement.

Probably not. If you didnt gain it in 5 months then yoyve probably got some big life changes to make which may not be easy

It’s doable in my experience but you are looking at the Cambridge / fast 800 diet or similar for 5 months + significantly upping your activity levels if you are currently quite sedentary.

In 5 months you could get a lot of that off and with some exercise, you'd tone up so you'd look in good shape.
With healthy food and exercise, you'd have a nice healthy glow as well.
Lots of health benefits too, as I'm sure you know already.

Go for it and there'll be a massive difference.

Not healthily and your skin would look like a melted snowman. I've lost 4 stone in 3 years another 3 stone to go and aiming for 2 to 3 years. I did yoyo diets and unhealthy eating through my teens and 20s now mud 30s I finally sorted my relationship with food out and have maintained my loss even in periods of not actively trying to lose like christmas or just busy times in general. I also had another baby in this time period.

Not in a health way, no. In 5 months you could probably safely lose half of it.

why the rush?

I think loosing 2 pounds a week is sensible. So you could loose over half of that. Is something happening in June?

The more gradual you loose it the more likely you are to keep it off. When I have lose weight quickly I just pile it back on.

5 months is a long time to be dieting for. I think it needs to be broken down. So just aim to loose 2 pounds a week for a month and review how you are doing then.

Good luck

No sorry and I fear you’d be setting yourself up for failure being unrealistic from the outset.

DH has been eating calorie controlled diet and doing regular strength and cardio exercises (incl personal trainer) and hasn’t lost 5 stone in 5 months. He’s lost about 2-3 stone and I know how much sustained effort that has taken him. I know he’s a man so will have different stats and has also increased muscle but it’s a tortoise and hare race. Slow and steady will win.

Not in a healthy, sustainable way no. I lost 3 stone in 6 months and 2 more over the the following year. A stone a month is a huge pressure.

I don’t think so, no. I lost 6.5 stone over 18 months, the majority of which was in a 12 month period and that was through fasting for 18 hours a day and then eating less than 1000 calories a day. It was a great kickstart but it’s not sustainable – I was tired all the time and could only do it because I was in a flexible job that meant I could nap during the day! Now I fast for 16 hours and aim for less than 1200 calories during the week, 1800 calories at weekends and that’s sustainable for me but weight loss is much slower, an average of 0.5lbs a week.

That said, you CAN lose a good amount of weight by June and I think you’ll be surprised at what little amount makes you feel different. I felt like a different person at 3 stone off.

How tall are you and how active? I think it’s probably doable if you eat sensibly and spend a few hours a day walking at a brisk pace. But you’d need the time to do it!

No. Took me 18m to lose 4st.

Literal only ways would be Lighter Life or Cambridge diet.

Honestly, yes you can. With a VLCD (very low calorie diet) like Cambridge or LighterLife. It won't be enjoyable, and you'd have to be very committed, and it might give you gallstones/your hair fall out/give you an eating disorder/give you other MH problems. But only you can weigh up whether it's worth that or not.

For what it's worth, I was 18 stone 5lb at the start of the year. I'm now 17stone 8lb. Hopefully I'll reach a stone off this month which will be a huge boost. I've done it by eating a high protein diet, with plenty of carbs still, and hitting 10k step every day and lifting weights 3 x a week. I've done a VLCD before and it was torture and it taught me to binge eat once I was done.

This time around I'm building on healthy habits I started last year (gym, steps and eating at a slight calorie deficit) and I'm hoping to make sustainable changes. I'll reach 17st 5lb, and aim to get to 16st 13lb because I'll be thrilled to see that 16! If I was there by March (I know my weight loss will slow down) I'll be so happy. Then I'll aim for the next small target.

Don't go for the big goal. Go for a small one, and repeat it. You'll be happier in June if you consistently achieve small goals repeatedly and lose say 2.5stone, vs aiming for 5 stone and failing surely?

You could lose a fair bit of it. 2lbs a week isn't excessive and in 5 months that would be only a bit shy of 3 stone.

Do you mind me asking how you are doing this Sprinkles211?

<sorry to derail thread op. I agree with everyone else. Half of what you are suggesting is realistic I think>

No, but don’t let that stop you! Every pound you lose will make you feel fantastic. You’ll get more energy, better skin and feel amazing. If you’re doing this for a holiday or event then the self confidence from losing any weight will help. Don’t set yourself up to fail.

The short answer is yes, you could, but it would make you very ill, and you likely won't be able to keep the weight off for long.

Sustainable, healthy weight loss happens with small, gradual changes, not a massive overhaul.

You will get much better results if you look at what eating/drinking habits you could change over time. For example, I have lost 2 stone in 4 months by drinking more water and less fizzy juice, limiting the amount of snacks I eat but not cutting them out completely because it would make me miserable and I would give up and be back to square one.

I make weekly meal plans, too, and have stuck to them. Of course, I have had the odd occasion where I have fancied a pizza instead of a chicken risotto and allowed myself to have it, because the key thing to remember is it matters what you do 90% of the time, the odd pizza or kebab or whatever will not undo all your hard work.

So my advice would be to start small so you don't get overwhelmed and gradually make more changes when you get into the swing of things, and to have the patience of a saint because its a long ass journey unfortunately.

I think you could do three or four but you would need to be sensible. Speedy weight loss can risk gallstones which you definitely want to avoid.

It is yes but its extremely hard work. Check out Exante. You lose a stone a month. But you must exercise as well. 30 minute walk daily or similar.

The answer seems to be yes, but only with extreme measures, and even then with less than ideal long term consequences.

But kindly, if you had the willpower to stick to that for almost half a year, would you be five stone overweight? (I'm very overweight and I know I couldn't).

So maybe if the motivation is strong enough, like donating a kidney to a loved one.

But if it's for a wedding dress, then losing it slowly would mean you'd feel great on the day and great in the run up to it, looking and being healthier. Better than feeling terrible and looking thin but in an ill kind of way.

Best of luck.

I lost 5 stone in 6 months. Breakfast, lunch and dinner all normal portions of whatever i wanted to eat. one small frozen milky way if i needed chocolate, no crisps ( but plenty of vodka & diet coke and cigs) I done 45 minute on the cross trainer and half hour of weights 5 days a week. I always ate my main meal within 20 minutes of finishing my workout. I have to say it was bloody easy to loose but i was in the right frame of mind to loose it.

Not in a way that won't ruin you. Half a stone a month is very doable - I've just lost 3 stones over eight months, which is about that rate but with two months August (summer holiday) and December (Christmas) where I basically just maintained.

1700 calories a day, meet daily protein, fibre and fruit & veg targets, 13k steps a day, weights 5 times a week, 8 hours sleep a night.

@Fringepolitics294 not at all. I used the nutracheck app which is counting calories but I set mine to only 1lb a week loss so that enabled me to still eat a fair bit I'm an emotional eater I need to be able to balance the quick teas with the healthy stuff as have now 3 children with sen. I tried to swim about 3 times a week but this only lasted until 6 months into my pregnancy and I've not been since and baby is 11 months, I do tend to hit 8 to 12 thousand steps a day on my fitbit which I wear on my foot to make sure it's as accurate as it can be but I think what changed for me the most was finding a book by the fitness chef I had to read it a few times but it really changed how I saw food,nothing off limits no good food or bad food and over time I've finally got a healthy relationship with food. Do I follow ny tracker and weigh all my food? No I don't, I did for 6 months non stop until I had basically got the gist of what was the correct portion size for the calories. For the first time ever my weight will only fluctuate a couple of lbs and I've never gone back to my old habits, my diet could be a hell of alot better but I'm not gaining weight and some nights I get less than an hours sleep due to my children so again in my physical life I've had to learn its OK to stick a pizza in on those days and not spend a week spiraling about it. I'd still like to lose another 3 stone I'm now happy for that to take me 3 years if necessary

Its doable but not easily

Its more doable because you're very overweight (although saying that you dont say what you should weigh?)

So assuming you're about 8 or so stones overweight the first few stones would come off quicker.

You could feasibly lose around 2 stone in the first couple of months, then slowing to around 1 or 2lbs a week after that.