I’ve got 2 months to lose as much weight as possible… give me your best tips!

[lifeistooshort2024]

As the title says, I am going on a beach holiday to a really lovely resort in 2 months.

I am obese, a size 18/20, and should have done something about my weight months ago. But I haven’t and I have 2 months to try as hard as possible to get in shape.

What will help me the most?

TIA!

Yes, too many sugar free sweets can have a laxative effect - most of them warn you about this on the packaging. I've been inadvertently caught out by this before and it is no joke.

(Obviously abusing laxatives for weight loss is a pretty disordered behaviour so probably would give that one a miss.)

Take amphetamines. Or swallow a tape worm.

Sorry no, I am being facetious, but bizarrely both of these things were advocated for weight loss by the medical profession in times past.

This. Crash dieting is unhealthy and unsustainable. You need to make longer term, sustainable changes - weight loss will be slower but it's so much better for you.

For my wedding many years ago I lost about 4 stone. I didn't eat the healthiest of food but it worked for me to keep it simple and not have too much choice. Breakfast was a bowl of rice crispies, lunch was a toasted ham and cheese sandwich and a small bag of popcorn, dinner was usually a chicken breast, steak or spicy pork chop with salad or jacket potatoe. I drank two litres of water a day and did water aerobics three times a week.

No alcohol
No crisps
No fizzy drinks

God, diet threads are always a bit deranged on here, with posters insisting that their way is the only way and everyone else is wrong.

This one really is taking the medal though. Eat a box of laxative sweets instead of meal. Exercise intensely on one meal a day.

As the sensible people have said, the best diet is what works for you. SW will be fine and as long as you do it without loads of processed food it is a healthy way of eating. Eat lots of veg. Walk lots. Drink lots of water.

I’m lucky i just not hungry after i working out. I dont know why. The first week is hard but after that its getting easier. I’m doing OMAD at 5pm because incant sleep when i’m hungry.

I would imagine that you would like to feel happy and relaxed on holiday, so I would absolutely not embark on a misery inducing crash diet at this point. You'll feel awful on the holiday and that is not the aim of a holiday.

You can change the way you feel inside for the better considerably in two months. I would:

• Start walking every day for an hour minimum
• Drink your 2L of water every day
• Start taking a multi vitamin
• Eat protein with every meal or snack
• Eat a wide variety of nutritious foods - the aim is to nourish not starve your body
• At least 5 fruit / veg a day
• Improve your sleep - go to bed earlier - read a book instead of screen time before bed
• No alcohol
• No refined sugar

I guarantee by the time your holiday comes around you'll look and feel better in yourself, even if your weight has not dropped dramatically, and you'll enjoy your holiday more.

Buy a smaller plate and walk, walk walk. No booze, no junk. Breakfast lunch a dinner and no more. You can tell yourself it is only for 8 weeks and then you can enjoy your holiday. Good luck.

I’ve lost 2st on slimming world since Jan (started size 14, now size 10). I’ve seen plenty of people with higher starting weight lose a lot more.

people bash SW but it works for lots of people.

What’s riccola? Do you mean the lozenges

I followed Michael Mosely's blood sugar diet a couple of years ago and lost a lot of weight fairly quickly (1.5 stone over 8 weeks). We picked it up again last year when DH was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes and dieted him back to 'normal' blood sugar levels, and he lost quite a bit of weight.

I did have a 'cheat' day each week where I allowed myself wheat-based carbs. That could be to have a few biscuits with cheese, or a pizza hut buffet pig out. It didn't seem to stop the weight loss. There are helpful threads on diets, and to support dieters on other parts of MN

Slimming World & Weight Watchers are not fast track diets.
The aim is a steady & sustainable weight loss - officially.

Unofficially, it's in their business interests for customers to lose weight slowly as they get more money !

You need to make a decision. Do you want to enact long term change but most likely not have the weight loss you want in two months or do you want to lose more weight but be unable to sustain the changes and so the weight will go straight back on again and then some?

If you want the latter then I can't help you but for the former you need to start with assessing how you came to be obese, because it didn't happen overnight. Until you can identify the root cause you are not going to be able to address it and so anything you do will be like using a plaster to try and close a surgical incision. If you do want that long-term change then I'm happy to elaborate on how I did it.

I lost just shy of a stone over lent from giving up foods that contained added sugars ☺️ I started to feel a lot better too. I really recommend this!

@GogAndMagog Riccola are sugar free boiled sweets, people probably lose weight eating them because if you consume a lot of them it can have a laxative effect 🥴 Probably not the healthiest suggestion but trying to lose as much weight as possible within 2 months probably isn't the healthiest either!

As an aside there was an excellent tape worm on display at the natural history museum in Manchester.

This and also you might start to plateau at some point. You need to make sustainable change. I know it's frustrating but it's unlikely you'll keep the weight off if you do some sort of crash diet. If you're obese and want to lose lots of weight, you need to do it in a way that you can keep up. I know this as I'm doing the same. You will get there

Walking.

5km 3 times a week, more if you can. Stick the headphones on, work out a route that takes about an hour (usually about 5km at walking speed) and watch the weight fall off.

Of course, diet has a great deal to do with it as well, but anytime I wanted to lose weight I'd get the trainers out and enjoy an hour to myself with some music or a podcast a few times a week, it doesn't even feel like exercise.

Follow the diabetes Uk online diet

• no booze or sugar in drinks.
• veggies before or at start of each meal.
• 30g max carbs per meal. No white carbs (bread pasta potatoes or rice) mainly just have brown rice or quinoa.
• sweet potatoes only not white potatoes
• protein with every meal.
• no junk like biscuits or cakes obviously.

Crudités and sour cream are great snacks.

I lost 20kg doing this in a few months and my skin glows I am now the size I was in my mid 20s and I'm late 30s with a toddler.

Cambridge Diet, a tad brutal but it works.

Especially if immediately after eating

I started dieting 4 months before my holiday last year. I downloaded my fittness pal app, and counted calories and did a 10,000 steps a day. I bought clothes and a swimsuit that fitted me well. I grew my nails and had my hair done before I went. I lost 1.5 stone before I went, I've since lost the other 1.5 stone. I'm continuing to lose more weight, as I'd like to lose another 2 stone. It all feels achievable and effortless. I used to crash diet and jog to lose the weight, but it would all go back on instantly when I relapsed. Having a healthier balance and losing it slowly is key. I can do this plan forever because it's easy.

Yes please listen to this OP, better to start slowly doing IF and low carb as lifestyle changes, and get a flattering bathing suit and fake tan instead of a harmful crash diet.

I don’t want to put anyone off healthy weight loss as, if you are obese, there are health consequences attached to that. But to try to crash diet for a holiday is not a healthy approach and you’d be prone to piling it back on afterwards.

Why not make a broader decision that you’d like to be slimmer for your health, and do it in a moderate sustainable way, changing your diet and eating habits and introduce more exercise. You could then use the holiday as a short term goal along the way.