Is it physically possible to loose a stone in 30 days?

[needsome]

Or near a stone?

I'm about a size 12/14 and probably carrying an extra stone than what I consider myself comfortable with. I'm late 20s and have a big event coming up and would like to feel my best and hopefully kickstart my fitness and wellbeing back to what it used to be pre DCs as its been years and I feel stuck in a rut and hate looking in the mirror. I don't see the person I feel I am/can be.

I'm physically healthy and able to exercise /walk and so on. I'd like to tone up my arms and thighs and loose the extra fat that's around my sides and belly.

At the moment I do a dance exercise class once a week for an hour but not much apart from that, I could potentially carve out an evening or two a week to do more. (Also could do something at home when DC is napping?). But not sure what's effective.

Has anyone achieved this? Anyone has any tips on what the best exercise or method is?
I'm considering a calorie controlled diet.

AIBU and completely unrealistic?

It sounds tough to lose that much that fast when you’re not very very big to start.

BUT 30 days of shred or similar every day will make you look and feel awesome. You might not be 14lb lighter but you’ll be stronger and more toned for sure.

Easier the bigger you are generally. If you’re only a stone overweight you may struggle to lose it all in that time frame.

It's definitely possible @needsome I started off with Low Carb BootCamp on here, did keto and I've lost now over 2 stone!!! I'll be honest had a bit of a back fall (emotional and no support tbh) BUT I can say I've felt my best ever. I second roasting the veggies too and dive into your spice cupboard / add new flavours it definitely helped me!! Good Luck

Easily. Depends on your height/current weight, but if you follow a good 1200kcal diet, this should create a nice deficit for you. Afterwards, up the kcal intake to maintenance.

Work out your TDEE, that's a great starting point. You CAN eat a lot, volume wise, and still lose weight, as long as the food you eat is low in calories. Eggs are ridiculously filling, and I often find that if I eat wholewheat noodles, I am full for hours and hours afterwards.

I lost a stone in 3 weeks by combining 5:2 with low carbing so on the days I wasnt fasting, I ate almost no carbs. Its not a long term plan but for a short term shift it does work and got me into a dress for a special event!

these threads are crazy they are fueling this whole diet culture crap.
if you need to lose weight you will on a diet of good food ALL GROUPS and exercise.then you will be the weight and size you should be.
otherwsie you are dieting whichh at some point you will stop and once again we start this oh shit ivegained weight ill have to diet again bollocks to be a particular size.
you should be the sie you are with good diet and exercise.
you shouldnt cut out carbs.
you should fast.
you should eat your veggies and allow yourself some snacks.
find your happy place with balance.otherwsie a life of diets and needing to lose or wanting to lose will forever be a cycle.

Also, cut out sugary crap altogether. Completely unneeded for anything. No reason to miss it. :)

High fat low carb/keto you can. My DH just has. Best thing is it requires very little will power after the initial detox from a high carb diet. The cravings diminish and you’re just not hungry. Exercise if you enjoy it but exercise makes you more hungry as well as encouraging water retention so don’t use it purely as a weight loss tool.

Don't buy snacks.

I'm the same. if they're in the house I eat them. So I have given up buying them.

I've lost a total of six stone now (in sixteen months) but I always remember that first week when I lost a stone.

I have done so before, however my situation was different from yours. I was told to put on weight to donate blood so starting eating loads until I donated, then dropped back to my normal food intake/exercise. So for me, it was more my body shifting back to my normal weight.

I did this recently - from 11 to 10 - in around six weeks. I followed Michael Mosley's advice, which is that sugar makes you fat, but our bodies need to eat fat. This is what I've done and I was rarely hungry, and each meal was tasty. Basically really minimise the amount of processed carbs you eat, up your fish and egg intake, don't worry about eating cheese and full fat yoghurt. Eat more veg and minimise fruit. It's mainly what you eat - you can exercise plenty, but if you're not eating properly, you won't lose a lot.

A couple of things. Reduce or completely eliminate alcohol for a month.
On top of your dance class, add in Pilates or Yoga once a week and a resistance/weight bearing class once a week. Things like circuit training, bootcamp, legs bums & tums or abs, bums & thighs. The first two tend to focus on upper body strength (arms, shoulders/back) whereas the latter two focus on tummy, ass and legs.
Walk instead of getting the bus/car/train where reasonable.
At home, there are plenty of you tube videos to follow. So, you could warm up, with jogging on spot, high knees, star jumps etc, then follow one of those.

Search for e.g. 30 minute full body workout or 10 minute ab workout or 5 minute glute workout or 10 minute core strength workout.

Try to avoid salt where possible (or reduce at least).

Less red meat, more fish (oven baked maybe) or grilled turkey steaks/chicken breasts etc.

Potatoes are great to get the bowels moving.

Lots of water.

More protein.

No more than 50 grams of pasta (it should fit on a side plate when cooked) in one serving.

Less carbs.

More green leafy salads.

Absolutely possible to make good inroads in a month OP. Even just losing, say, 10lbs you'll be able to see and feel the difference, and if your diet is carb-heavy and you slash the carbs, you'll see a fast initial drop as you lose bloat and water weight. Unfortunately it'll taper after that, but it should give you a boost.

I recommend giving intermittent fasting (5:2 or a variant thereof) a whirl, primarily because it's a really useful life skill to work out how much food you really need. It's very useful knowledge to discover how satisfied you can be with a far smaller portion than you might automatically have been taking. Getting a handle on your portion sizes will serve you well, and a smaller bowl / plate is a really easy win. I wouldn't worry about sticking to 500 calories: just start by having a day where you try to eat as little as you can whilst being satisfied, and go from there. You'll find you can easily get by on 800 cals or so as long as they're protein-heavy ones, and that hunger pangs come and go. Once you've done it once it'll be a lot less daunting and it'll educate you on what foods work for you, what times of day your body best responds to food, etc., and you're likely to be able to tap into the difference between hunger and habit. If you do decide to try a Fast Day, make sure to plan your food for the following day and be very mindful of it! On your first Fast Day your body (well, more your brain) will probably have a bit of a tantrum and start craving all sorts of odd things - you probably won't even want them by the time the next day rolls around but you might end up eating them just because you can.

Essentially, what I'm saying is that 5:2 has been useful for me less because of the calorie deficit and more for getting me in tune with my body's food needs, which is knowledge that I can then apply on NFDs too.

Good luck! Keep us posted.

That's quite an extreme goal OP - do you have form for being a bit all or nothing?

I would focus on toning up for a month by exercising more, and not weight. Because I think it would be difficult to lose the weight in such a short timescale and if you are prone to extremes then it will be downhill all the way with a feeling of failure! No extremes, they don't work!

The first two tend to focus on upper body strength (arms, shoulders/back)

Should read

The first two tend to focus on upper body strength (arms, shoulders/back) as well as lower body. So more of a full body workout.

Yes!

I started a thread to ask for advice shifting 7 lbs and got fantastic replies.

It's been a week and I've lost 5lbs - all fat! My clothes are looser already.

I'm having 900-1000kcals a day of organic, healthy wholefoods, and doing HIIT. Also still running for cardio and walking loads. Can't believe the weight is melting off.

Been struggling to lose it for a while, as I'm around 9 stone and the last bit of excess weight is always the toughest. So you gotta get tough with it!

I have lots of energy, feeling much better and hope to lose another 10lbs and then maintain at that weight.

Definitely doable! Good luck.

I did but I found it hard to keep up after I'd lost the initial weight. I'm still glad I did it but after that first stone, I went a lot slower and still allowed myself the odd treat (I was much stricter that first month) and feel much happier for it.

I'm still losing weight but just more slowly and consistently now currently a size 10 and the best I've felt in years!

30 day shred combined with the Fast800. You should definitely be able to drop a stone. Obviously the lighter your starting point the more difficult it is to achieve.

Also I agree that your goal of 1 stone in 30 days is a bit extreme, did you chose that because it’s a round number? Might be worth shifting that goal to say 5kg, still a round number but more easily achievable.

People always come on these threads and say "you're not that big" without knowing the OP's height or frame. Granted she's unlikely to be morbidly obese, but it's perfectly possible to be overweight at a size 12. And more to the point, she wants to lose a bit of weight, which isn't something only overweight or obese people are allowed to do.

Another vote for 30 days shred here although I hurt so much after the first few days I could hardly move! I'm also doing 16:8 which I'm finding a lot easier than I anticipated. Good luck.

Re snacking (evenings are the worst for me), have things that you like at the ready. Bread sticks are surprisingly low calorie. I love to have olives and cheese. I have an olive or a small cube of spicy cheese or something. My logic is that at least I'm getting some nutrients out of them, whereas chocolate/crisps etc. are empty calories. It's better than getting a chocolate everytime I go to the kitchen lol. They're also surprisingly satisfying hunger-wise.

Also - avoid the weighing scales as they can be discouraging. Instead, take arm/thigh/bum/waist/chest measurements now and once a week thereafter.

It is possible OP, but it’s not really a good idea. It could well lead to rebound eating and weight gain.

I’d have a more realistic goal of half a stone, which will be less punishing, and then work at maintaining that loss before you lose the other half.

I'd recommend the Fast 800 diet - have a look here