To ask how I can quickly lose 8 stone?

[Weightlosswonders]

I need to lose 8 stone as fast as possible.

In an ideal world I would do it more slowly and in the healthiest possible way but due to current circumstances, I need to lose it as quickly as possible.

Im looking into a possible meal replacement diet but that’s looking rather pricey! (Around £12 a day which is too much for one person!)

All suggestions welcome. (my interim target is 4 stone by Christmas) and I’d welcome any advice from anyone who’s down similar.

@woodentrunk is correct that even a stone will make a massive difference. You are likely to feel and be a lot more healthy if you nourish your body with healthy foods (eg as I described above).

Eating the way I am now eating means that your body would be massively in detox mode and cleaning itself through.

One thing I didn’t mention is drinking water.

You need to drink a lot of water. The body needs water to metabolise stored fat. So if you don’t, you’ll also struggle to lose the weight. I am drinking about 3 litres a day, 4 in hotter weather. I have read the heavier we are, the more water we should consume. Not all at once though as a lot of water can be extremely dangerous. I also wouldn’t drink more than 4 litres a day to be on the safe side as I am getting a lot water from inside the fruits and vegetables I am consuming. Soup etc also counts.

You need medical advice.

They can offer advice on a liquid diet. I had to go on one once and once you get used to physically not eating, you stop feeling hungry. The sensation of chewing, feeling texture, preparing food etc is bizarrely way more important than taste.

Speak with your GP OP. At your weight you will be prioritised for the Ozempic alternative on the NHS. Crash dieting won't work for you I wouldn't imagine as your body is so used to a certain amount of food/calories. You'll make yourself miserable and unwell.

Please don't give the OP unrealistic ideas about what the NHS can do in what time frame. She's likely to wait many months for a first opinion at a tier 3 weight clinic.

In my opinion the only way this is possible long term is with weight loss surgery. I've lost over 9 stone since Christmas last year due to a gastric sleeve (started at 21 stone 7, as of this morning am 12 stone 6.9lbs and still losing). I eat a mainly keto diet now and strength train 3 times a week with a couple of 5k runs a week. Very doable but would not have been able to do it without the surgery.

There was a great post a few days ago from a user who had lost 9 stone over 18 months. Worth reading:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4895442-morbidly-obese-help?page=2&reply=129232687

Ok a if it's for medical reasons presumably that's due to poor health reasons that would be improved if you were 8 stone lighter.

However, as many many people have told you, losing weight at that rate will be far far worse for you than whatever issue you are trying to tackle.

To eat that little food, you are at risk of death quite frankly.

So you need to let us know what the medical issue is, why there's such an insane timescale on it and then people may be able to suggest a better balance so you can address the existing medical issue in a way that doesn't end up giving you several more serious problems!

How many calories do you eat a day now and what’s a typical day of meals?

Trying to lose 60 lbs "in a healthy way" by Christmas is impossible. You didn't get to weighing 300 lbs by accident and you can't undo it quickly.

If you stick rigidly to 1200 calories and do a minimum of 30 minutes cardio 7 days a week you will probably lose 12-15 lbs in a month. There are no shortcuts here. You will be incredibly hungry and you won't have the energy to do the exercise. You will think about food constantly. Your body is expecting enough calories to sustain 300 lbs. You cannot rush these things - it has to be a change in the way you live your life forever.

You will have far more success in the long term if you take things slower. There is no "get thin quick" scheme.

You will be incredibly hungry not neccessarily, its amazing how quickly your appetite resets if you low carb.

Your body is expecting enough calories to sustain 300 lbs. being 300lbs means you have a lot of stored energy that it can access on top of what you give it from eaten calories.

If the Dietician at the hospital has suggested a VLCD, what is it about that diet that you don't understand @Weightlosswonders ? or is it that you want meal suggestions to fit in with that regime ?

1:1 (Cambridge diet). Meal replacements, although I did step 2 which was a mixture of meal replacements and a small evening meal. Lost 3 stone (from 15st to 12st) in 3 months and have happily kept it off.
I've also done low carb/keto which works well but the 1:1 was good as I wanted to lose it quick and didn't want to worry/think closely about macros at that time - it was a very stressful period and I just needed the weight off.

So you starve the shit out of yourself and lose all the weight.
what then op?

I think @Weightlosswonders that you are searching for a magic solution, which doesn’t exist.

there are no wonder diets. They all work by restricting calorie intake to create a deficit. Just eat a VLCD as advised by the professionals and you will lose weight

IMO the healthiest thing you can do is stop putting such unrealistic timescales on things. Healthy weight loss does not come with a stopwatch.

At 22st you already have the added benefit of carrying around a 10st weight vest. It will naturally give you the exercise you need if you just add a little more movement. Look at slowly increasing your steps each day. I say slowly because you need to accept that doing things quickly results in hating it, hurting yourself, or being so knackered you cant do it consistently.

Thats the word you need to remember. CONSISTANTLY. If you cant see yourself doing good things forever then you wont stick at it.

So walk up the stairs when you have the option of a lift. Walk to the shops and back. Always walk if you can rather than a car journey. Wrap up warm and sweat it out etc etc etc.

Then look at your diet. I base 90% of my eating on PON books and its both healthy, good calories and easy to make. I can easily be in 3000c deficit per week and i am a big eater. Whatever works for you to get the calories down consistently.

Just stop with the timescales. Its not healthy

Oh and remember its 80% what you eat and 20% exercise. You can spend every waking moment walking everywhere and if you follow it with a marsbar every time you will not lose weight.

You could get close to those kind of losses with the New You Plan. It works out more like £6-£8 a day. Good luck.

Over the last 11 weeks I’ve lost 11 kilos by cutting out carbs.

No that is false, why do you think they wouldn’t be able to do it?
they would just choose an exercise that suits them and their capabilities
whatever they are comfortable doing
a simple one an obese person can do is 30 second sprint, or fast walking
or a bike machine workout in short bursts
theres also weight lifting that obese people can do easily

if the obese person has issues like knee pain or any joint pain, they can do HIIT under the water at the swimming pool, it alleviates pressure on the joints
there’s thousands of videos on HIIT that adapt their programmes for heavier people, and elderly people

exercising is not just for fit gym goers, obese people are more than capable to do it

@truthhurts23 I think it can be dangerous if someone has been largely sedentary and then suddenly starts a HIIT regime, if they have been obese for a long time, their heart might be under some strain, and OP hasn't mentioned their age. So I would be advising OP to see a Doctor before starting such an exercise plan and probably getting a decent PT involved, at least initially.

Thank you to all who have posted.

My current plan is to do intermittent fasting, (I already do 10 hours naturally of en evening/night) so am going to build this up to 16 gradually.

I am also counting every calorie and trying to reduce carbs and sugar, including no carbs in the evening. I used one of the calculators posted where it works out how many calories you need based on your height, weight, what you want to lose etc

It’s suggested 1550 for my age, weight, height and actively level.

If I had to estimate I would guess I would usually have around 2500-4000 calories a day usually, often with sweet treats / cakes so 500 calories could easily be consumed in a few bites with no nutritional value 🙈

Even when I am consuming absolutely loads, my weight remains at 22 stone and never seem to go over this! No idea why I haven’t put any more on - anyone knowledgable explain this?

To prepare for my wedding after piling on the weight during Covid I lost 4stone between December and April (so similar timeframe to your intention) and dropped from 38 inches around the waist to 28.5 inches.

I did this by following Fast800 and exercise (3 x10km runs weekly mixing interval, speed and distance, Pilates 5-6 days a week and strength training mix of plyometric and heavy weights)).

It helped that I wasn't new to exercise and I had a specific goal in mind. By my wedding week they had to make final adjustments to make my dress smaller/tighter.

It is possible but does take dedication

I think that much is obvious,
if someone has serious health conditions they should be on medication already and find appropriate exercises to build up their endurance
but just being obese by itself does not make it dangerous to do any of those type of exercises
HIIT is actually safer because you are doing it in short bursts
can anyone show me evidence that HIIT is dangerous for obese people?

I weighed 20 stone when I started, I’m asthmatic, had high blood pressure, diabetic and knee problems
I can manage walking 4 miles a day, HIIT swimming, work out videos at home,
I’ve lost 2 stone so far and never had a problem with any high intensity workouts because of my weight, my blood pressure has lowered to normal range, glucose levels are back to normal range and my joints aren’t aching any more
you have to adapt exercises to what you are capable of

Even when I am consuming absolutely loads, my weight remains at 22 stone and never seem to go over this! No idea why I haven’t put any more on - anyone knowledgable explain this?

I think you are probably eating enough calories over the course of weeks/months to maintain that weight, but not adding enough additional calories to cause you to gain more weight. I had a two week holiday with a lot of wine and no f*cks given to what I consumed food wise, but with an increase in exercise and only gained 2lbs and I am not far off your weight.

1550 calories sounds pretty sensible. I’m eating between 1550 and 1650 a day and steadily losing… I only calculated for the first 3 days btw to check I was on track. I have several blips along the way though as I have chronic fatigue so I haven’t lost as fast as you would want.

As for why you’re not putting on weight, perhaps you need the amount you’re eating to maintain your weight and if you ate more you’d gain.

I think your plan sounds like a good one @Weightlosswonders , you can always tweak it as you go along. I do think if you can concentrate on getting as many vegtables into your diet and no processed carbs, you can't really go far wrong !

I would consider looking at the Fast 800 cookbooks, there are 3-4 out there, they have some great recipes which are batch cookable and tell you the calories per portion, they are along the lines of what you are considering anyway