Can I lose 9lbs in 5 weeks?

[BusyMissIzzy]

I put on over 3st during pregnancy, although I was on the thin side to begin with (8st 4lb at 5'4" tall). I'm down to 9st 7lb, but would ultimately like to lose another stone. But I've decided to set myself a short-term goal of losing 9lbs in the next 5 weeks (for an MN meet-up ). The 9lbs is sort of arbitrary; it would get me to 125lbs which is a nice round number and would probably shift a lot of my tummy.

I currently do 20mins aerobics and 20mins kick-boxing 3 times a week, and run between 6 and 10 miles at the weekend. I try to do long walks with the pushchair on the days I don't exercise. I eat about 2000cals/day. I could up the exercise to every day, but can't do much more per day as I have to fit it in when DD naps. I could also cut back on calories.

Sorry, that's a bit long! Any thoughts/advice?

They should do. Less of a blood sugar spike than rice cakes, more of a gradual release of carbs. THat's my understanding if it anyway

I'm sure I read somewhere that Kate Winslett swore by oatcakes (homemade ones IIRC) with cottage cheese and cucumber when she lost quite a bit of weight a few years back. If that helps

those with lower GL should not promote weitht gain and be absorbed slowly

ideally home made...
and organic...
and ... (fill in yourself :) )

EAT LESS

Dont worry about the exercising so much , keep doing what you are doing. Stop snacking. Stop bread. Stop sugar (its easier than it sounds) Drink black tea and coffee. it will drop off and you can swish around feeling fabulous.

Come to the 'Nothing tastes as good as being slim feels thread'

Oh, I don't know if I'd ever be able to "swish around feeling fabulous". I'm very, very ugly

I thought you'd abdicated from the Shiney threads. Do you still pop in to the new non-Shiney ones then?

I'm not very good at the clubby threads, I'm too shy

@ Abdicate!

All Hail.....

Ha, d'you reckon I could start an IZZY cult then. Actually, my initials are BMI This could work!

Just kidding. Nice to talk to fellow like-minded souls though :)

I always go on a pre-holiday diet and need to shift about half a stone - it usually takes 6 weeks. I am 5'3" and like to be just 9 stone but usually hover at 9'6" ish. Agree you need a 1400/1500 calories a day limit. I just do the obvious, cut out or down on pastries/chocolate; eat smaller portions, try and walk more etc. I don't go on a diet per se just eat healthier. Sushi for lunch etc. Seems to work. Down to 9'1" and holiday on Thursday (hurrah)! Think I read somewhere that cutting down 100 calories a day loses about 1lb a week long term so cutting out my usual glass of wine with dinner helps. Summer makes it much easier with so much lovely fruit in the shops.

do-able with some efforts.

I'd say you can probably afford to cut the calories a little bit more.
Have you thought of seeing a nutritionist? just the once for half an hour or an hour. they might have someone at your gym who could do this.
Also a trainer will push you a lot more than going to the gym on your own. they do group training sometimes which works out cheaper.

I've been loosing 1kg per week (2.2 pounds) since I started training around 8 weeks ago.
I saw a nutritionist at the gym (one of the trainers) and we set a target of 1200 calories per day.
I also see a trainer twice a week for an hour at the moment, and then I do 1 hour body pump and 1 hour body combat per week, add to that a couple of 20 minutes run at the weekend, or 1 run and 1 extra class (zumba or pump).
I write down everything I eat and all the exercise I do to help me keep a tab on it.

calories roughly worked out as follows:
breakfast 400 calories (cereals and a handful of nuts)
snack fruit 100 calories
lunch 300 calories
snack fruit 100 calories
dinner 300 calories

I'm surprised how a handful of nuts really does keep me going and stops me from feeling hungry, I have salads and salmon for lunch or chicken, and steak for evening with spinach / vegetables. Loving raw tuna/salmon sushi at the moment (from a proper japanese restaurant)

I have a little bit of everything but I stopped doing things like having biscuits/cake/bread and butter. I don't drink tea or coffee anymore which was usually a trigger for chocolate biscuits.

I have the odd glass of wine and I have had some cheese and some (tiny bit) cake on occasions, even an ice cream the other day but just a small amount of all of this, works much better than denying myself any at all.

I think it's important to exercise hard because you'll think twice before eating a chocolate bar, you soon start thinking hang on that's 30 minutes on the treadmill to work off.

Eat off a side plate

Don't stand there staring into the fridge

Rate your hunger on a scale from 1-10 with 1 being so starving you could eat a scabby horse and 10 being so stuffed you need to be carried.

Only eat when you are really hungry-say about a 2. Think about this at traditional meal times. You don't have to eat what you normally would just because the clock says so. Stop eating when you reach a 4 or 5.

eat like someone you know is watching you think before youeat 'will eating this make me happy/healthy?'

(All ideas nicked from some bird off Oprah)

I dont bother counting cals

Good advice everyone, thanks :)

I've done quite well today, food-wise, but did eat a few squares of chocolate when DD was driving me a bit mental. As for exercise, I did 20 mins abs and about 3 mile walk. Have ordered 30 Day Shred DVD, plan to start it next week.

The maximuscule stuff has had no side effects with anyone I know, it is not one of the dodgy brands it is very mainstream. The Thermabol is green tea, caffine and various other things that raises your heart rate and body temp which in turn raises your matabalism and helps matabilise fat. It is not ment to be used long term, just as a kick start. The promax diet is powered whey protien. Extra protien is essential if you are doing a lot of exercise in order to protect your muscles. Whey also has the added benefit of keeping you feeling fuller for longer. You can of course just eat more meat to get your protein but it would mean eating a large steak breakfast lunch and dinner to get enough (aim for about 30g of extra protien a day), which would be way too many calories. There are loads of other brands of whey protien but theres is particularly good for women as they add certain women friendly vitamins, minerals and oils to it. It's not a magic potion you do very much have to put the work in, it just enhances your efforts.

Busymissizzy - good luck with the SHRED - you'll love it I promise. Come & see us on our thread for further motivation.

So, it's been about 3 weeks and I thought I'd update.

I've gained 2lbs :(

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I cut my calories down to 1500/day, and I started doing the 30 Day Shred (as well as aerobics every other day, and running at the weekends). Admittedly, I've just had a few days visiting my parents, so I've been less strict with my calories, but still. I'm hoping that maybe the Shred is building muscle (which weighs more than fat), or that it will just take a few weeks to see results after changing up my exercise routine. My muscles do feel more toned, but there's still a nice layer of fat over the top of them.

I guess I just need to stick with it. Still, it's disheartening.