How much weight can I realistically lose in 15 weeks?

[reddaisy]

I am breastfeeding and I plan to continue but DP and I have decided to get married and I need shift at least two stone before I can consider dress shopping.

I am planning to do couch to 5k to help but how much can I lose?

I don`t even know how much I weigh, but I guess it is around 13.5 stone. I am planning to go and weigh myself tomorrow as I don't have scales in the house.

Please help! I want to look ok in the photos.

Anyone?

Having been 9st 7 pre pregnancy then gaining a whopping four stone during. I can safely say that the thing that has worked wonders for me was wii fit plus. I know many have poo pooed it saying it is not strenuous enough, but because of all the breast feeding i was doing (and still) it kick starts you in to losing weight! i managed to lose 2 stone within 2 months average loss of 3 pound a week 30-40 mins moderate exercise a day, lots of water, just eating normal.

I guess if thats not your thing a 30 minute jog works just as well, but sticking to it is the key. i was back to pre pregnancy weight in 5 months but you just plato when you stop! I got my mum to exercise with me as a motivator which really helped :)

(... Zumba classes are great as are the Davina workouts)

Congrats for the wedding, and good luck in your weight loss

Weight watchers tells you to aim at a healthy weight loss of between 1 and 2 lbs a week. Though I've always found that the first week on a diet I lose around 5lb then continue between 1 and 2lb a week after that. So realistically you could lose 2st in that time.

Best of luck

I'm not an expert, but I've heard that it isn't healthy to lose more than 2lbs per week.. so 30 lbs is technically doable, but I imagine even that is tough. I would just take small steps and try to eat healthily, plus get the exercise as you are planning on doing. Mark the dates in your calendar - you have some serious motivation which is great!

Thanks everyone. It would help if DS actually slept and I had some energy to exercise and eat more healthily.

I think getting out of the house to exercise is best for me but it is hard finding the motivation by the time I get chance after the DC are in bed. But I can't make any excuses anymore!

Bumping for the daytime crowd as I have weighed myself and I am 13stone 10lbs!!

You can lose an easy 2 stone and more if you go hardcore.

Low carb is the best option for you. I am a vegetarian and I adapt low carbing to suit me... so, I eat NO white carbs but I will eat fruit, for example. Do not eat bread or pasta and do not snack - just eat three time a day.

I lost 2 stone in 8 weeks doing the above.

You can do all manner of strange or crash diets and lose huge amounts of weight. But it won't be fat you lose, you won't be healthy and it's not the best way to maintain. If you adopt a healthy lifestyle with a good level of exercise and a sensible diet, you should be able to lose weight, keep it off and not deprive your body of essential nutrients. People who lose weight quickly and in great amounts are actually just depriving themselves and losing lean tissue/water etc. And when you're bfing, it's important that you look after yourself as it's quite draining. You're supporting another life and this will use up some of your own stores. So you're better off replenishing those stores with good nutritious food as opposed to suddenly plunging yourself into starvation mode.

I had a baby 7 months ago and I put on silly amounts of weight when pregnant. I remain active and eat healthily but just end up enormous. My mother was the same. DS is quite a high needs baby and will not nap or be put down for any length of time. So I do fit in working out where possible but have otherwise worked extra exercise into the day. I leave an hour early for the school run and walk a slightly too long route for the time I have. So I have ds in the sling and sort of jog/trot along at speed, he sleeps and yes I end up breathless and sweaty in the playground but I'm active. I also stick ds in the trailer of the bike and take the dc to the park and run around after dd while ds is strapped to me, I walk everywhere and at a pace which gets me out of breath.

In terms of food, I eat what I like tbh. If I want a cake I have a cake. But only as a treat and it feels better and tastes nicer that way. I do get hungry because I'm bfing but I have plenty of healthy snacks (crackers, rice cakes, smoothies, flapjack, fruit, yoghurt) to hand and most importantly a drink nearby too. I make my lunch when I do dd's packed lunch the night before so I'm not starving and reaching for something unhealthy because ds is crying and I haven't the time to make proper healthy stuff.

I was 12 stones 3lbs after ds was born. Today I'm 8 stones 9lbs. I haven't dieted. I've just adopted a healthy lifestyle and remained active.

In 15 weeks a stone and a half, maybe even 2 stones is not unreasonable. But don't punish yourself. Enjoy planning your wedding.

Congratulations!

watching with interest as I have 19 weeks till my Mums wedding and I would like to lose around 2 stone. (i'm a bridesmaid!)
My POA so far is:
Cut down on the amount of food I am eating in general (I know that sounds incredibly unhealthy but I eat normal meals, then quite often seconds, and snack all through the day for no reason other than I am bored.)
I need to really listen to my body - If I actually just ate when I was hungry, I can survive on very little food quite happily.

So - my plan is, eat when hungry and stop when full. If I do feel the need to snack it is only to be healthy snacks.
Currently I do absolutely no exercise so I am hoping this will make a big difference.
I have planned my exercise routine as follows:
x1 swimming per week (lengths only)
x1 jogging per week
x1-2 fitness classes per week (eg body combat/zumba etc)
x1 exercise DVD per week
Plus dog walks every day when we get a dog, which we will be by August at the latest, maybe sooner, but it might end up being after the wedding!

Swimming tonight, but the eating plan starts properly tomorrow, because although I have been quite good this morning and plan to be for lunch, i am meeting a friend for dinner at Pizza express so that may well end up a 3 course meal!

Thanks for the thorough replies. GoGoBananas, what you are doing is pretty much what I did after DD was born and I lost quite a lot of weight gradually during my ML.

But I don't have much time this time as we have set the date and I haven't been anywhere near as active this time and my DS is nearly 7 months old too. He also hates being put down for long, napping or going in the pram. I can't even go far on the evenings as he is such an unreliable sleeper.

I think if I cut out carbs then I will eat more rubbish as when I get hungry I have no self control and have to eat something NOW! I have bought healthy snacks and will keep an eye on how many of them I eat. I realise I won't be my ideal weight of 10stone by the wedding but I want to lose as much as possible but in a sustainable way in 15 weeks! Im not asking for much

Have you looked at www.myfitnesspal.com/?

If you log everything you eat and stay within the calorie range by eating mostly good calories (only about 100 or so on a treat) then you can lose weight quite well. You can include carbs too (I can't cut out carbs either)

15 weeks - 2-3 stone? If you are strict - agree myfitnesspal.

I haven't looked at myfitnesspal, I will look into it. Three stone would be amazing, I have just looked at some photos from last weekend and I am bigger than I think so I might put one on the fridge!

I'd say because you are breast feeding 21 pounds would be a realistic goal.