Stone in five weeks, is this doable?

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I found out on Friday that I've won a big award in work and I have to now do a speech at a whole company event in five weeks time. I'm so pleased and I know exactly which dress I want to wear for the event. I feel confident and classy while wearing it except the only problem I have is that I'm a stone heavier than when I last wore it and it's far too small now!

Is it possible to lose a stone in five weeks? I've downloaded C25K and i also have davinas five week fit and 30 day shred dvds.

Will slimming world help or would I be better off having porridge in the morning and a salad for lunch and dinner?

My DH isn't very helpful when I try and lose weight and has just told me to go out and buy a new dress to save the effort

Any tips for me?

Yes it is possible.

What to eat depends on what works for you. I wouldn't lose weight very quickly if I ate porridge- fastest route for me is to cut carbs, and diet is far more key than exercise (I don't lose weight via exercise, although I might look better naked).

Hi Op,

i had 2 stone to lose last January and was really fed up trying to do it myself , l had been trying for 3 years with no success.

A friend recommended the Louise Parker Fit for life eating plan, l started in mid Jan and had lost the 2 stone by mid March, so it is totally doable. I only exercised moderately too. 3 times a week 40 minutes. Since l have lost another 3 LBS...this is how l will eat for life now.....

BUT you have to really commit to it, the recipes are 3 small meals a day and 2 snacks, there is no way you will do it by cheating, l cleared a shelf, spent a day writing a comprehensive shopping list of the recipes l liked the sound of. Shopped and wrote a 4 day meal plan, repeat every 4 days...after the 2nd week it took no more time than before.

I allowed extra time to prepare to begin with, as l have to cook seperately for myself and DH and Dcs but soon l memorised the ingredients....there is no alcohol, sugar, processed food of any kind....but l feel really, well on it, more energy and no obsessive sugar cravings!

I avoided eating out until l had reached my goal, and took my snacks with me daily and lunch too.

It really works and is sustainable if you are prepared to stick to it.

Good luck

I think you can definitely lose one stone in five weeks. At least, I know I could but it depends on your starting point! I'm about 3 or 4 stone overweight. The first stone is the easiest! Whether it's sustainable is a different matter!

Download MyFitnessPal app and monitor your food intake. Don't restrict too much - you need at least 1000 calories a day and preferably 1200.

C25k is good for fitness and a long term plan but you won't lose weight doing it. You'd be better off with your Davina or check out Joe Wicks High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) on Youtube. They are excellent.

Can't advise on Slimming world but I wouldn't just have salad for lunch and tea. You can probably eat more than you think. Joe Wicks book Lean in 15 has some great, tasty filling recipes. It really depends on what you eat now, cos if you're eating loads of takeaways and drinking lots of wine and suddenly stop that, and just eat three meals a day, the impact will be massive. If you're already eating pretty sensibly, the impact will be less iyswim.

OH and op...remember it is 80% diet and only 20% exercise, focus on diet and you will lose the weight. You cannot exercise away a poor diet.

Definitely cut out carbs and sugar if you can, get the blood sugar diet by Michael Moseley. It's 800 calories a day but the recipes are delicious and you can easily lose 2 pounds a week at least. It's important to think long term as well and this way of eating is so good for you, once you've lost the weight it's easy to stick to low carb and sugar

Fab! Thank you for the advice - good points about low carb, that has worked quite well for me in the past. Going to google Louise Parker 😊

I'm currently two stone overweight after having DD five months ago. I'm still on maternity leave and didnt expect to be up for any sort of award so I REALLY want to go looking and feeling my best. Sugar is a big issue for me so hopefully I can use these five weeks to get that sorted out too.

I would focus on losing inches not weight.

If you try something like a weights based exercise problem, you'll quickly burn off the fat (you might find yourself needing to eat more ironically!) but you won't necessarily weight less.

I found weight based cardio exercise the best for me. A combination of short runs twice a week and kettle bell routines 3-4 times a week from YouTube. I use bodyfit by Amy videos.

Adding a kettle bell to my Amazon basket!

Believeitornot, Thanks for mentioning Bodyfit by Amy - just watched through one of her videos and it looks great, definitely looks like a proper workout.

What is your short run? I have managed to build myself up to running 5-6km again after a long break.

Definitely doable. I did a shake diet once and lost 10lbs in 10 days. Just have to be committed. Its more about diet than exercise unless you feel toning up will make you more confident too.

I'm just giving my two cents here. You can definitely lose weight just by working out BUT the amount of time you have to put to it (i would say at the very least 9 hours a week) is not easy to do. Plus you can't eat any more that you would normally have as the whole idea is about the calorie deficit. I did that and I did lose some weight (about a stone). Diet does make a difference, but just letting you know that an exercise only route is doable, but it's probably the toughest one . In the end I've lost 3 st and my body went from chubby/curvy to athletic in 6 months.

Thank you :) I'm making changes to my diet and using exercise for toning purposes. It's hard fitting it in with velcro baby DD and DH working a bizarre shift pattern due to work demands. Only managed walks with the pram, my poor davina DVD is gathering dust! Will probably be relying on Spanx to smooth out my post baby jelly body!

Day three and so far changes to my eating habits are going well! Only going to weigh every fortnight to avoid getting obsessive about it all. Hoping the sugar cravings stop soon..