Is it possible to lose 3 stone in 3 months

woodzie

I'm heading away on hols at xmas and i need to lose about 3 stone. Is it possible to lose that much weight in that time, and if so has anyone got any tips?

StopNotWorking

If your working a full time job then I would say no, but if you have the free time then it's doable. Just try exercise as much as possible and try stick to a light healthy diet(lots of fruit for energy, some protein and very few fats). Or just drink pear bulmers every night, that will run your guts out of your arse after a few weeks:cool:

amacachi

Possible with very very hard work and effort yes.

woodzie

Cheers guys. Im up for the hard work bit. Its just my diet I'm not sure off. How much should I eat etc, I know all the junk food has to go and possibly cut way back on the white bread. Yea I work a full time job bit Im thinking maybe go to the gym for an hour and a half after work each evening and maybe go swimming before work 2 or 3 morning a week?

amacachi

Go here. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=252

3 stone might be pushing it slightly, but starving yourself will just hinder you.

Recon

it's very possible, I did it around 4 years ago.

Eat properly, no snacking.

Exercise often (3 -4 days a week), cardio and weights training. Start off trying to run a mile, see how long it takes, when you can do it in around 10 minutes increase the distance to 2 miles, get your pace down to 8 minute miles. Increase distance to 3 miles. I did this up to a distance of 4.2 miles (that just happened to be a circuit I could run near my house) in around 30 - 34 minutes depending on how tired I was.

As for the weights. Make a 3 day plan. Day 1: chest and triceps, day 2: back and biceps, day 3: shoulders

For example: Monday go for a run and do day 1 of weights, Wednesday run and day 2 of weights, Friday run and day 3 of weights and so on.

I did that over the 2005 summer and lost 3 stone, went from 14.5 ish stone to 11.5 ish stone, 22 years old then, 5'9". After another couple of months of doing that I was in fairly decent shape and I was happy with the amount of muscle mass I had put on. Never wanted to be huge or anything, just bulk up a small bit.

WexCan

You're looking at 3.5lbs per week to acheive that. It's doable, but will be very difficult. You need to, basically, expend 1750 calories a day more than you consume, which will leave you very hungry and very tired.

smk89

i went from 15 to 12 stone from may to september but i was at home from college and bored out of my mind.

as for advice id recommend that you learn the difference between being actually hungry and just wanting to eat. ul be suprised how much you eat that you dont need. but i dont endorse man-orexia

apart from that good luck

woodzie

I didnt realise i had to get up so many calories a day in order to lose 3.5 pounds a week. It seems like a lot but I reckon i could prob do it. I'd be happy with losing 2.5 stone but really want to lose 3.

WexCan

Calories aren't all that matter but it's a good guide. Remember, if you put on muscle mass you'll be burning more calories just doing your normal daily routine. Try to eat low-calorie, low-fat, cut the snacks, eat breakfast and just make your best effort gym-wise and see how it goes.

token56

The most important thing is diet, head over to the nutrition and diet forum to learn what you need to do but the most important basics: no more white bread at all, or white rice or anything like those sort of carbs etc, only whole meal foods etc although really I wouldn't be eating any bread at all if losing weight is your objective, there are plenty of better options for getting carbs any low GI foods are good, wholemeal pasta etc.

There is alot more you would need to do with your diet, like I said best thing is to read up in the nutrition and diet forum definitly read

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055157091

learn the number of calories you need, set out a healthy diet and stick to it religiously if you are serious about this.

In terms of exercise personally I think cardio is better for losing weight than weights since it burns up more calories so maybe focus on this for the moment, but throw in some weights too. Really you need to be doing abour 1 hours fairly hard exercise 4+ times a week.

Best of luck with achieving your goals.

--amadeus--

Possible? Yes.

Sensible, recommended? No

Potentially dangerous? Yes

Probably counter productive? Without a doubt.

Recommended healthy weight loss is in the region of 1 - 2 lbs per week. Going for double that will involve running a huge calorie deficit which will leave you unable to train at the intensity you require. You'll also be far more prone to illness and injury. And by going totally "cold turkey" on your diet and pumping up loads of exercise you are increasing the chances of a relapse. It's just a totally unhealthy way of going at things.

The weight probably didn't go on in 3 months so it won't come off in 3 months. Clean up your diet and read the nutrition stickies in teh Fitness forum. That alone will see you starting to drop weight (and quite rapidly at first)

And you need to adopt not just excercise but a healthy / active lifestyle. Walk to the shops rather than drive, stairs not lifts, early to bed, no (or limited) booze. And train 5 times a week. What you so isn't that important but it needs to be at the right intensity (not too easy but not too intense - too intense moves you from aerobic excercise to anaerobic meaning you will not be able to sustain it and will burn more calories per hour but for a shorter time meaning fewer calories overall) Make teh excercise something you enjoy (weights, running, rowing, cycling) and you are more likely to do it.

And here is teh kicker - if you want to keep the weight off then most of those changes need to be lifestyle changes - you need to maintain a good diet and excercise routine after you reach your target weight. This is NOT a quick fix. Change your mindset, look at the long term and you'll get there. Be too ambitious and it's easy to get despondent and give up from a perceived lack of progress. Journey of a thousand steps and all that...

Good luck

Theresalwaysone

Great post Amadeus.

Diet and Excercise in that order.

You can train all you want but if your not eating right then its wasted. Someone above said stay away from fats, DO NOT DO THIS. Fats keep you feeling full for longer, they are also very important in hormone production.

Personally, before I ****ed my knee, I did it this way and it worked from both a weightloss and lifestyle perspective.

Sort your diet first and foremost. Lots of fresh veg (green preferably), loads of fish(salmon/tuna)/lean meat (Chicken/Lean Mince) and some complex carbs. Try eat a lot of eggs too.

When you have that sorted, stick at it for two weeks. THEN when you are used to it work in the training along with the diet, eating some more protein and a small amount of carbs after training.

This way, you work the changes in slowly and they are easier to handle. Going from no excercise, crap diet to a totally new healthy diet along with training will result in failure most of the time.

Good luck.