74lbs 20 weeks - doable?

also something to be aware of- your weight loss will not be consistent, especially with that much weight to lose. When you start off the weight will seem like its really dropping off, espeically in the first couple of weeks. You may even find you lose up to 7lbs in the first 10 days or so. But this will be mostly water weight. As time goes on your body will adjust itself to its new calorie intake and your weight loss will slow down. But this is ok, in fact its a much safer and succesful way to lose it. Also be aware that a woman's menstrual cycle will influence your weight. The week before your period you will have natural water retention and you may even ding you put on a lb or two. It also means that the week immediately following your period is generally teh week you lose the most.

You may find you reach a plateau- after losing a significant amount of weight you just won't lose any more. This is the point when you need to hang in there and do soemthing to shake up your esercise regime- shock your body into working again. Intrduce a jogging phase itno your walks, or try a new workout compeltely.

While your diet is tantamount to loing weight and cardio will increase the rate of fat loss, resistance and strength training will be the key to keeping it off. Rapid weight loss usually encourage weight from water and muscle loss, and its very common to see women who crash diet having a 'normal' weight but with very low lean muscle levels. This inevitably leads to regaining the weight lost and often ending up heavier than before.

You don't turn fat into muscle, but you do strengthen the muscles you already have. Fat is inactive, it sits tehre quite happily all day doing nothing. Muscle however is a metabolically active tissue, which means you'll bun calories jsut to keep it alive. Gaining 1lb of muscle will help you burn up to 50 cals extra a day!! Add to that muscle will make you look sleek, toned and healthy, and NOT big and bulky (women jsut can't gain the same amount of muscle men have, we don't have enough testosterone).

If you do start doing resistance training (which btw, every woman should, not just the ones who are looking to lose weight- its should be as fundamental a part of a workout as walking) you may notice that you actually gain a little weight, That's because muscle weighs more than fat, in which case stop paying any attention to the scales and rely on your clothes instead- I weight nearly as much as I did in my very heavy days, but I'm three clothes sizes smaller!!!

Read the stickies at the top of the forum for diet advice, you actually don't eat enough- you need mroe protein (ideally protein at every meal), more fruit and veg, more good fats, have your complex carbs at lunch instead of dinner, lots of water or green tea... well, its all been said before.

Have a read of the weight loss/ gain advice, see can you come up with a new diet plan and post it for some help. Educating yourself about wise food choices is the sure-fire way to guarantee success, you'll make the right choices all the time without having to ask for help. Good luck

So these sort of tests are carried out where? Cheers for the replies btw.