Need to lose 10Kg in 3 months - possible?

[Participant]

Hi all

I'm knocking on 90Kg, which at 5'11" and without a huge amount of muscle to speak of, is unacceptable to me.

I'm aiming to get down to my 'fighting weight' of 80Kg, which I haven't weighed since I was married in 2008.

I had a health check at work and came up with a CV age of 48, 13 years ahead of my time. Lots of visceral fat was the main warning.

I'm starting a new job in three months, and since my current employer has a gym and canteen with all kinds of healthy options (smoked mackerel, grilled fish, brown rice, turkey, to name only a few) I've decided that this is a perfect opportunity to lose a lot of weight, since I'll a) be taking my full lunch breaks and b) very rarely working past 5.

The gym has machine weights and plenty of cardio options.

I suppose what I'm after is:

1. Some reassurance that this is a realistic goal, and

2. Some advice as to the best way to achieve this in the 45 minutes per day I'll have available for working out (being 1hr less showering and eating).

Many thanks.

 

[Maccapacca]

I've lost 26kg since September if you want the details PM me I have a Dropbox folder full of stuff and it doesn't involve anything faddy or nutcase mental

 

[BennyC]

Yes, perfectly possible and acceptable to lose 2lbs (roughly 1KG a week - 2.2lbs/kg).

However you would need to ensure you maintain a sufficient calorie deficit for the duration and finding the right energy balance to achieve this can be a bit hit and miss, so I'd say it'd be more realistic with contingency time of 6 weeks to a) get the ball rolling while you find your numbers and b) allow for any stagnation or social set-backs along the way, as weight loss is not a linear process.

Exercise is, in the grand scheme of things, less important for weight/fat loss than tailoring nutrition to achieve a calorie deficit. However of course you can amplify this deficit and/or achieve it by exercise alone. The easiest route to weight/fat loss is by quite simply do nothing except, that is consuming less energy than you expend.

Quite often people neglect the requirement to look at their lifestyle choices and determine how it is that they are now in this overweight state, rather than temporarily losing weight and then reverting to previous lifestyle choices and wondering why it's all gained back.

 

[mrthingyx]

As BennyC suggests, your lifestyle needs a review rather than just the three months you are currently considering.

You started the weight gain 7 years ago: what changed (kids and a job were my excuse, but that was dumb as I then realised that I got fat because I didn't do anything... Which has since been sorted)?

Address the issues and the weight will fall off of its own accord.

But losing 10kg in 3 months is relatively easy... Keeping it off and not looking like a skinny person with bulges in the wrong places is the hard bit.

 

[snowdog]

Easy peasy (I'm someone who loses with when not watching my food tho).

45 mins exercise per day should be enough, but you need an overall more active life.
If desk job, walk around when on the phone and such, during lunchtime, walk a few blocks around the area, enjoy the sun (hard in winter haha), etc.

I managed to do 20.000 steps per day on average for 6 weeks by simply doing slightly more by foot, and using every opportunity possible to walk around instead of sitting. (now last few weeks I messed up and I'm back on just 9k steps per day on average, but I also ate so badly I actually lost 3 kg's) Move around more, walk faster than most people, etc... Get that heart rate up! No more than an hour of sitting still max. At desk job, get up and walk around, especially when on phone, but also when speaking to people, I personally hate ''table'' (face to face) conversations, so I go walking outside with the manager when we have to discuss something.

Aside from that eat slightly less, switch to water for drinking (those sugars in most drinks are killers if you want to lose weight), and eat more lean meat, proteins keep you full but have far less calories than carbs or fats. eat until you're not hungry any more, not until you're full. (probably most important tip)

Imho losing weight is 10x easier than gaining, the exercise is no problem, it is fun and makes you feel good, but I absolutely hate stuffing myself with/watching my food, eating more than necessary feels crap, and when I'm stressed I stop eating altogether. That's just me tho . I dislike eating, gimme a pill with equav. of 150 grams of protein, and 3000-3500 kcal any day over real food (I'm small but because of activity 2500 kcal doesn't cut it for me to keep weight).

tl:dr : Eat less, burn more .

 

[Illusion]

Protein doesn't have less calories than carbs they are both 4 Cals per gram. There are studies suggesting protein is digested less efficiently by your body which may be what you mean? It is certainly very filling which is handy on a diet although I find fats very filling also.

To the OP, look at your daily diet, if things like alcohol, sugary or fatty foods and/or snacking are staples then these are probably easy things to change. There are technical ways to work out what you should be eating etc but it might not make much sense if you're new to it. If you'd like to read up check out things like My Fitness Pal for calorie counting and maybe do some reading on macros (carbs vs fats vs protein). There's a handy macro calculator here: http://www.iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

I find lean meat or fish with big portions of vegetables in place of your usual rice/pasta/potatoes are a nice filling meal. Don't avoid fats completely as they are essential but might be seen as the enemy depending what you read.

As has already been mentioned don't drink calories. Water is best but if you have to drink fizzy drinks or squash at least go for diet or sugar free versions and try to keep to water where possible.

One thing that might help is to not 'give up' if you slip up one day and eat something bad. Eating a donut / bag of crisps or even a burger and chips out somewhere is not going to ruin your diet as a one off, in my earlier days I'd often see something like that as a reason to pig out for the rest of the day or even week which just meant I was going in circles for a good while (which may have been unique to me but I suspect not based on what I've seen others doing while dieting)

10kg is more than doable in 3 months so just get at it. Good luck

 

[kaiowas]

My personal experience suggests that it's not only possible, it's easier than you'd think

I've never taken any interest in nutrition, exercise or generally looking after myself. About autumn last year I had something of an eye opener when I tried to wear a suit I'd bought several years previously and realised I no longer fit into it. With xmas on the horizon I decided that I'd like to do something about it but would wait until after the usual christmas excess.

This time last year I weighed in at 93kg and am a similar height to yourself. By March I was around 78kg. Which was acheived by dong nothing more than calorie counting. I did no additional exercise and I never really worried about exactly what I ate as long as I stayed below the daily limit I set myself. This was mostly acheived by reducing portion sizes and cutting out snacks

My limit was based on 1800cal/day which I nominally broke down into 300 for breakfast, 600 for lunch, 900 for tea. If I knew I'd be having a big meal for any particular reason I'd adjust my meals and the preceeding/following days to allow for it

From March onwards I'd settled into a routine which wasn't too arduous and relaxed things slightly, I now eat pretty much what I want at weekends (including a pizza/takeway most weeks) and still stick to the limits through the week. Over the rest of the year I've maintained somewhere between 74-78kg, my waist size is down by 3.5-4 inches since last year and overall I feel it's been a positive thing that I can maintain with no real hardship.