I want to lose 30 pounds as quickly as safely possible

[leftofthedial]

Recommendations?

(Other than amputations.)

One stipulation--zero carb diet won't work.

[rabid_nerd]

1. Ditch your significant other

could lose over 100 pounds that way

[leftofthedial]

2. odd you should suggest that

today is our 26th wedding anniversary

Maybe we could distch one of the kids or soemthing though.

[rabid_nerd]

24. you took my favoritve smart ass comeback

amputation..

[leftofthedial]

33. preemptive invasion!

it's my favorite smartass comeback too!

LOL

[THUNDER HANDS]

3. excercise

And no junk food, or snacks.

Oh, and make sure to leave at least three mouthfulls of food on every plate.

:)

[leftofthedial]

5. I was afraid you'd say that

but what about the starving kids in India?

[Braden]

27. haven't you heard. India is booming.....

[SpaceCatMeetsMars]

8. For exercize, do weight-lifting at least two hours a week and cardio for

at least four hours a week. The weight-lifting works because having muscles helps you burn more fat. And being toned makes you look better too. The cardio burns up calories. Snack on vegetables and fruit.

[leftofthedial]

34. cardio for four hours?

I'm already working 12 hours a day, six days a week.

Hmm. Maybe that's part of my problem!

[wryter2000]

13. Good advice

Try to cut down on the amount of fat you eat. Fewer potato chips, a bit less butter on vegetables, fish and chicken breast instead of beef. But don't cut out everything you love. Just limit it.

BTW, I lost 70 pounds. Took a year, but a year later it's still off. And I feel great.

[leftofthedial]

19. rockin!

I did this once about 10 years ago. It's taken me 10 years to gain it back.

It required a full lifestyle change, not just diet, but diet and exercise.

[SpaceCatMeetsMars]

26. I found a vegetable snack that replaces chips - edamame beans

For me, a glass of Guiness and a bowl of salt & vinegar chips is Hog Heaven. The only healthy snack that can come close is boiled edamame beans with a lot of salt and hot sauce. Very good and even goes well with beer!

[soleft]

4. If you try to lose weight by dieting

chances are you will regain the weight you lost in addition to more. It seems like people who have lost weight and kept it off have done so by making lifetime changes that evolve over a period of time.

Why do you want to lose weight?

If you want to be healthier focus on being healthier - trying to "lose" weight may work against the goal of being fit and well.

[Maddy McCall]

6. I did Atkins for a month and lost 23 lbs...Zero carb diet worked for me.

I am where I want to be now. I just gave up all forms of carbs for a month and ate lots of veggies and meat.

I have begun to add carbs back now, slowly, until I find my balance.

Atkins is truly an easy diet. It has become a lifestyle for me--cutting carbs, sugars, rice, potatoes, and all the fluff you really don't need anyway.

[leftofthedial]

17. I'm "a third" Irish

I NEED potatoes.

[yankeeinlouisiana]

7. How quick is quickly?

I don't think you can lose 30 pounds in a week or two. Some things that have helped me are:

Drink skim milk, even in your coffee (if you use milk in your coffee). I used to use half & half in my coffee now I only use skim milk and that helps a lot.

Don't eat peanut butter.

Don't go to any fast food restaurant. Even their grilled chicken or salads aren't very low-cal.

Up your grain intake. Don't eat white bread, it's all preservative and processed. The darker the better!!

Exercise, exercise, exercise.

Good luck!!

EDIT: are/aren't

[Maddy McCall]

9. Your point about fast food restaurants....

When I made the decision to begin Atkins, I read Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. It was EASY to give up fast food after reading it. I haven't had anything from any fast food restaurant in over two months.

[yankeeinlouisiana]

11. Fast Food is disgusting!!

My kids' gym teacher gave a little lesson on what is actually in those cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets. The kids don't even want to go to a fast food place anymore. YUCK!

[eileen from OH]

10. If you drink pop. . .

give it up. And that includes DIET pop. I swear I don't know what it is, but I don't think it helps you lose weight at all - quite the contrary. Drink ice tea or something like that instead.

If you drink alcohol at all, drink a white wine spritzer - heavy on the spritz, light on the wine. Squeeze a bit o lemon or lime into it.

Lite popcorn is the best for the munchies. (Helps if you love it, like I do!)

Just start watching what you eat - smaller portions, walk away from the table (even if this appears rude - explain and your family will understand.) And eat when you're HUNGRY, not because it's "time."

I firmly believe that diets don't work because it's all about deprivation, rather than thinking about how MUCH you can eat vs WHAT you can eat. And once you get in that kind of mindset, it gets a lot easier.

I lost 30 lbs between April 2002 and Dec. 2002. Slow and steady but it worked for me. AND I've kept it off cuz I've stayed in that mindset and don't feel like I'm on a "diet" at all.

Best of luck to ya!

eileen from OH

[leftofthedial]

21. thanks

except for the wine spritzers (I have my mach image to maintain don't you know), your plan is the way to go.

I agree with you about the diet soft drinks. I switched to diet only for about a year (my employer provided a fridge full of soft drinks). It made no difference.

[wryter2000]

12. Exercise

Get a copy of the Weight Watchers plan or go to meetings. Do gentle exercise for half an hour to an hour every day. Strenuous enough to raise your heartbeat but gentle enough so that it doesn't hurt. Walking is good. Swimming is even better. Exercise bicycle or eliptical machine or treadmill or stairmaster (that one's rough).

This will take about 3 - 4 months.

If you go on some hokey diet and lose 30 pounds, you'll gain it back. This way it'll stay off, and your health and well-being will improve.

[BiggJawn]

14. Exercise. Exercise. Exercise.

It's a Law of Physics.
Caloric expenditure MUST exceed caloric intake for weight loss to take place.
You need to burn 3500 calories to lose ONE pound of fat. Most experts (not "get skinny QUICK" Quacks) say that 1 pound a week is the most healthy amount to lose. anymore than that and the risk of packing it back on is greater.

And if you trick your body and lose 5-10 pounds a week, what you've done is convince your metabolism that you're starving, so it starts to shut down and tries to convert everything you eat into fat. this is why you can lose 50-100 pounds on a "fad" diet, and gain back 100-200 pounds within a year of stopping the diet.

Me, I haven't lost that much poundage. What I have done is replaced bulky fat with more dense muscle. The tape measure tells a stronger tale than the scales with me. I've lost almost 5" from chest/back and 2" from my gut.

But that's just me. I'm not a diet expert (nor do I play one on TV, unlike a certain "Dr. Phil"...) so Your Milage May Differ.

Good Luck!

BTW, if you're a heavyweight like me, you can burn almost 800 calories an hour cycling instead of the 500 a skinny person does.

Lance burns over 1200 when he's time trialing....

[leftofthedial]

22. Thanks

I'm 200, bound for 170. Exercise has to be a big part of it. A pound or two a week would be quick enough for me.

I should get a bike and start riding again. I'm more of a hiker though.

[VelmaD]

15. Ok, I've lost over 100 pound since Jan 2002...

I did it one little thing at a time but some of those "little" things made a big difference.

Number 1 - cut out the colas. They're nothing but sugar.

Number 2 - cut out mayo - use mustard instead, it saves you 100 calories per teaspoon at least.

Number 3 - get some exercise every day if you can. It boosts your metabolism and you keep on burning more calories even when you aren't exercising.

Number 4 - cut out the high fat meats. Replace them with turkey.

Number 5 - Take all the snack foods out of your house. No chips. No cookies. No nuts. Nothing. Replace them with fruit.

Just some ideas that are fairly easy to implement. The cola one was the first thing I did an dit made a big difference the first month or so I was dieting. So did getting rid of the mayo.

Good luck. And remember to do this healthy. If you try to lose weight just by starving yourself your metabolism will just slow down to compensate. Get some exercise and eat healthy.

DV

[soleft]

18. What she said

And VelmaD, congrats!!!!!

[leftofthedial]

23. wow! 100 pounds. Congratulations

I really need to cut out the soft drinks. That sugar-caffeine thing is a nasty addiction.

I've gone back to drinking my coffee black with no sweetener.


Thanks for the tips.

[arwalden]

16. Give Up Soft Drinks And Watch The FAT GRAMS...

... it worked for me and I lost 35 pounds in 6 months.

NO EXERCISE!! Averaged 10-15 fat grams per day.

-- Allen

[leftofthedial]

29. I did this about 10 years ago

very strictly watched fat grams. I think I limited intake to 13 grams a day.

Plus I did a lot of hiking and some weight lifting (not extensive).

I dropped 25 pounds in about three months. It stayed off pretty well until the last six months or so.

I have relatives on Atkins who have lost huge amounts of weight and seem to have adapted their lifestyles. One has kept it off for 18 months or so now.

I'm not convinced aobut it though. Most I know who've tried it end up gaining the weight back.

[MercutioATC]

20. I lost 30 pounds in 11 or 12 weeks with Atkins....

But it's not for everybody. 5'8" and I went from 180# to 150# (so I wasn't hugely overweight to begin with). It's NOT a zero-carb diet, but it is low-carb.

[_Wayne_]

25. Read one book by Dr. Weil and one by Dr. Perricone

Then give up the following:

White sugar
White bread
White rice
White flour
Red Meat
All oils except Olive Oil and Flaxseed Oil.

Lift weights while dieting and drink lots of water, and you won't have as big an appetite. Take one-a-day vitamin supplements-your local smoothie shop or health food store will have some great choices. I take "Energy for Life" which has about 100 different vitamins, minerals, and all kinds of good stuff, all in one pill.

Following this, your daily diet would be:
Chicken, Turkey, Fish (all kinds) Tofu, Beans (all kinds), Eggs, Vegetables (all kinds except carrots and potatoes) Fruits (2 a day, any kind) Soy, Fat-free Milk, Low-fat cheese, Olive Oil, Flaxseed Oil, and 64 ounces of water a day. Once per week, eat whatever the hell you want. Give up fast food, and anything that you can buy at a gas station. Say goodbye to processed foods, or anything with trans fatty acids.

Do this, the pounds will disappear, no matter what your situation. Consult a doctor if you're on meds.

[musiclawyer]

32. Agreed

I eat by blood type--Dr D'Amato. I lost 25 lbs in six weeks easily but I could not have done it without the resolve to change my way of eating forever. To do a real quick loss program
do this:

No bread except Manna or Ezekial

No oil, except olive, flax and canola

no sugar--only honey and pure maple syrup

no cereal or pasta (i.e, NO GLUTEN , except oatmeal that you cook yourself (your only other grain should be browm rice, quinoa, or millet

no milk, no cheese, nothing. (Use Silk or some other good brand of soymilk for your oatmeal etc)

no red meat (that includes pork)

no pies, cookies, processed sweets, (after you lose hte weight I can tell you how to make healthy sweet alternatives)

no condiments at all, except some organic salsa, and perhaps some Annie's natural salad dressing and very little of that

nothing to drink except copious amounts of water ( at least three liters) and a little red wine, tea and/or coffee black. You should be going through at least 10 organic lemons a week for cooking and for adding to your water to alkalinize teh water, especially if you drink tea and coffee which are very acidic. Drink nothing with HFCS in it. Read all the labels of drinks.



Finally, exercise.

So you see that poultry, fish, fruits, and veggies will be left as your core sustenance. If you do this not only will you lose weight, you'll purge yourself of many toxins. Even when you're hating yourself because you have to pee so much because of so much water, just remember that your body will get used to it and you're adding years to your life.

[Scottie72]

28. My suggestions:

First off forget about the 30 pounds as quickly and safely as possible. More than likely you will fail. I believe a good time frame for 30 pounds probably would be 6 months to a year. Eventhough losing 1 - 2 pounds a months sounds easy it is not easy.

You need to make a decision to make changes to your eating/exercising habits that you can LIVE with. These changes DO NOT have to occurr all at once. This is where, I believe, so many people go wrong. Most of know what we really need to be doing with our diet and exercise. The problem is that too many people try to make too many changes all at once. This can be a very difficult adjustment to handle.

The bottom line to weight loss is: You must burn more calories than you consume. This is at the center of all those "diets". There are basically two ways to achieve this goal:

1) Eating less *
2) Moving more

*Do not fall into that easy trap of not eating enough.

As I have said before you need to make changes that you can live with:

First do not have a forbidden list, have a once in a great while list.

Here are some easy tips to help cut the calories and achieve your weight loss. (assuming 3500 cals = 1 pound of fat)

1) Avoid drinking your calories. This means avoid soda. Do not substitute fruit juices for soda. IE once for once Orange juice has more calories than soda. You may however incorporate juice into your meal just remember that 8 oz is about 110 calories. When your thirsty drink water!! Drink lots of Water. Go our and buy a bottle of bottled water and refill it.

a) Now get this: If you drink one 20 oz bottle of soda a day, (The type that is sold for around a $1 in vending machines) and cut it out of your diet, you will save yourself just over 25 lbs.


2) Get moving. You need to exercise. At first don't worry about the optimum time, optimum machines etc.. In the beggining just concern yourself with getting moving. Exercise needs to become part of your daily routine, once you get into the habit of exercising then concern yourself with what time and your own specific program. (It is alright to keep changing this up and not let yourself get into a rut)

I personally believe that doing your work-out first thing after you wake up is the best way to go. It gets your metabolism going right off the bat.

3) Now if your are a typical grazer in the evenings, give yourself a cut off time to where you will not allow yourself to eat anymore. This should be about 3 hours or so before you go to bed. Now if you have had a long day, get home past your cut off time by all means eat something just make sure that it is light.

4) Dinner should not be the big meal of the day. In fact it is better to eat 4 - 5 smaller meals a day of around 300 - 400 calories a day.

5) Start a food diary of everything you ate. Learn the portion sizes of the foods you eat and how many calories they contain. Usually by forcing yourself to keep an accurate diary, you will almost automatically cut back on your eating.

You will notice that you will be able to eat a lot good foods because they are naturaly lower in calories. Remember what works for someone else may not work for you. Cater your weight loss plan to you. You know what is working and what isn't. Do not become scale dependant. You will fluxiuate several pounds within a 24 hour period. If you must use the scale daily just be sure to weigh yourself at the same time each day. (IE when you wake up..) Be aware that weight normally isn't linear. You may lose 4 pounds one week and then over the next two only lose 1. Most importantly be patient, and that slow weight loss is more likely to be lasting weight loss.





2)

[leftofthedial]

30. thanks for the info

those are all good points.

Six months is a reasonable time frame for me.

[Scottie72]

36. Your welcome:

Let's see my wieght loss saga of the past three years:

I moved here at about 155 lbs and a smoker. I am only 5'3" (June 200)

I quit smoking for good in Jan. 2001 (still around 155) My partner moved in with me and we began to eat out probably 3- 5 times a week. I was actually going to the gym albeit doing a half assed job at my workouts.

By Jan 2002 I had ballooned up to just over 180 lbs. I decided enough was enough. I started to implament the steps I described above.

By Jan. 2003 I was about 160 pounds. At this time I started to go to the gym first thing in the morning when I was working a normal shift. Which meant I had to wakeup at 5am.

I am now down to just below 145lbs. I look and feel better than I ever before. My goal is to be between 135 and 140 hopefully with in the next 6 months. I have been around 145 for the past 3 - 4 months now.

[leftofthedial]

37. If I can get down to 170 - 175 it would be great.

then I can think about 155.

[proud patriot]

31. Slimfast and lots of water

Eat 2 regurlar meals a day (healthly)
1 slimfast shake for 1 meal subsitution.
that and a good walk everyday or some
other form of FUN excercise

is the healthliest recommendation I can make :hi:

and remember it's not pounds that matter cause muscle
weighs more than fat .....

[Chilly_Willy]

35. Lose 10% weight

Try Atkins diet for 2 weeks.