I’m not looking for a quick weight loss program, or a “dehydrate myself and lose a bunch of water weight I’ll gain back in two days” diet.
I’m wondering how much weight a fairly out-of-shape person can lose if he excercises heavily and eats right for two weeks. This is something I want to do, in the hopes that by starting an intensive excercise routine, I can maintain an average one (reach the moon by aiming for the stars).
Possible? Not possible? Recommendations/advice?
Cut that in a third, and you’ve got a reasonable chance.
depending on how overweight you are the scale may say you’ve lost 15 pounds but it will be mostly water and that rate of weight loss is unhealthy and is usually not permanent. I’ve seen a lot of studies that suggest 2 pounds a week is the best reasonable and maintainable loss that is the least likely to be regained.
When you start an exercise program you need to work up to your desired level of intensity also. No one can go from couch potato to triathalon runner in two weeks and not do serious damage to their body!
Good luck on losing the weight though. It really needs to be a permanent lifestyle change to keep it off though.
One word:
~Atkins~
Yep, I’ve seen people lose that much weight (usually because of illness) in that little time and it ain’t pretty.
There’s a talk-show host in Toronto who lost piles of weight on a “doctor supervised diet” that’s advertised on TV. The diet promises that you will lose 4-5 pounds each week by eating something like 900 calories a day and getting huge vitamin supplements. The same clinic was subject to a malpractice suit after one of his patients died. My personal experience of people on this diet is that they are miserable and hungry all the time (eating boiled chicken, plain rice etc) and dying to be "finished’ so they can start eating again - which isn’t much of a long-term weight-loss plan.
This article describes the lawsuit/inquest and reports that
The TV talk show host in question refuses to comment on how much he’s been paid for the endorsements. He also says he’s done a lot of exercise, which isn’t part of the “Dr supervised” stuff.
My experience: I have been an on-again, off-again exerciser for most of my life. I played sports in high school and then quit for four years, etc. The first time you exercise after you haven’t for a while it’s sheer, unadulterated misery, no question. If you keep at it, it only takes 3 or 4 workouts (or jogs around the block, or bike rides to work, or whatever) before it starts feeling good and you really begin to notice a difference: you don’t run out of breath so quickly, your muscles feel a teeny bit firmer, etc. You can really make a lot of progress in a short time if you’re starting from being “fairly out-of-shape.”
The ultimate choice is up to you but … since you asked for our advice … I suggest setting your goals lower and learning how to have an enjoyable life while eating better and exercising more.
It really depends on how fast you gained that 15 pounds you want to lose. If you got it in 2 weeks, yes you can lose it in 2 weeks. If you got in 2 months, no way.
Think about exercising and eating right for the rest of your life. Then weight wont be such a concern. If you “eat right” only when you want to lose weight, expect to be overweight till something kills you.
The soup diet works for temporary loss of about 10 pounds. You gain it all back as soon as you stop the diet tho. Eat nothing but soup (very little solids) drink lots of water (oddly enuf) This will remove about 10 pounds of excess water weight. this is a temp diet. Exercise will make the loss faster but not greater and may get you a bit woozy. Its basically a starvation diet.
Just my 2 cents on Atkins. I can’t eat much protein because my kidneys are in poor health and too much protein in the blood stream would over tax them and damage them faster than normal wear and tear. I won’t even discuss cholesterol.
If you want to try a diet like that please get a check up first. And be careful!!!
For the record, I am in no way highly overweight. I have about 30-35 lbs. I think I could lose without missing them too terribly. I’ve been getting into a pretty good practice of eating until I’m not hungry, not eating until I’m full. It’s the bad food I’m currently working on - potato chips, ice cream, fatty snacks in general.
I’m a fulltime student who works full time, so working out has been hard to schedule. I have the summer off, so I’m looking for a good routine to get into. Anybody have any good websites or recommendations on a good physical fitness routine? Swimming is a definite option, as is some weight training. I have the world’s fastest pool at my disposal, and I’d kinda like to use it.
In my limited experience, it’s better to start with a moderate and realistic exercise routine. If you start out intensively (eg. going to the gym 5 times a week) you’ll probably either burn out and quit or miss a day, curse yoruself and quit. YMMV, of course. I think it’s better to start slow and build intensity.
That said, I’ve heard that on average, losing 4-5 pounds the first week is not out of the ordinary, but that for long-lasting weight loss, it will be 1-2 lbs from then on.
Be careful about losing too much weight too quickly, however. Your skin may not have time to catch up (and in some cases it doesn’t)!
There’s always amputation. 
Seriously, why two weeks? Make that two months and you’ll probably get healthier results.
I lost 25 pounds in two weeks when I became diabetic.
Of course, I don’t recommend this option…
I lost close to 25 pounds in a month when I was very depressed once.
I just stopped eating, cold turkey. Of course, I lost a lot of hair, and my gums bled a lot, and I couldn’t stand up for long periods of time.
But it can be done.
My husband lost about 15 pounds in 2-3 weeks on Atkins. It can be done, but a doctor’s OK would be very beneficial before you try it.
I have been doing a modified Atkins (which means I cheat a lot) and have gone from a size 8-10 to a size 4 in a couple of months. That is diet only, no excercise. If I got up off my ass and did something, the results would be even more startling.
YMMV, as always.
Don’t forget that muscle weighs more than fat. You’d probably get a better idea of how much better shape you are in if you use a tape measure and watch for lost inches.
I’m walking every day and doing the carbohydrates addict diet and I think I’ve lost more inches than pounds. Just from observation on the low carb messageboards, it seems that the people who lose 10+ pounds in a short period of time tend to be those who are morbidly obese rather than those who need to lose 20 - 30 pounds.
I should mention that I had to have surgery 10 days ago, and I took off work (bartending) a week before that, so I haven’t worked in about three weeks. I pretty much expected to gain some weight from lying around the house all day instead of being on my feet behind the bar…particularly since I haven’t been watching what I eat, either…
So imagine my surprise when I got on the scale yesterday and realized that
a.) I haven’t gained an ounce, and
b.) I’ve actually lost six pounds.
The only thing that’s changed (besides the whole no-work thing) is the amount of water I’ve been drinking. At least 70 oz a day, plus tea and juice. I read somewhere that water will help you tremendously when you’re trying to lose weight, b/c if you don’t drink enough water your body goes into “drought/starvation” mode and holds onto both weight and water…
But I really didn’t think that after 18 days of eating like crap and doing nothing that it would still help me lose weight.
Just my $0.02. It’s worth a shot!
I lost about 8 pounds on a very strict 2 week diet once
(i also gained it all back and then some when i started eating again)
basically i ate very small & healthy meals being very careful to avoid breads (and heavy starches) and sugar.
I would eat the most in the morning, very light lunch and a few bites (or nothing) for dinner.
I also sweat, sweat, sweat at the gym. Swimming is good too.
unfortunatly, I got sick because i think my immune system was down 
oops.
Diets suck. All the way around, really.
I’ve lost 10 pounds the past month. Y’know how I did it? I walk around the long block for my morning and afternoon breaks, and I walk around four long blocks (~20 minutes) at lunch. I ignore the junk food machine at work and instead buy a bag of carrots at the local Stop ‘n’ Rob every other morning. I keep a 32 oz. Gatorade bottle filled with water.
Do I walk for EACH AND EVERY BREAK? No. Do I ALWAYS IGNORE the junk food machine? No. Do I fill that Gatorade bottle every time I drain it? No. Do I go a little bit nuts on weekends and eat/slack more than I should? Yes. And, yet, I’ve lost 10 pounds over the last four weeks.
Here’s the deal.
Diets? They don’t do anything but make you feel like you’re depriving yourself. Boiled chicken and plain rice? Please. Like a bit of parsley/sage/rosemary/thyme/garlic/onion/butter (no, don’t look at me like that - butter’s only, what, 70 calories per tspoon? Do you know how big a tspoon is?).
The truth of the matter is: The more time you (I) spend off your (my) fat ass, the better off you (I) are (am). What you (I) put into your (my) mouth is secondary. It’s what you (I) do with the body parts post-stomach that really make the difference.
There’s always liposuction…
A better way is just to exercise regularly.
Possible, yes, I’ve done it, and many others have too, but it’s definitely not what you want to do, especially since you’re not looking for the lose it fast, gain it back fast fix. If you do lose 15 lbs in 2 weeks, 1) you always gain it back, and usually more when you lose that fast 2) you will probably lose muscle 3) you will probably slow down your metabolism, because your body will think it’s starving and will try to grab onto any food you put in it.
Eating right and in moderation and exercising is the best thing. I echo the sentiments also about not depriving yourself. Don’t expect the impossible of yourself, and don’t berate yourself just because you eat a cookie (or 5) once in awhile. Diets don’t work, of course – if they did, anyone who wanted to lose weight would go on one diet and be done with it. I’d say you could lose 5 lbs healthily in the first two weeks of a heavier exercise/better eating program, and more slowly after that.
Be sure you don’t cut your calorie intake so much that you lose muscle instead of fat. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn, just sitting there. The more muscle you lose, the less you can eat and maintain your weight.
A really good way to make exercising WAY more fun and easier to do is to train for something. Enter a 5k walk or run, or a 1000-yard swim event, whatever you can handle right now. I’m training for a mini-triathlon right now. Although I work out pretty regularly anyway, it’s so much easier to train now that I’m “training,” like an athlete, rather than “trying to lose weight” or “trying to be good.” It is a great motivator and it makes you feel like one of the cool people instead of one of the somehow-less-than-adequate-in-our-society-because-they-don’t-have-perfect-bodies-people.
And finally, I heartily recommend and wish everyone in the world would read Geneen Roth’s books, which are full of wisdom about emotional eating, NOT dieting, learning to eat only as a response to hunger, and all kinds of other wise advice. Her books have great messages for everyone, including people who have never had any type of food or weight issue. A good start is “When Food Is Love.”
I’ve lost 31 lbs on Atkins since the beginning of the year (lost 8 the 1st two weeks, but it’s mostly water). My husband has lost 36. No hunger and still losing weight is definitely the way to go. Eating healthy? My god, I’ve never eaten so healthy in my life. My breakfast this morning was a roast beef sandwich (roast beef, provolone cheese, lettuce, tomato, Miracle Whip) on low carb bread and a huge bowl of raw broccoli and cauliflower with some Ranch dressing for dipping. Compare that to my past breakfasts of sugary cereals or Wheat Thins. My lunch will probably be a salad. Dinner will be meat and salad and stir-fried sugar snap peas.
I have more energy. It’s nice to see the scale move downward consistently and clothes fit better. I haven’t lost muscle at all (I lift weights, and until I had to stop for two weeks due to surgery, I was almost able to do a full set of 10 20# barbell curls, something I’d never been able to do before).
In other words, this was the perfect diet for me, and it’s something I’ll be able to do for life (since as someone above pointed out, only if you change your eating habits will you be able to maintain your weight loss, no matter what diet it is). Still, as tanookie pointed out, it’s not for anyone with pre-existing kidney problems.